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The impact of teaching methods on learning of Chinese characters among English-Chinese bilingual children with dyslexia
Citation
Lee, A. H. S., & Poon, K. K. (2014). The impact of teaching methods on learning of Chinese characters among English-Chinese bilingual children with dyslexia. Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences, 1(1), 20-29. https://doi.org/10.3850%2FS2345734114000039
Abstract
It is commonly thought that the use of Hanyu Pinyin (or ‘Pinyin’) can promote the learning of Chinese characters as it assists learners to pronounce new characters via a sub‐lexical route (Dai & Lu, 1985; Huang & Hanley, 1997). However, there are also studies suggesting that presenting a Chinese character with its Pinyin depresses the rate at which the Chinese word can be learned (e.g., Solman & Adepoju, 1995; Solman & Chung, 1996). In view of this, this study aims to explore the impact of Pinyin during instruction on the acquisition of Chinese characters by Primary One students with dyslexia. Employing a single case alternating treatments design methodology, two girls and one boy diagnosed with developmental dyslexia were taught to read Chinese characters using two methods. The Pinyin method of teaching involves the pairing of the Chinese character printed on a card with its respective Pinyin transcription together with the teacher reading the word aloud. The Stroke method of teaching presents the order in which the strokes of the Chinese character are written in Pinyin. All three participants recognized more words when presented with the Stroke method across all sets of words. The implications of these findings to the nature of dyslexia and to the language learning of English‐Chinese bilinguals with dyslexia are discussed.
Date Issued
2014
Publisher
Dyslexia Association of Singapore
Journal
Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences