Extending the Simple View of Reading in Second and Foreign Language Learning: A Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Abstract

This study used a meta-analytic structural equation modeling approach to build extended versions of the simple view of reading (SVR) model in second and foreign language (SFL) learning contexts (i.e., SVR-SFL). Based on the correlation coefficients derived from primary studies, we replicated and integrated two previous extended meta-analytic SVR models, that is, Quinn and Wagner’s (2018) model with an English-speaking population with a cognitive factor and Peng et al.’s (2021) model with Chinese-speaking readers with metalinguistic skills. A total of 180 independent samples (N = 36,235) obtained from 152 empirical studies in SFL contexts were included in our meta-analytic structural equation model. The results revealed that the collected data successfully replicated H. Lee et al.’s (2022) SVR model in SL contexts (SV2R) in terms of overall model fit and moderation effects; in addition, the results confirmed that the data fit well with the extended SVR-SFL models.