Zhou, L;
(2017)
Learning to Read and Spell in Chinese: The Role of Cognitive Skills.
Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).
Preview |
Text
Zhou_LULIN ZHOU.pdf Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
This thesis explores the role of cognitive skills in learning to read and spell in Chinese using 4 studies. Chapter 1 reports a 2-year longitudinal study which examines a range of cognitive skills (i.e. phonological awareness, tone awareness, morphological awareness, visual skills, Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN), Pinyin knowledge, and vocabulary knowledge) as predictors of reading and spelling. Chapter 2 explores the learning mechanisms involved in learning to read and spell in Chinese. Chapters 3 and 4 report two training studies: Chapter 3 evaluates the causal influences of phonological and semantic skills on learning to read; Chapter 4 assesses the effect of Pinyin training on both reading and spelling. Results show that Pinyin spelling and RAN are robust predictors of reading and spelling in Chinese. Vocabulary significantly predicts reading but plays a limited role in spelling. Phonological awareness and visual skills are important for children’s early literacy development, whereas morphological awareness shows a greater effect on reading and spelling achievement in the later grades. Both visual-verbal and verbalvisual PAL are critical foundations of learning to read and spell in Chinese. Visualverbal PAL is a significant predictor of reading beyond Pinyin spelling, morphological awareness, and vocabulary, and verbal-visual PAL is significant predictor of spelling after controlling for RAN, pinyin spelling, and age. The training studies confirm the causal influences of phonological and semantic skills on learning to read in Chinese, but fail to demonstrate a causal role of Pinyin knowledge in Chinese literacy skills. These findings show strong consistency with previous studies in Chinese, but contrast with several English studies. These findings have practical implications for the identification of the children at risk of reading difficulties and how best to teach children to learn to read and spell in Chinese.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Title: | Learning to Read and Spell in Chinese: The Role of Cognitive Skills |
| Event: | UCL (University College London) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1545271 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
