Abstract The present study examined the cognitive-linguistic correlates of L1 Chinese and L2 Malay word reading accuracy and fluency among Grade 2 Malaysian Chinese children. Seventy-five children were tested on phonological awareness, delayed copying, morphological awareness, and rapid automatized naming (RAN), along with word reading skills across both Chinese and Malay languages. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that Chinese morphological awareness and RAN predicted both Chinese reading accuracy and fluency after controlling for age and non-verbal IQ. Only Malay delayed copying predicted Malay reading accuracy, while Malay delayed copying, morphological awareness, and RAN predicted Malay reading fluency. In addition, Malay delayed copying predicted both Malay reading accuracy and fluency even after controlling for the effects of Malay phonological and morphological processing. These findings support the importance of understanding L1 Chinese literacy in Malaysia, a non-dominant Chinese society, to help uncover the universality of Chinese literacy acquisition. Our study underscores the potential importance of Malay delayed copying in early L2 Malay reading proficiency and reading difficulties.
Cheah et al. (Thu,) studied this question.