Abstract
The Simple View of Reading (SVR) in Chinese was examined in a genetically sensitive design. A total of 270 pairs of Chinese twins (190 pairs of monozygotic twins and 80 pairs of same-sex dizygotic twins) were tested on Chinese vocabulary and word reading at the mean age 7.8 years and reading comprehension of sentences and passages one year later. Results of behavior-genetic analyses showed that both vocabulary and word reading had significant independent genetic influences on reading comprehension, and the two factors together accounted for most but not all of the genetic influences on reading comprehension. In addition, sentence comprehension had a stronger genetic correlation with word reading while passage comprehension showed a trend of stronger genetic overlap with vocabulary. These findings suggest that the genetic foundation of the SVR in Chinese is largely supported in that language comprehension and decoding are two core skills for reading comprehension in nonalphabetic as well as alphabetic written languages.
Highlights
The simple view of reading (SVR) comprehension first proposed by Gough and Tunmer [1] states that reading comprehension is the product of only two constructs, listening comprehension and decoding
Behavior-genetic studies with identical and fraternal twins learning to read English have shown that the independent contributions of decoding and listening comprehension to reading comprehension are largely based on independent genetic influences
We focused on the Chinese Twin Study (CTS) measures of oral vocabulary and word reading administered in the second year, and measures of reading comprehension in the third year of the study
Summary
The simple view of reading (SVR) comprehension first proposed by Gough and Tunmer [1] states that reading comprehension is the product of only two constructs, listening comprehension and decoding. This view has been extensively explored and generally supported in alphabetic writing systems, primarily English. The present study is unique in its extension of behavior-genetic research on the SVR to a non-alphabetic writtten language, Chinese. We review recent behavior-genetic research on the SVR, followed by an overview of the unique characteristics of the Chinese written language and previous research on reading comprehension in Chinese
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