What is the role of audiovisual associative learning in Chinese reading?

To investigate whether audiovisual associative learning uniquely contributed to Chinese character reading (accuracy and fluency), the current study examined it along with phonological processing skills, including phonological memory, phonological awareness, and rapid automatized naming (hereafter, RAN). Hierarchical regression analyses found that after controlling for the effects of age, nonverbal IQ, and phonological processing skills, the learning speed of verbal and nonverbal audiovisual feedback learning (hereafter, A-V CFL) could each account for an additional 8.5% of the variance in reading fluency, whereas the error rate of verbal A-V CFL could significantly account for 10.0% and 9.9% of the variances in reading accuracy and reading fluency, respectively. Findings underscore the unique role of audiovisual associative learning in Chinese reading accuracy and fluency.