A Meta-Analysis of the Moderators in the Relationship Between Morphological Awareness and Chinese Reading Accuracy

Purpose: This study aimed to deepen the understanding of the relationship between morphological awareness and Chinese reading accuracy by exploring the factors that influence this connection through a meta-analysis. Method: We conducted a meta-analysis using data from 84 articles, comprising 104 effect sizes and a sample of 14,348 children (mean ages = 3.76 to 13.79 years). The study examined potential moderators such as script type (traditional and simplified script), age, and the type of reading accuracy measure (word and character reading), as well as the interaction between these moderators on the abovementioned relationship. Results: The analysis revealed that script type was a significant moderator in the relationship. The correlation between morphological awareness and word/character reading was stronger in traditional script than in simplified script. Age also had a significant moderating effect in the relationship, with the correlation increasing significantly with age. However, neither the type of reading accuracy measure nor the interaction between measure type and script type significantly moderated the relationship between MA and Chinese reading accuracy. Conclusion: The moderation by script type suggests that the differences in morpheme orthography between the two scripts can affect the relationship between morphological awareness and reading accuracy. The moderator of age indicates that the influence of morphological awareness on reading accuracy may grow stronger as children get older. The lack of a moderating effect by the type of reading accuracy measure suggests that the correlation between morphological awareness and word/character reading is consistent across these measures.