ERIC Number: EJ1189720
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Oct
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0922-4777
EISSN: N/A
The Roles of Metalinguistic Skills in Chinese-English Biliteracy Development
Luo, Yang Cathy; Koh, Poh Wee; Deacon, S. Hélène; Chen, Xi
Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, v31 n8 p1721-1740 Oct 2018
The study examined the role of phonological awareness and morphological awareness in concurrent and subsequent oral vocabulary among Chinese-English bilingual children who learned Chinese as their heritage language and English as their societal language. Ninety-one Chinese-English bilingual children in kindergarten and Grade 1 who were recruited from Chinese heritage language classes in Canada, participated in the study. They were tested twice, 1 year apart, on a battery of cognitive and literacy measures in Chinese and English. The results indicated that for oral vocabulary, morphological awareness was the only concurrent predictor in both languages. English morphological awareness made a direct contribution to English vocabulary measured a year later. By contrast, the contribution of morphological awareness to vocabulary in Chinese at Time 2 was indirect and mediated by vocabulary at Time 1. Phonological awareness did not make a significant contribution to vocabulary at Times 1 or 2 in either language. Our results highlight the importance of morphological awareness in oral vocabulary for children learning Chinese and English.
Descriptors: Phonological Awareness, Morphology (Languages), Bilingual Students, Chinese, English (Second Language), Kindergarten, Grade 1, Oral Language, Vocabulary, Predictor Variables, Native Language Instruction, Foreign Countries, Metalinguistics
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Kindergarten
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A