ERIC Number: EJ1031312
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Apr
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1539-0578
EISSN: N/A
Cognitive and Linguistic Factors Affecting Alphasyllabary Language Users Comprehending Chinese Text
Shum, Mark Shiu Kee; Ki, Wing Wah; Leong, Che Kan
Reading in a Foreign Language, v26 n1 p153-175 Apr 2014
Two groups of 13 to14-year-old alphasyllabary language users (mainly Hindi and Urdu), in integrated or designated school settings (respectively 40 and 48 students), were compared with 59 Chinese students in comprehending 4 elementary Chinese texts, each with three inferential questions requiring short open-ended written answers. Three constructs each with two indicators were hypothesized to predict text comprehension differentially in the three groups: verbal working memory, orthographic processing and sentence processing. The 147 students also completed a short questionnaire on their reading and writing of Chinese, a 43-item Students' Approaches to Learning and a nonverbal general intelligence test. Multivariate analyses of variance and hierarchical multiple regression analyses point to the significant contribution of verbal span working memory, orthographic choice in context and sentence processing in Chinese to Chinese text comprehension. Educational implications include strengthening teaching the structure and function of Chinese characters and words to enhance text comprehension.
Descriptors: Chinese, Reading Comprehension, Urdu, Indo European Languages, Second Language Learning, Adolescents, Comparative Analysis, Native Speakers, Short Term Memory, Language Processing, Sentences, Orthographic Symbols, Questionnaires, Intelligence Tests, Multivariate Analysis, Multiple Regression Analysis, Language Minorities, Learning Strategies, Foreign Countries
Reading in a Foreign Language. National Foreign Language Resource Center, 1859 East-West Road #106, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822. e-mail: readfl@hawaii.edu; Web site: http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Hong Kong
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: British Ability Scales
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A