Pre-screening children for specific learning disabilities (SLDs), e.g., dyslexia, is essential for effective intervention. With a quick and reliable pre- screening result, special education coordinators (SEN- COs) can provide students with early intervention and relieve their learning pressure. Unfortunately, due to the limited resources, many students in Hong Kong receive dyslexia assessments beyond the golden period, i.e., under the age of six. To this end, information technology could establish automatic pre-screening tools to address this issue. However, dyslexia pre-screening for children learning Chinese is challenging due to the lack of sound-script correlation in Chinese. In this paper, an Automatic Dyslexia Pre-screening System (ADPS) is developed to provide a quick test to identify at-risk children. Through a two-stage approach, we first develop a gamified tool based on linguistic characteristics and then evaluate the result by a comparison study. Results from a pilot test on 30 students with dyslexia and 32 students without dyslexia indicate that ADPS can effectively distinguish two groups of students. Furthermore, the interactive design elements can motivate students to conduct the pre-screening independently. Copyright © 2024 IEEE.

• Writing motives was assessed using Writing Motivation Questionnaire. • Writing self-efficacy was assessed using a revised Writing Self-efficacy Scale. • Measurement invariance was established across Shanghai and Hong Kong students. • Latent means comparison found differences between these two groups. • A direct-mediational model examined the relationship between these constructs. What motivates Chinese students to write? In the present investigation, we examined Chinese students' writing motives and writing self-efficacy. Grades 4 and 5 Chinese students in Shanghai (n = 332) and Hong Kong (n = 305) completed a survey questionnaire assessing motives for writing using the Writing Motivation Questionnaire and writing self-efficacy based on a revised Writing Self-efficacy Scale. Using multigroup confirmatory factor analyses, measurement invariance was established by examining configural, metric, scalar and residual invariance. Latent means comparison located significant differences between the Chinese groups in relation to writing self-efficacy and writing motives derived from a focus on curiosity, competition and grades. Multigroup structural equation analyses verified a hypothesized direct-mediational model depicting the relationship between writing motives and writing self-efficacy. Copyright © 2021 Elsevier.