How do phonological processing abilities contribute to early Chinese reading and mathematics?

The present study examined phonological processing skills (phonological memory, phonological awareness, and rapid automatised naming, RAN) in relation to early Chinese reading and early Chinese mathematics for young children. Early Chinese reading was assessed with single character reading and multi-character word reading, and early mathematics was assessed with procedural arithmetic and arithmetic story problems. Among 86 Chinese kindergarteners, phonological processing skills explained 20% of the variance in character reading and 28% of the variance in word reading; they accounted for 8% of the variance in arithmetic and 11% of the variance in story problem performance. Specifically, findings further highlight the general importance of phonological awareness in early Chinese single character reading, word reading, simple arithmetic and story problems, and the specific role of RAN in single character reading and simple arithmetic.HighlightsPhonological awareness and rapid automatised naming explained unique variance in Chinese single character reading and procedural arithmetic.Only phonological awareness significantly accounted for unique variance in Chinese word reading and arithmetic story problems.The associations of phonological awareness with procedural arithmetic and arithmetic story problem were maintained even beyond other variables.