Reading and spelling are related but dissociable: Evidence from Chinese students learning English as a second language

Shared cognitive–linguistic skills support reading and spelling, yet they may dissociate into heterogeneous literacy profiles. This study examined whether Chinese students learning English as a second language (ESL) with poor reading (PR), poor spelling (PS), combined word-reading and spelling difficulties (English learning difficulties; ELD), and typical development (TD) exhibited distinct literacy outcomes and cognitive–linguistic profiles, and which skills uniquely predicted subgroup membership. Participants were 190 Grade 2–3 Hong Kong Chinese students who were classified into predefined literacy profiles based on grade-normed performance on standardized English word reading and word spelling measures. Students completed assessments of vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, rapid naming, morphological awareness, working memory, and IQ. Multivariate analyses of covariance showed that the predefined literacy profiles were associated with overlapping but differentially expressed cognitive-linguistic patterns. Hierarchical multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that vocabulary knowledge and phonological awareness consistently differentiated all difficulty groups from TD peers. In contrast, orthographic knowledge uniquely predicted PR and ELD but not isolated PS. Rapid naming and morphological awareness did not show unique contributions. These findings are consistent with literacy difficulties reflecting shared but differentially weighted cognitive-linguistic constraints, supporting a multiple-deficit perspective and highlighting vocabulary knowledge and phonological awareness as important targets for assessment and intervention in ESL learners.