Abstract

Reading comprehension is central to academic success, yet young CFL learners face particular challenges across different text genres and comprehension levels. Few studies have addressed these issues among primary-level learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL), especially in multilingual contexts. This study compared literal and inferential reading comprehension across expository and narrative texts among 44 child CFL learners in Malaysia. Two expository and two narrative texts including comprehension questions at literal and inferential levels were designed and applied as instruments. By using paired-samples t-tests with Bonferroni correction, the study found that participants’ literal comprehension did not differ significantly between expository and narrative texts and there was no significant difference between expository and narrative texts regarding inferential comprehension. However, participants performed significantly better on literal than inferential comprehension in expository texts, whereas no such difference was found in narrative texts. The results indicate the need to prioritize the development of inferential comprehension skills, particularly in expository contexts. The study enhances the understanding of how comprehension levels interact with text types in CFL reading and highlights pedagogical implications for curriculum design. Future research should incorporate larger and more diverse samples, longitudinal approaches, and further consideration of cognitive and background knowledge factors.