The same or different: An investigation of cognitive and metalinguistic correlates of Chinese word reading for native and non-native Chinese speaking children

Abstract

We investigated cognitive and metalinguistic correlates of Chinese word reading in children with L2 Chinese learning experience and compared these to those in L1 Chinese speaking children. In total, 102 third and fourth grade children were recruited for the study. We examined a range of Chinese and English word reading related cognitive and metalinguistic skills. Compared to the native Chinese speaking group (NCSS), the non-native Chinese speaking group (NNCS) only performed better in English vocabulary knowledge and English working memory. On Chinese word reading related skills the NNCS group performed significantly worse than the NCS group. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the unique correlates of Chinese word reading for both groups were Chinese vocabulary, working memory, lexical tone awareness, and orthographic skills. For the NNCS group only, visual skills were also unique correlates of word reading skills. The results suggest cognitive similarities and differences in reading among native and non-native Chinese speakers.

Becoming literate in Chinese: a comparison of native‐speaking and non‐native‐speaking children

“…A lack of such a system means that NCS children can neither look up the pronunciations of forgotten characters nor ask their NCS parents for help with character identification. In addition, it may be that children whose native language is Chinese (CS) learn to read and write in a more visual–spatial way, whereas those whose native language is alphabetic are more tuned into phonological coding as a way to learn new characters (e.g., Zhou & McBride, ). In the present study, we attempted to investigate phonological and visual–orthographic approaches Chinese literacy learning in Hong Kong among NCS and CS children separately in an effort to understand diversity in such learning.…”

“…Radical knowledge is widely recognised as effective for teaching of Chinese as well, so we included a radical knowledge method of teaching in the present study. Given some preliminary evidence of overreliance on phonological strategies in those whose first language/script is alphabetic (e.g., Zhou & McBride, ), we also tested the effectiveness of a phonological coding strategy for both groups in the current study. Finally, the typical approach to teaching Chinese character recognition in Hong Kong is the look–say method, so we included this simple memorisation technique as well.…”

How to learn Chinese characters? Exploring the effectiveness of different learning methods in young Singaporean children

“…A study comparing character processing skills among native and L2 learners in a bilingual international school in Hong Kong found that L2 learners lagged behind native learners in their Chinese reading development. In terms of working memory, both groups performed similarly for phonological working memory, but the L2 learners were weaker in their general working memory skills (Zhou & McBride, 2018). The association between weak working memory skills and poor reading indicates that L2 learners were somewhat deficient in their visuo-spatial working memory skills, thus preventing them from utilising both phonological and visual-spatial working memory efficiently for character recognition.…”

“…As oral language provides the foundation for literacy learning, stronger oral language proficiency is often associated with better reading skills (Zhou & McBride, 2018). In the case of L2 learners whose oral proficiency is still developing, their L2 reading development will somewhat be limited by their L2 oral proficiency (Swanson, Rosston, Gerber & Solari, 2008), particularly their vocabulary knowledge (Zhou & McBride, 2018).…”

“…As oral language provides the foundation for literacy learning, stronger oral language proficiency is often associated with better reading skills (Zhou & McBride, 2018). In the case of L2 learners whose oral proficiency is still developing, their L2 reading development will somewhat be limited by their L2 oral proficiency (Swanson, Rosston, Gerber & Solari, 2008), particularly their vocabulary knowledge (Zhou & McBride, 2018). Although learning Pinyin can help in some way with the mapping between spoken language and writing system by activating phonological information to trigger semantic processing in character reading (Spinks, Liu, Perfetti, & Tan, 2000), it may also cause L2 children to overly rely on Pinyin and could not focus on developing sensitivity towards orthographic structures and orthographic regularities, thus hindering the development of their character recognition ability.…”