How socioeconomic status, executive functioning and verbal interactions contribute to early academic achievement in Chinese children

The unique role of executive function skills in predicting Hong Kong kindergarteners’ reading comprehension

“…The Head‐Toes‐Knees‐Shoulders task (HTKS, McClelland & Cameron, ), appropriate for children aged 4–8 years, was used to assess EF skills. HTKS has been administered successfully in various Chinese societies (Chung et al ., ; Duh et al ., ; Wanless et al ., , ). The children were required to give the opposite behavioural responses to the experimenter's instructions.…”

“…Digit span forward, from WISC‐IV HK, was used to assess the children's verbal short‐term memory (Wechsler, ). Similar tasks have been used widely to measure verbal short‐term memory in previous studies with Hong Kong samples (e.g., Chung, Liu, McBride, Wong, & Lo, ). After the experimenter had presented a string of digits orally, the subject repeated the string of digits.…”

Effortful Control and Academic Achievement in Rural China

“…Poverty and gender affect the development of EC. Children living in poverty have poorer EC skills and relatively lower levels of academic achievement than their more advantaged peers (Chung, Liu, Mcbride, Wong, & Lo, 2016;Welsh, Nix, Blair, Bierman, & Nelson, 2010). There are positive correlations among levels of poverty, maternal education, young children's EC, and early achievement.…”

“…Chinese children have been shown to display higher levels of behavioral inhibition or EC than their peers in other cultures (X. Chen et al, 2011;Chung et al, 2016;Wanless et al, 2013). This may give them an advantage in academic achievement; however, few studies have critically examined the association between EC and academic achievement among Chinese children, especially those from poor and rural areas, who are at risk for poor school achievement.…”

Editorial

“…The work by Chung, Liu, McBride, Wong, and Lo (2017) investigated the relative importance of executive functioning, parent-child verbal interactions, phonological awareness and visual skills on reading and mathematics for Chinese children of different socio-economic backgrounds. Results revealed that children with lower socio-economic status exhibited lower levels of these skills, interactions and achievements than their counterparts.…”