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Studies of the phonological awareness of bilingual Chinese kindergarten children
Abstract
In a series of studies the nature of bilingual Chinese kindergarten children's phonological awareness was investigated. It was hypothesized that the Chinese oral language would influence the children's phonological skills, and reveal a profile of strengths and weaknesses, relative to the phonological abilities of the monolingual English-speaking children.
Study I examined a sample of 28 children and found evidence to support this hypothesis. The Chinese children were more sensitive to syllables than onsets and rimes.
In Study II, an onset/rime-based and language intervention programme was conducted for another sample of 32 children. After six months, the children improved in both on set/rime and phonemic awareness. However: they still did not perform as well as English monolingual children.
Study III compared children who participated and who did not participate in the intervention programme in terms of their phonological and reading abilities. The children involved in the programme were found to generate more rhyming words but were weaker in reading than children who were not in the programme.
Results from Studies II and III also suggest that explicit instruction is important to help children apply their phonological skills to reading, especially as other research has indicated that Chinese children are more likely to rely on a visual strategy when decoding words. In addition, educational programmes also need to simultaneously facilitate the expressive language development of these bilingual children.
Study I examined a sample of 28 children and found evidence to support this hypothesis. The Chinese children were more sensitive to syllables than onsets and rimes.
In Study II, an onset/rime-based and language intervention programme was conducted for another sample of 32 children. After six months, the children improved in both on set/rime and phonemic awareness. However: they still did not perform as well as English monolingual children.
Study III compared children who participated and who did not participate in the intervention programme in terms of their phonological and reading abilities. The children involved in the programme were found to generate more rhyming words but were weaker in reading than children who were not in the programme.
Results from Studies II and III also suggest that explicit instruction is important to help children apply their phonological skills to reading, especially as other research has indicated that Chinese children are more likely to rely on a visual strategy when decoding words. In addition, educational programmes also need to simultaneously facilitate the expressive language development of these bilingual children.
Date Issued
2000
Call Number
P221 Yon
Date Submitted
2000