Abstract
The present study aimed to examine the contributions of two separate Pinyin skills and oral vocabulary to Chinese word reading of 70 third graders in a U.S. Mandarin Immersion program where Pinyin was introduced at Grade 3. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that Pinyin initial-final spelling—the skill to spell Chinese syllables using Pinyin letters—and oral vocabulary were uniquely associated with Chinese word reading, after accounting for the effects of phonological awareness and the other Pinyin skill of tone identification. The variance in Chinese word reading explained by tone identification was fully accounted for by oral vocabulary, Pinyin initial–final spelling, and phonological awareness, suggesting that tone identification might involve both phonology- and meaning-related processes. Oral vocabulary and tone identification explained more shared variance in Chinese word reading than the two code-related skills of phonological awareness and Pinyin initial-final spelling. The importance of meaning-related skills in learning the deep orthography of Chinese characters for Chinese L2 young learners is discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Code availability
The custom code in R language that supports the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Data availability
The data and materials that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
References
Anderson, R. C., Ku, Y., Li, W., Chen, X., Wu, X., & Shu, H. (2013). Learning to see the patterns in Chinese characters. Scientific Studies of Reading, 17(1), 41–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2012.689789
Anderson, R. C., & Li, W. (2006). A cross-language perspective on learning to read. In A. McKeough, L. Phillips, V. Timmons, & J. L. Lupart (Eds.), Understanding literacy development: A global view (pp. 65–91). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
August, D. E., & Shanahan, T. E. (Eds.). (2006). Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the national literacy panel on language-minority children and youth. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Beck, I., McKeown, M., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. The Guilford Press.
Bialystok, E., McBride-Chang, C., & Luk, G. (2005). Bilingualism, language proficiency, and learning to read in two writing systems. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 580–590. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.97.4.580
Box, G. E. P. (1976). Science and statistics. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 71, 791–799. https://doi.org/10.2307/2286841
Budescu, D. V. (1993). Dominance analysis: A new approach to the problem of relative importance of predictors in multiple regression. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 542–551. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.114.3.542
Burkhauser, S., Steele, J. L., Li, J., Slater, R. O., Bacon, M., & Miller, T. (2016). Partner-language learning trajectories in dual-language immersion: Evidence from an urban district. Foreign Language Annals, 49, 415–433. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12218
Campbell, R. (1985). When children write nonwords to dictation. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 40, 133–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0965(85)90069-4
Chow, B. W.-Y., McBride-Chang, C., Cheung, H., & Chow, C. S.-L. (2008). Dialogic reading and morphology training in Chinese children: Effects on language and literacy. Developmental Psychology, 44, 233–244. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.1.233
Committee of Chinese Writing System Reform. (1958). Scheme of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet. Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.cn/ewebeditor/uploadfile/2015/03/02/20150302165814246.pdf
Ding, Y., Liu, R.-D., McBride, C., & Zhang, D. (2015). Pinyin invented spelling in Mandarin Chinese-speaking children with and without reading difficulties. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 48, 635–645. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219414522704
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, D. M. (2007). PPVT-4: Peabody picture vocabulary test. Pearson Assessments.
Ehri, L. C., Nunes, S. R., Willows, D. M., Schuster, B. V., Yaghoub-Zadeh, Z., & Shanahan, T. (2001). Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to read: Evidence from the national reading Panel’s meta-analysis. Reading research quarterly, 36(3), 250–287. https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.36.3.2
Everson, M. E. (1998). Word recognition among learners of Chinese as a foreign language: Investigating the relationship between naming and knowing. The Modern Language Journal, 82, 194–204. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1998.tb01192.x
Fortune, T. W., & Song, W. (2016). Academic achievement and language proficiency in early total Mandarin immersion education. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 4, 168–197. https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.4.2.02for
Fortune, T. W., & Tedick, D. J. (2003). What parents want to know about foreign language immersion programs. Retreived from https://carla.umn.edu/immersion/FAQs.html
Frost, R., Katz, L., & Bentin, S. (1987). Strategies for visual word recognition and orthographical depth: A multilingual comparison. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 13(1), 104–115. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.13.1.104
Genesee, F. (2004). What do we know about bilingual education for majority language students? In T. K. Bhatia & W. Ritchie (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism and multiculturalism (pp. 547–576). Blackwell.
Hamayan, E., Genesee, F., & Cloud, N. (2013). Dual language instruction from a-z: Practical guidance for teachers and administrators. Heinemann.
Ho, C. S.-H., & Bryant, P. (1997). Development of phonological awareness of Chinese children in Hong Kong. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 26, 109–126. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1025016322316
Hua, Z., & Dodd, B. (2000). The phonological acquisition of Putonghua (Modern Standard Chinese). Journal of Child Language, 27(1), 3–42. https://doi.org/10.1017/s030500099900402x
Huang, H. S., & Hanley, J. R. (1995). Phonological awareness and visual skills in learning to read Chinese and English. Cognition, 54(1), 73–98.
Hulme, C., Zhou, L., Tong, X., Lervåg, A., & Burgoyne, K. (2019). Learning to read in Chinese: Evidence for reciprocal relationships between word reading and oral language skills. Developmental science, 22(1), e12745. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12745
Katz, L., & Frost, R. (1992). The reading process is different for different orthographies: The orthographic depth hypothesis. In R. Frost & L. Katz (Eds.), Orthography, phonology, morphology, and meaning (pp. 67–84). North Holland.
Keung, Y. C., & Ho, C. S.-H. (2009). Transfer of reading-related cognitive skills in learning to read Chinese (L1) and English (L2) among Chinese elementary school children. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34, 103–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2008.11.001
Koda, K., & Zehler, A. M. (Eds.). (2008). Learning to read across languages: Cross-linguistic relationships in first-and second-language literacy development. Routledge.
Kuo, L. J., & Anderson, R. C. (2006). Morphological awareness and learning to read: A cross-language perspective. Educational Psychologist, 41, 161–180. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4103_3
Levine, T. R., & Hullett, C. R. (2002). Eta squared, partial eta squared, and misreporting of effect size in communication research. Human Communication Research, 28, 612–625. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2002.tb00828.x
Li, C., & Thompson, S. A. (1981). Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. University of California Press.
Li, W.-S., & Ho, C. S.-H. (2011). Lexical tone awareness among Chinese children with developmental dyslexia. Journal of Child Language, 38, 793–808. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000910000346
Lin, D., McBride-Chang, C., Shu, H., Zhang, Y., Li, H., Zhang, J., Aram, D., & Levin, I. (2010). Small wins big: Analytic Pinyin skills promote Chinese word reading. Psychological Science, 21, 1117–1122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610375447
Lin, Y.-W. (2007). The sounds of Chinese. Cambridge University Press.
Lindholm-Leary, K. J. (2001). Dual language education. Multilingual Matters.
Lü, C. (2017). The roles of Pinyin skill in English-Chinese biliteracy learning: Evidence from Chinese immersion learners. Foreign Language Annals, 50, 306–322. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12269
Mandarin Immersion Parents Council. (2020). Full Mandarin immersion school list [Data file]. Retrieved from https://miparentscouncil.org/full-mandarin-immersion-school-list/
McBride, C. (2016). Children’s literacy development: A cross-cultural perspective on learning to read and write. Routledge.
McBride, C., & Wang, Y. (2015). Learning to read Chinese: Universal and unique cognitive cores. Child Development Perspectives, 9, 196–200. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12132
McBride-Chang, C. (1995). What is phonological awareness? Journal of Educational Psychology, 87, 179–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2017.11.001
McBride-Chang, C. (1998). The development of invented spelling. Early Education & Development, 9, 147–160. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15566935eed0902
McBride-Chang, C., Cho, J. R., Liu, H., Wagner, R. K., Shu, H., Zhou, A., Cheuk, C. S.-M., & Muse, A. (2005). Changing models across cultures: Associations of phonological awareness and morphological structure awareness with vocabulary and word recognition in second graders from Beijing, Hong Kong, Korea, and the United States. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 92, 140–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2005.03.009
McBride-Chang, C., & Ho, C. S.-H. (2005). Predictors of beginning reading in Chinese and English: A 2-year longitudinal study of Chinese kindergartners. Scientific studies of Reading, 9(2), 117–144. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532799xssr0902_2
McBride-Chang, C., Tong, X., Shu, H., Wong, A. M. Y., Leung, K. W., & Tardif, T. (2008). Syllable, phoneme, and tone: Psycholinguistic units in early Chinese and english word recognition. Scientific Studies of Reading, 12, 171–194. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888430801917290
Pan, J., McBride-Chang, C., Shu, H., Liu, H., Zhang, Y., & Li, H. (2011). What is in the naming? A 5-year longitudinal study of early rapid naming and phonological sensitivity in relation to subsequent reading skills in both native Chinese and English as a second language. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103, 897–908. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024344
Perfetti, C. A. (2003). The universal grammar of reading. Scientific studies of reading, 7(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532799XSSR0701_02
Rayner, K., Foorman, B. R., Perfetti, C. A., Pesetsky, D., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2001). How psychological science informs the teaching of reading. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2(2), 31–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/1529-1006.00004
Read, C., Zhang, Y., Nie, H., & Ding, B. (1986). The ability to manipulate speech sounds depends on knowing alphabetic spelling. Cognition, 24(1–2), 31–44.
Ricketts, J., Nation, K., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2007). Vocabulary is important for some, but not all reading skills. Scientific Studies of Reading, 11, 235–257. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888430701344306
Seidenberg, M. S., & McClelland, J. L. (1989). A distributed, developmental model of word recognition and naming. Psychological Review, 96, 523–568. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.96.4.523
Selkirk, E. (1982). The syllable. In H. V. D. Hulst & N. Smith (Eds.), The structure of phonological representations: Part 2 (pp. 337–384). Foris.
Seymour, P. H. K., Aro, M., & Erskine, J. M. (2003). Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies. British Journal of Psychology, 94(2), 143–174. https://doi.org/10.1348/000712603321661859
Shu, H., & Anderson, C. (1997). Role of radical awareness in the character and word acqusition of Chinese chilren. Reading Research Quarterly, 32(1), 78–89. https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.32.1.5
Shu, H., Chen, X., Anderson, R. C., Wu, N., & Xuan, Y. (2003). Properties of school Chinese: Implications for learning to read. Child Development, 74(1), 27–47. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00519
Shu, H., McBride-Chang, C., Wu, S., & Liu, H. (2006). Understanding Chinese developmental dyslexia: Morphological awareness as a core cognitive construct. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 122–133. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.98.1.122
Shu, H., Peng, H., & McBride-Chang, C. (2008). Phonological awareness in young Chinese children. Developmental Science, 11, 171–181. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00654.x
Swender, E., Conrad, D. J., & Vicars, R. (2012). ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012. Retrieved from https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/public/ACTFLProficiencyGuidelines2012_FINAL.pdf
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2013). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). Pearson.
Tong, X., Tong, X., & McBride, C. (2017). Unpacking the relation between morphological awareness and Chinese word reading: Levels of morphological awareness and vocabulary. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 48, 167–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2016.07.003
Tong, X., Tong, X., & McBride-Chang, C. (2015). Tune in to the tone: Lexical tone identification is associated with vocabulary and word recognition abilities in young Chinese children. Language and Speech, 58, 441–458. https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830914562988
Wang, Y., & McBride, C. (2016). Character reading and word reading in Chinese: Unique correlates for Chinese kindergarteners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37, 371–386. https://doi.org/10.1017/S014271641500003X
Watzinger-Tharp, J., Rubio, F., & Tharp, D. S. (2018). Linguistic performance of dual language immersion students. Foreign Language Annals, 51, 575–595. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12354
Williams, K. T. (2007). EVT-2: Expressive vocabulary test, form A (2nd ed.). Pearson Assessments.
Wong, Y. K. (2017). The role of radical awareness in Chinese-as-a-second-language learners’ Chinese character reading development. Language Awareness, 26(3), 211–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2017.1400039
Wu, X., Anderson, R. C., Li, W., Wu, X., Li, H., Zhang, J., Zheng, Q., Zhu, J., Shu, H., Jiang, W., Chen, X., Wang, Q., Yin, L., He, Y., Packard, J., & Gaffney, J. S. (2009). Morphological awareness and Chinese children’s literacy development: An intervention study. Scientific Studies of Reading, 13(1), 26–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888430802631734
Yeung, P.-S., Ho, C. S.-H., Wong, Y.-K., Chan, D. W.-O., Chung, K. K.-H., & Lo, L.-Y. (2013). Longitudinal predictors of Chinese word reading and spelling among elementary grade students. Applied Psycholinguistics, 34, 1245–1277. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0142716412000239
Zhang, H. (2016). Morphological awareness in literacy acquisition of Chinese second graders: A path analysis. Journal of psycholinguistic research, 45(1), 103–119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-014-9327-1
Zhang, H., & Koda, K. (2018). Vocabulary knowledge and morphological awareness in Chinese as a heritage language (CHL) reading comprehension ability. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 31, 53–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9773-x
Zhang, H., & Roberts, L. (2020). A comparison of Pinyin invented spelling and oddity test in measuring phonological awareness in L2 learners of Chinese. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 3, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-020-09700-z
Zhang, Y., Tardif, T., Shu, H., Li, H., Liu, H., McBride-Chang, C., Liang, W., & Zhang, Z. (2013). Phonological skills and vocabulary knowledge mediate socioeconomic status effects in predicting reading outcomes for Chinese children. Developmental Psychology, 49, 665–671. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028612
Zhou, L., Duff, F. J., & Hulme, C. (2015). Phonological and semantic knowledge are causal influences on learning to read words in Chinese. Scientific Studies of Reading, 19, 409–418. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2015.1068317
Zhou, Y. (2012). An investigation of cognitive, linguistic and reading correlates in children learning Chinese and English as a first and second language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Zhou, Y., & McBride, C. (2015). The same or different: An investigation of cognitive and metalinguistic correlates of Chinese word reading for native and non-native Chinese speaking children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21(4), 765–781.
Zhou, Y., McBride, C., Leung, J. S. M., Wang, Y., Joshi, M., & Farver, J. (2017). Chinese and english reading-related skills in L1 and L2 Chinese-speaking children in Hong Kong. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 33, 300–312. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2017.1342848
Zhou, Y., McBride-Chang, C., Fong, C. Y.-C., Wong, T. T.-Y., & Cheung, S. K. (2012). A comparison of phonological awareness, lexical compounding, and homophone training for Chinese word reading in Hong Kong kindergartners. Early Education & Development, 23, 475–492. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2010.530478
Ziegler, J. C., Bertrand, D., Tóth, D., Csépe, V., Reis, A., Faísca, L., & Saine, N., Lyytinen, H., Vaessen, A., Blomert, L. (2010). Orthographic depth and its impact on universal predictors of reading: A cross-language investigation. Psychological science, 21, 551–559. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610363406
Ziegler, J. C., & Goswami, U. (2005). Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages: A psycholinguistic grain size theory. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 3–29. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.131.1.3
Ziegler, J. C., & Goswami, U. (2006). Becoming literate in different languages: similar problems, different solutions. Developmental science, 9, 429–436. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2006.00509.x
Funding
The study reported in this article received financial support from Language Learning and the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations/National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
The first author or corresponding author is the major contributor of the study. The second and third authors have been deeply involved in all aspects of the study, including study design, material preparation, data analysis, and manuscript writing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ju, Z., Zhou, Y. & delMas, R. The contributions of separate pinyin skills and oral vocabulary to Chinese word reading of U.S. Mandarin immersion third graders. Read Writ 34, 2439–2459 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10150-9
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10150-9