About the Project:

Learning to comprehend text in a second language is challenging for students in Hong Kong as well as in other regions. The present research project, employing a longitudinal design, investigated the role of word knowledge (vocabulary breadth and depth) in English reading comprehension of primary school students. Findings show that several dimensions of word knowledge, including knowledge and awareness of affixes and sentence structure, ability to define words as well as word recognition skill, are important for English reading comprehension concurrently and longitudinally. It demonstrates that reading comprehension is supported by multiple literacy-related building blocks and therefore instructional practice should focus on identifying learning needs of students and provide corresponding support to enhance reading comprehension development. We have also demonstrated reciprocal relationships among various word knowledge skills and reading comprehension and therefore having better comprehension can also promote the development of word knowledge.