COVID-19 infection and Hong Kong elementary children’s Chinese and English reading proficiencies: Parent-reported proficiency versus performance-based reading tests

Previous studies investigated the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s language development. This study explored the association between different COVID-19 infection statuses (children with no history of infection, children with a history of infection, and children with long COVID symptoms) and Hong Kong elementary children’s Chinese and English reading performance. Participants were 195 dyads of parents and elementary children from Grades 1–6 ( M age = 8;8, SD age = 1;7, 89 boys and 106 girls) in 2022−2023. We adopted a 3 x 3 between-participant design. The two independent variables were COVID-19 status and grade levels. The dependent variables were parents’ ratings of reading proficiencies, reading proficiencies in Chinese and English, and the differences between the parents’ ratings and reading proficiencies. All measures (the language experience and proficiency questionnaire for parents’ ratings, Chinese word reading battery, and the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test – Third Edition) were adapted from published works and showed high reliability in our sample. Using Multivariate Analysis of Covariates (MANCOVA) and Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), we examined the links of infection with covariates, including parents’ education level, number of children in the family, and monthly household income. We found that long COVID status was associated with lower parent-rated Chinese reading in the upper grades and lower Chinese spelling performance. Grade-specific differences in parent–performance discrepancy scores were also observed. These findings highlight the need for further longitudinal investigations and needs-based monitoring using both caregiver reports and performance-based assessments for children experiencing persistent health and learning difficulties.