Abstract
Previous studies have shown that children learning alphabetic writing systems who have language impairment or dyslexia exhibit speech perception deficits. However, whether such deficits exist in children learning logographic writing systems who have poor reading comprehension remains uncertain. To further explore this issue, the present study examined speech perception deficits in Mandarin-speaking children with poor reading comprehension. Two self-designed tasks, consonant categorical perception task and lexical tone discrimination task were used to compare speech perception performance in children (n = 31, age range = 7;4–10;2) with poor reading comprehension and an age-matched typically developing group (n = 31, age range = 7;7–9;10). Results showed that the children with poor reading comprehension were less accurate in consonant and lexical tone discrimination tasks and perceived speech contrasts less categorically than the matched group. The correlations between speech perception skills (i.e., consonant and lexical tone discrimination sensitivities and slope of consonant identification curve) and individuals’ oral language and reading comprehension were stronger than the correlations between speech perception ability and word recognition ability. In conclusion, the results revealed that Mandarin-speaking children with poor reading comprehension exhibit less-categorized speech perception, suggesting that imprecise speech perception, especially lexical tone perception, is essential to account for reading learning difficulties in Mandarin-speaking children.
Highlights
Reading comprehension skills are essential for academic learning and success
To fill the research gap, the objectives of the present study were to explore the extent of speech perception deficits in Mandarin-speaking children with poor reading comprehension and assessed the relationship of the speech perception deficits and reading development
Other studies have documented lexical tone perception deficits in Mandarin-speaking children with dyslexia (Zhang et al, 2012) and in Cantonese-speaking children with language impairment (Wong et al, 2009). These results suggest that speech perception deficits in tonal-language children with language impairment are observed at phonetic segment levels and at the suprasegmental level
Summary
Reading comprehension skills are essential for academic learning and success. Children are required to establish appropriate language comprehension and word decoding skills to become successful and independent readers (Gough and Tunmer, 1986; Cain, 2016). A strong correlation exists between word decoding and reading comprehension in beginning readers (Garcia and Cain, 2014; Lervag et al, 2017), in older children, this correlation becomes weaker as the correlation between language and reading comprehension becomes stronger (Diakidoy et al, 2005; Vellutino et al, 2007). This finding suggests that a more dominant language comprehension process contributes to reading comprehension in the later stages of reading development. Such correlational and causal evidence indicates that oral language comprehension during preschool lays the foundation for learning to read (Dickinson et al, 2010) and play an increasingly crucial role in reading development in elementary school children (Storch and Whitehurst, 2002)
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