Do pinyin and character recognition help each other grow?

Zhang, Suzhen; Georgiou, George K.; Inoue, Tomohiro; Zhong, Weiwei; Shu, Hua

doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.06.004

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The current study extended previous research in two ways. First, most of previous Chinese studies usually focus on domain‐specific skills for reading, such as metalinguistic skills, Pinyin, and vocabulary knowledge (e.g., Ruan, Georgiou, Song, Li, & Shu, 2018; S. Z. Zhang, Georgiou, Inoue, Zhong, & Shu, 2020), few has examined the extent to which domain‐general cognitive abilities would contribute to Chinese character knowledge. Second, this is among the very few studies to examine the relative contribution of a wide range of general cognitive predictors among Chinese children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct effects of visual skills and working memory on Chinese character reading in young children

Yang

Qiao

2021

Infant and Child Development

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The present study aimed to examine how visual skills, verbal working memory, visuospatial working memory, and other general cognitive skills (inhibitory control, attention, and decision speed) were simultaneously correlated with the early acquisition of reading among kindergarten children. A total of 99 Chinese children were tested individually on the Chinese character recognition task, the block design task, the digit span task, the visuospatial sketchpad task, the continuous performance task (CPT), the flanker task, and the choice reaction time task. The results showed that visual skills and working memory accounted for 15% of the unique variance in character reading, whereas other general cognitive skills, including decision speed, inhibitory control and attention, did not significantly explain the variance in character reading when visual skills and working memory were considered. Specifically, verbal working memory, rather than visuospatial working memory, explained the unique variance in children's learning of character reading. These findings highlighted that visual skills and verbal working memory were among the most important precursors of reading in children at the beginning stage of learning Chinese characters.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct effects of visual skills and working memory on Chinese character reading in young children

Yang

Qiao

2021

Infant and Child Development

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“…Pan et al found that invented pinyin spelling at age 6 independently predicted reading performance at ages 8 and 10 ( Pan et al, 2011). Zhang and colleagues' recent finding suggests a bidirectional relationship (Zhang et al, 2020).…”

Section: Brain Basis Of Audiovisual Integration 35mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurofunctional basis underlying audiovisual integration of print and speech sound in Chinese children

Xia

Yang

Cui

et al. 2020

Preprint

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31Efficient integration of grapheme and phoneme is crucial for reading development 32 in alphabetic languages, and superior temporal cortex (STC) has been demonstrated 33 to be the most critical region for this process. To determine whether a similar 34 neural mechanism underlies such processing in non-alphabetic languages, and to 35 explore its relationship with reading, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance 36 imaging study in typically developing Chinese children. Highly frequent 37 pictographic characters and pinyin, a transparent alphabetic coding system that 38 assists individuals to learn the pronunciation of new characters were investigated. 39In support of the orthographic depth hypothesis developed in alphabetic languages, 40 reverse congruency effect (i.e., higher activation in incongruent condition compared 41 to congruent condition) was identified in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and 42 bilateral STC for character (deep orthography) conditions. Furthermore, correlation 43 analysis revealed that the congruency contrast in the left IFG was associated with 44 proficiency in reading comprehension and morphological awareness, suggesting 45 reading-related semantic access during the implicit integration of multisensory 46 information regarding characters. For pinyin (shallow orthography) conditions, 47 while no regions showed a significant congruency effect at the group level in either 48 direction, the congruency contrast in the left superior temporal gyrus was positively 49 correlated with oral reading performance. This observation is consistent with 50 findings in transparent scripts on reading disorders. Taken together, these results 51 support and generalize the orthographic depth hypothesis to a logographic 52 Brain basis of audiovisual integration 4 language, highlight the role of the left IFG in character-syllable integration, and 53 underscore the role pinyin could play in developing fluent reading in Chinese 54 children. 55 Keywords 56 Audiovisual integration, character, fMRI, pinyin, Chinese reading development 57 Highlights 58 • The left IFG and bilateral STC are involved in audiovisual integration of 59 characters. 60• The congruency contrast in the left IFG in response to characters corresponds to 61 semantic access. 62• The congruency contrast in the left STG in response to pinyin is correlated with 63 print-to-sound mapping. 64• These findings support the orthographic depth hypothesis in a nonalphabetic 65 language. 66• The results imply a close link between pinyin and Chinese reading acquisition. 67Brain basis of audiovisual integration 5

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“…Therefore, Pinyin, an alphabetic encoding system, was invented in 1956 in Mainland China to encode the phonological system of Mandarin Chinese and has become extremely important in the process of learning the Chinese writing system. Native Chinese children and nonnative Chinese learners rely on Pinyin to pronounce unfamiliar characters and establish print-sound correspondence ( Shu and Liu, 1994 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ). Studies have shown that Pinyin letter knowledge or Pinyin spelling is beneficial for Chinese character reading in native Chinese children ( Siok and Fletcher, 2001 ; Lin et al, 2010 ; Yin et al, 2011 ; Wang et al, 2014 ; Wang and McBride, 2016 ; Ding et al, 2018 ; Ma et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Native Chinese children and nonnative Chinese learners rely on Pinyin to pronounce unfamiliar characters and establish print-sound correspondence ( Shu and Liu, 1994 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ). Studies have shown that Pinyin letter knowledge or Pinyin spelling is beneficial for Chinese character reading in native Chinese children ( Siok and Fletcher, 2001 ; Lin et al, 2010 ; Yin et al, 2011 ; Wang et al, 2014 ; Wang and McBride, 2016 ; Ding et al, 2018 ; Ma et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ). However, there are few studies of the role of Pinyin spelling skills in Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) or Chinese as a second language (CSL) learners’ development of Chinese reading, let alone the mechanism of influence and whether the influence is limited to primary learners.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pinyin skills are usually assessed by several measures, including Pinyin letter knowledge, invented Pinyin spelling and Pinyin spelling. To evaluate Pinyin knowledge, tasks are commonly administered that require learners to recognize Pinyin letters or read Pinyin syllables/sentences quickly ( Yin et al, 2011 ; Wang et al, 2014 ; Wang and McBride, 2016 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ). Invented Pinyin spelling is adapted from invented spelling in English ( Read, 1971 ; Bryant and Bradley, 1980 ) and places particular emphasis on the ability to spontaneously develop Chinese phonological acuity, especially in preschool Chinese children who have not been introduced to Pinyin formally ( Lin et al, 2010 ; Pan et al, 2011 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Pinyin Spelling Promotes Reading Abilities of Adolescents Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language: Evidence From Mediation Models

Xiao

Rusamy³

2020

Front. Psychol.

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Pinyin is a phonological encoding system used to spell modern Chinese Mandarin due to the phonological opacity of Chinese characters. The present study examined the role of Pinyin spelling in the reading abilities of adolescents learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). A total of 158 Indonesian senior primary students were tested on Pinyin spelling, character production, listening comprehension, depth of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension. Pinyin spelling skills were assessed by two measures, Pinyin Dictation (sentence dictation in Pinyin) and Pinyin Tagging (Pinyin writing for characters). Path analysis revealed that even after controlling for the effect of character production, Pinyin dictation performance influenced reading comprehension through the mediating effect of listening comprehension and the depth of vocabulary knowledge, and Pinyin tagging performance also influenced reading comprehension through the mediating effect of the depth of vocabulary knowledge. The results highlight the importance of Pinyin skills for Chinese reading abilities of CFL learners. As a reliable and explicit indicator of specifying Chinese phonological representations and processing, Pinyin spelling has a long-term and multifaceted influence on higher-level CFL abilities.

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Do pinyin and character recognition help each other grow?

Cited by 8 publications

References 36 publications

Direct effects of visual skills and working memory on Chinese character reading in young children

Direct effects of visual skills and working memory on Chinese character reading in young children

Neurofunctional basis underlying audiovisual integration of print and speech sound in Chinese children

Pinyin Spelling Promotes Reading Abilities of Adolescents Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language: Evidence From Mediation Models

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