| Reading and writing skills are critical to the development of school-age children.It has been shown that the process of reading and writing requires theory of mind,and that there is a strong relationship between theory of mind,a core social cognitive skill,and reading and writing.Compared with early school age children,there is a lack of research on the theory of mind to explain literacy differences in middle and late school age children.Moreover,previous research has revealed more about the role of theory of mind in the reading and writing of narrative texts,and few studies have focused on the relationship between reading and writing of other types of texts and theory of mind.As school-age children progress through the grades,expository texts are among the important text types that school-age children are exposed to.Narrative and expository texts differ in their goals,content,and structure,and the relative roles of cognitive skills in the two texts may differ.Furthermore,there may be more than a one-way causal relationship between theory of mind and reading and writing;there may also be a two-way association.Therefore,this study aims to explore the relationship between reading and writing and theory of mind in different types of texts using a longitudinal tracking study method,and to provide a theoretical basis for further understanding children’s socialization process and improving their cognitive abilities as well as academic performance.This study investigated the two-way relationship between reading and writing of different text types and theory of mind in school-age children through a 12-month longitudinal study followed twice.A total of 192 students from grade 3,4 and 5 in a primary school in Shaoxing City,Zhejiang Province were selected as the research objects,including Raven reasoning test,eye reading and mind reading task,strange story task,reading comprehension scale and writing task.After excluding the invalid answer paper for the first time and 17 students who did not participate in the second time,175 valid samples were selected,including 72 male students.Mean age 9.95 years,standard deviation 0.93 years.The data were tracked over a period of one year and were divided into two surveys,with a total duration of about one year.The results showed that:(1)the performance of school-age children in theory of mind,reading comprehension and writing tasks showed an increasing trend in a certain period of time.(2)Narrative reading comprehension is significantly correlated with affective and cognitive theory of mind,while expository reading comprehension is only significantly correlated with cognitive theory of mind.(3)Narrative writing is significantly correlated with affective and cognitive theory of mind,while expository writing is only correlated with cognitive theory of mind.(4)Narrative reading comprehension and theory of mind have two-way positive predictive effect,only cognitive theory of mind has one-way positive predictive effect on expository reading comprehension.(5)Narrative writing has a two-way positive predictive effect on theory of mind,but the predictive effect between expository writing and theory of mind is not significant.The study reached the following conclusions:(1)Different types of texts involve different components of theory of mind.Narrative reading and writing are significantly correlated with affective theory of mind and cognitive theory of mind,while expository reading and writing are correlated with cognitive theory of mind.(2)There is a two-way positive predictive relationship between theory of mind and narrative reading comprehension,that is,theory of mind can promote the development of narrative reading comprehension,and narrative reading comprehension can in turn promote the development of theory of mind.(3)The cognitive component of theory of mind can positively predict expository reading comprehension,that is,cognitive theory of mind can promote the development of expository reading comprehension.(4)There is a two-way positive predictive relationship between theory of mind and narrative writing,that is,theory of mind can promote the development of narrative writing,and narrative writing can in turn promote the development of theory of mind.In conclusion,this study found that both affective and cognitive components of theory of mind can promote the development of narrative reading and writing in school-age children.In turn,narrative reading and writing can also promote the development of theory of mind in school-age children.Only the cognitive component of theory of mind can promote expository reading comprehension.In other words,different components of theory of mind relate differently to reading comprehension and writing of different texts.The results of this study help us more clearly understand the two-way predictive relationship between different components of theory of mind and different text reading comprehension and writing.On the one hand,it can increase the attention to theory of mind in educational environment;on the other hand,it can provide a reference direction for improving the relevant research of children with poor reading comprehension and writing level.Providing support for parents and schools to carry out targeted educational activities may have valuable practical implications for understanding and supporting academic success,as well as better promoting children’s social interaction and healthy physical and mental development. |
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