Instruction in English as a foreign language at an early age is becoming more common worldwide even though the effects of this early instruction are not yet known. This study investigated the English and Chinese language performance of students enrolled in early English immersion in a Chinese primary school. In addition, factors that could predict successful English word recognition were investigated. There were 183 participants who were tested in both Chinese and English word identification, phonological awareness, and vocabulary, as well as English oral proficiency and letter name knowledge. The immersion students performed significantly better than the non-immersion group on measures of English vocabulary, word identification, and oral proficiency, without any detrimental effects on their Chinese character reading, which made the program, in effect, an additive bilingual system. In addition, phonological awareness and letter name knowledge proved to be strong predictors of English word identification for the immersion students, a finding that was similar to results obtained in studies of native English-speaking children. The findings have potentially useful pedagogical applications.
The timing of character instruction for beginning Chinese foreign language learners has been a controversial issue in Chinese language instruction for many decades. Some instructors teach characters early and integrate this learning with oral language; other instructors teach characters only after an oral base has been established. To date, the experimental research on this topic has been conducted exclusively with university students, and it is unknown if results can generalize to a younger demographic with different learning needs and instructional contexts. The purpose of this study was to examine the reading, writing, and oral language skills of beginning‐level middle school students with no Chinese language background who were divided into early and delayed instruction groups. In addition, a questionnaire about the students’ attitudes toward character learning was administered. It was found that the early instruction group performed significantly better than the delayed group on reading comprehension and character writing tests; there were no significant differences between the groups on the oral interview and the oral fluency assessments. The attitudes survey showed no significant differences in character learning attitudes between the early and the delayed groups except in regard to the timing of character instruction. Pedagogical applications are suggested.
The relationship between oral language development and the development of literacy skills in a second or foreign language is complex. Many English teachers may be unaware of the role that oral language development plays in the development of literacy skills. This entry presents some of the issues that teachers must consider in sorting out the relationships between oral language development and literacy, such as whether literacy instruction should be built on a solid oral language base or taught as learners are developing oral language skills. Pedagogical implications for oral language development and literacy are also presented as they relate to the timing of instruction, early intervention, and the development of reading comprehension skills.
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