How does Verbal Working Memory Contribute to Reading Comprehension? Examining the Mediation of Reading Comprehension Components

How does Verbal Working Memory Contribute to Reading Comprehension? Examining the Mediation of Reading Comprehension Components | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article How does Verbal Working Memory Contribute to Reading Comprehension? Examining the Mediation of Reading Comprehension Components Qiuzhi Xie This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8781187/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Although an association between working memory and reading comprehension has been shown, how working memory contributes to reading comprehension remains unclear. This study explored whether verbal working memory directly and indirectly predicts reading comprehension via the mediation of the component skills and knowledge of reading comprehension. The participants were 245 Chinese Cantonese-speaking Grade 1 primary school students with the mean age of around 7 years old. They were tested on a series of tasks measuring their working memory, language and reading skills, and topic knowledge. The results of structural equation modeling showed that working memory predicted reading comprehension primarily through the mediation of word decoding, syntactic and text structure knowledge, and topic knowledge, while it still had a small direct effect on reading comprehension. The implications for theories and practice were discussed. Psychology Linguistics working memory reading comprehension decoding syntactic text structure topic knowledge Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8781187","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":585382800,"identity":"88a63e15-745c-4402-83eb-b4a576f5274c","order_by":0,"name":"Qiuzhi Xie","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAt0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACZgaGAwwVELYECVrOkKQFBBjbSNHCd5zH8MDHeXbyBgeYD97mYbBLbCCkRfIwW8LBmduSDTccYEu25mFIJqzF4DDzgcO825gTDA7wmEnzMDATo4Wx4fDfOfVALfzfgFrqibQFqAtkCxtQy2Ei/dJz7LjhzMNsxpZzDI4bE9TCd/6M8YcfNdXyfMebH954U1EtS1ALMB6hgBnsToLqkbWMglEwCkbBKMAFAMGpO8gcAyiSAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy, Australian Catholic University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Qiuzhi","middleName":"","lastName":"Xie","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-04 03:11:23","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":true,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true,"humanSubjectConsent":true,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8781187/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8781187/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101950087,"identity":"865cd4e5-dce6-4f56-9b5d-69eee3666aa1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-05 10:32:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":615648,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptWorkingMemory202511rcombined.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8781187/v1_covered_35dc49ab-00f1-424e-b51a-c1b8ac69f6e8.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow does Verbal Working Memory Contribute to Reading Comprehension? 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