Shelley Xiuli Tong
Biographic Data
| ID | 5758713 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Shelley Xiuli Tong |
| GIVEN NAMES | Shelley Xiuli |
| FAMILY NAME | Tong |
| SIGNATURE | TONG S X |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Hong Kong |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3319-4609 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 18 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Within- and cross-language pathways from morphological awareness to reading comprehension in Chinese-English bilingual children
Morphological awareness is a critical predictor of reading comprehension, yet its direct and indirect contributions within and across languages remain complex in bilingual children, particularly in typologically distinct language pairs. We examined pathways from morphological awareness to reading comprehension within and across first language (L1) Chinese and second language (L2) English in Chinese-English bilinguals. A cross-sectional sample of …
Statistical learning prioritizes abstract over item-specific representations
Statistical learning optimizes limited working memory by abstracting probabilistic associations among specific items. However, the cognitive mechanisms responsible for the working memory representation of abstract and item-specific information remain unclear. This study developed a learning-memory representation paradigm and tested three participant groups across three conditions: control (Experiment 1), item-specific encoding (Experiment 2), and…
The dimensionality of morphological awareness
Morphological awareness is essential for language and literacy development, yet its underlying structure remains unclear, especially in Chinese-English bilinguals at different ages. This study tested 467 hong Kong bilingual children in Grades 2, 5, and 8 on their morphological awareness in both Chinese and English. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine whether morphological awareness in each language is a unidimensional structure,…
A missing piece of the reading comprehension puzzle
This study investigated how decoding, oral language, cognitive, and code-related skills in both first language (L1) Filipino and second language (L2) English contributed to reading comprehension, both within and across languages, among 193 Grades 1-3 Filipino-English bilingual children in the Philippines. Within-language structural equation modeling analyses revealed that decoding and oral language directly contributed to reading comprehension in…
Unraveling the complex interplay between statistical learning and working memory in Chinese children with and without dyslexia across different ages
The relation between statistical learning and working memory in children with developmental dyslexia (DD) remains unclear. This study employed a distributional and a conditional statistical learning experiment and a working memory task to examine this relation in 651 Chinese 6- to 12-year-olds with and without DD (NDD = 199, 101 females; NwoDD = 452, 227 females; participated 2014–2019). Results showed working memory positively associated with re…
Development and validation of the online learning attitude questionnaire (Olaq) among primary school children and caregivers
Despite the increasing popularity of online learning in elementary and primary schools, it is unclear to which extent that students’ attitudes toward online learning influence their learning progress and outcomes. In this study, the Online Learning Attitude Questionnaire (OLAQ) was developed and validated to measure students’ online learning attitudes among 383 caregivers and 172 primary school students in Hong Kong. The caregiver data were analy…
Toward a Model of Statistical Learning and Reading
A compelling demonstration of implicit learning is the human ability to unconsciously detect and internalize statistical patterns of complex environmental input. This ability, called statistical learning, has been investigated in people with dyslexia using various tasks in different orthographies. However, conclusions regarding impaired or intact statistical learning in dyslexia remain mixed. This study conducted a systematic literature search of…
Syntactic awareness matters
How Chinese–English Bilingual Fourth Graders Draw on Syntactic Awareness in Reading Comprehension
Syntax, or sentence structure, plays a role in reading comprehension, but how students draw on their awareness of syntax in their reading remains unclear; the mechanism is even more ambiguous in bilingual students. In this study, we evaluated the direct and indirect contributions of syntactic awareness on first‐language Chinese and second‐language English reading comprehension among 227 Hong Kong Chinese–English bilingual fourth graders. We desig…
The relations between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in beginner readers to young adolescents
Background Morphological awareness plays a crucial role in supporting higher‐level text processing. We examined its contribution to reading comprehension in children of different ages and ability levels in order to determine when and for whom morphological awareness is of particular importance. Methods Three groups of children (aged 6–8 years, N = 128; 9–11 years, N = 126; and 12–13 years N = 147) completed judgement and production tasks to measu…
Suprasegmental but not segmental phonological awareness matters in understanding bilingual reading comprehension difficulties in Chinese and English
Linguistic but Not Cognitive Weaknesses in Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Poor Comprehenders
This study examined the reading comprehension profiles, and the related linguistic and cognitive skills, of 146 Chinese students in Grades 3–9 who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/Dhh). Employing a rigorous regression approach, the current study identified 19 unexpected poor comprehenders, 24 expected average comprehenders, and 16 unexpected good comprehenders. Compared to the expected average and unexpected good comprehenders, the unexpected poor …
Statistical Learning of Orthographic Regularities in Chinese Children With and Without Dyslexia
This study examined distributional statistical learning of positional, phonetic, and semantic regularities of an artificial orthography in Chinese children aged 8–10 years: 29 with dyslexia, 29 age-matched controls, and 30 reading-level matched controls. Despite having positional regularity learning performance comparable to the controls, the children with dyslexia were poorer at learning left-right structured characters than top-bottom structure…
Chinese Literacy Acquisition
Tune in to the Tone
Lexical tone is one of the most prominent features in the phonological representation of words in Chinese. However, little, if any, research to date has directly evaluated how young Chinese children’s lexical tone identification skills contribute to vocabulary acquisition and character recognition. The present study distinguished lexical tones from segmental phonological awareness and morphological awareness in order to estimate the unique contri…
Developmental models of learning to read Chinese words
What is the nature of learning to read Chinese across grade levels? This study tested 199 kindergartners, 172 second graders, and 165 fifth graders on 12 different tasks purportedly tapping constructs representing phonological awareness, morphological awareness, orthographic processing, and subcharacter processing. Confirmatory factor analyses comparing alternative models of these 4 constituents of Chinese word reading revealed different patterns…
Morphological Awareness, Orthographic Knowledge, and Spelling Errors
This 1-year longitudinal study examined the extent to which morphological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and phonological awareness, along with speeded naming, uniquely explained word recognition, dictation (i.e., spelling), and reading comprehension among 171 young Hong Kong Chinese children. With age and vocabulary knowledge statistically controlled, both morphological awareness and orthographic knowledge were uniquely associated with all t…
Developmental models of learning to read Chinese words
What is the nature of learning to read Chinese across grade levels? This study tested 199 kindergartners, 172 second graders, and 165 fifth graders on 12 different tasks purportedly tapping constructs representing phonological awareness, morphological awareness, orthographic processing, and subcharacter processing. Confirmatory factor analyses comparing alternative models of these 4 constituents of Chinese word reading revealed different patterns…
How Chinese–English Bilingual Fourth Graders Draw on Syntactic Awareness in Reading Comprehension
Syntax, or sentence structure, plays a role in reading comprehension, but how students draw on their awareness of syntax in their reading remains unclear; the mechanism is even more ambiguous in bilingual students. In this study, we evaluated the direct and indirect contributions of syntactic awareness on first‐language Chinese and second‐language English reading comprehension among 227 Hong Kong Chinese–English bilingual fourth graders. We desig…
Tune in to the Tone
Lexical tone is one of the most prominent features in the phonological representation of words in Chinese. However, little, if any, research to date has directly evaluated how young Chinese children’s lexical tone identification skills contribute to vocabulary acquisition and character recognition. The present study distinguished lexical tones from segmental phonological awareness and morphological awareness in order to estimate the unique contri…
Morphological Awareness, Orthographic Knowledge, and Spelling Errors
This 1-year longitudinal study examined the extent to which morphological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and phonological awareness, along with speeded naming, uniquely explained word recognition, dictation (i.e., spelling), and reading comprehension among 171 young Hong Kong Chinese children. With age and vocabulary knowledge statistically controlled, both morphological awareness and orthographic knowledge were uniquely associated with all t…
Developmental models of learning to read Chinese words
What is the nature of learning to read Chinese across grade levels? This study tested 199 kindergartners, 172 second graders, and 165 fifth graders on 12 different tasks purportedly tapping constructs representing phonological awareness, morphological awareness, orthographic processing, and subcharacter processing. Confirmatory factor analyses comparing alternative models of these 4 constituents of Chinese word reading revealed different patterns…
Chinese Literacy Acquisition
Tune in to the Tone
Lexical tone is one of the most prominent features in the phonological representation of words in Chinese. However, little, if any, research to date has directly evaluated how young Chinese children’s lexical tone identification skills contribute to vocabulary acquisition and character recognition. The present study distinguished lexical tones from segmental phonological awareness and morphological awareness in order to estimate the unique contri…
Statistical Learning of Orthographic Regularities in Chinese Children With and Without Dyslexia
This study examined distributional statistical learning of positional, phonetic, and semantic regularities of an artificial orthography in Chinese children aged 8–10 years: 29 with dyslexia, 29 age-matched controls, and 30 reading-level matched controls. Despite having positional regularity learning performance comparable to the controls, the children with dyslexia were poorer at learning left-right structured characters than top-bottom structure…
The relations between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in beginner readers to young adolescents
Background Morphological awareness plays a crucial role in supporting higher‐level text processing. We examined its contribution to reading comprehension in children of different ages and ability levels in order to determine when and for whom morphological awareness is of particular importance. Methods Three groups of children (aged 6–8 years, N = 128; 9–11 years, N = 126; and 12–13 years N = 147) completed judgement and production tasks to measu…
Suprasegmental but not segmental phonological awareness matters in understanding bilingual reading comprehension difficulties in Chinese and English
Linguistic but Not Cognitive Weaknesses in Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Poor Comprehenders
This study examined the reading comprehension profiles, and the related linguistic and cognitive skills, of 146 Chinese students in Grades 3–9 who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/Dhh). Employing a rigorous regression approach, the current study identified 19 unexpected poor comprehenders, 24 expected average comprehenders, and 16 unexpected good comprehenders. Compared to the expected average and unexpected good comprehenders, the unexpected poor …
Toward a Model of Statistical Learning and Reading
A compelling demonstration of implicit learning is the human ability to unconsciously detect and internalize statistical patterns of complex environmental input. This ability, called statistical learning, has been investigated in people with dyslexia using various tasks in different orthographies. However, conclusions regarding impaired or intact statistical learning in dyslexia remain mixed. This study conducted a systematic literature search of…
Syntactic awareness matters
How Chinese–English Bilingual Fourth Graders Draw on Syntactic Awareness in Reading Comprehension
Syntax, or sentence structure, plays a role in reading comprehension, but how students draw on their awareness of syntax in their reading remains unclear; the mechanism is even more ambiguous in bilingual students. In this study, we evaluated the direct and indirect contributions of syntactic awareness on first‐language Chinese and second‐language English reading comprehension among 227 Hong Kong Chinese–English bilingual fourth graders. We desig…
Development and validation of the online learning attitude questionnaire (Olaq) among primary school children and caregivers
Despite the increasing popularity of online learning in elementary and primary schools, it is unclear to which extent that students’ attitudes toward online learning influence their learning progress and outcomes. In this study, the Online Learning Attitude Questionnaire (OLAQ) was developed and validated to measure students’ online learning attitudes among 383 caregivers and 172 primary school students in Hong Kong. The caregiver data were analy…
Unraveling the complex interplay between statistical learning and working memory in Chinese children with and without dyslexia across different ages
The relation between statistical learning and working memory in children with developmental dyslexia (DD) remains unclear. This study employed a distributional and a conditional statistical learning experiment and a working memory task to examine this relation in 651 Chinese 6- to 12-year-olds with and without DD (NDD = 199, 101 females; NwoDD = 452, 227 females; participated 2014–2019). Results showed working memory positively associated with re…
Statistical learning prioritizes abstract over item-specific representations
Statistical learning optimizes limited working memory by abstracting probabilistic associations among specific items. However, the cognitive mechanisms responsible for the working memory representation of abstract and item-specific information remain unclear. This study developed a learning-memory representation paradigm and tested three participant groups across three conditions: control (Experiment 1), item-specific encoding (Experiment 2), and…
The dimensionality of morphological awareness
Morphological awareness is essential for language and literacy development, yet its underlying structure remains unclear, especially in Chinese-English bilinguals at different ages. This study tested 467 hong Kong bilingual children in Grades 2, 5, and 8 on their morphological awareness in both Chinese and English. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine whether morphological awareness in each language is a unidimensional structure,…
A missing piece of the reading comprehension puzzle
This study investigated how decoding, oral language, cognitive, and code-related skills in both first language (L1) Filipino and second language (L2) English contributed to reading comprehension, both within and across languages, among 193 Grades 1-3 Filipino-English bilingual children in the Philippines. Within-language structural equation modeling analyses revealed that decoding and oral language directly contributed to reading comprehension in…
Within- and cross-language pathways from morphological awareness to reading comprehension in Chinese-English bilingual children
Morphological awareness is a critical predictor of reading comprehension, yet its direct and indirect contributions within and across languages remain complex in bilingual children, particularly in typologically distinct language pairs. We examined pathways from morphological awareness to reading comprehension within and across first language (L1) Chinese and second language (L2) English in Chinese-English bilinguals. A cross-sectional sample of …
Psychology (15 works) · Reading and Literacy Development (14 works) · Linguistics (13 works) · Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills (10 works) · Language Development and Disorders (9 works) · Reading comprehension (9 works) · Cognitive psychology (8 works) · Phonological awareness (8 works) · Reading (process) (8 works) · Comprehension (7 works)