Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Character and child factors contribute to character recognition development among good and poor Chinese readers from grade 1 to 6

  • Published:
Annals of Dyslexia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In light of the dramatic growth of Chinese learners worldwide and a need for a cross-linguistic research on Chinese literacy development, this study investigated (a) the effects of character properties (i.e., orthographic consistency and transparency) on character acquisition, and (b) the effects of individual learner differences (i.e., orthographic awareness and phonological awareness) on character recognition. Chinese native-speaking children (over N = 100 for each of grade 1 to 6) completed a lexical decision task. Crossed random effects models suggested (a) character-level orthographic and phonological effects contributed to character recognition development in an asymptotic way from grade 1 to 6, with a moderate effect at earlier ages of acquisition and a stronger facilitation after grade 3; (b) child-level effects of orthographic awareness and character-reading level contributed to all types of characters; (c) the interaction between orthographic consistency and orthographic awareness grew more pronounced among typically developing children progressively from grade 1 to grade 6; and (d) this interaction of character- and child-level factors was not significantly associated with literacy development among children with poor reading skills. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for character development among typically and nontypically developing children.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Our key result that poor readers show an effect of OA but not of PA holds across a variety of different screening strategies: our preferred method reported in the main text, the final CAPT scores alone, PA alone, OA alone, or a composite of PA and PA, indicating a robust finding.

References

  • Anderson, R. C., Li, W., Ku, Y. M., Shu, H., & Wu, N. (2003). Use of partial information in learning to read Chinese characters. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(1), 52–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baayen, R. H. (2008). Analyzing linguistic data: A practical introduction to statistics. Cambridge University Press.

  • Baayen, R. H., Davidson, D. J., & Bates, D. M. (2008). Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 390–412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.12.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67, 1–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berninger, V. W., Abbott, R. D., Nagy, W., & Carlisle, J. (2010). Growth in phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness in grades 1 to 6. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 39, 141–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, L., & Bryant, P. E. (1983). Categorizing sounds and learning to read: A causal connection. Nature, 301, 419–421.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caravolas, M., Volin, J., & Hulme, C. (2005). Phoneme awareness is a key component of alphabetic literacy skills in consistent and inconsistent orthographies: Evidence from Czech and English children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 92, 107–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, B. G., Zhou, H. X., Dunlap, S., & Perfetti, C. A. (2007). Age of acquisition effects in reading Chinese: Evidence in favour of the arbitrary mapping hypothesis. British Journal of Psychology, 98, 499–516.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1983). The cost of dichotomization. Applied Psychological Measurement, 7, 249–253.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cortese, M. J., & Schock, J. (2013). Imageability and age of acquisition effects in disyllabic word recognition. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66, 946–972.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, R. A., Arnell, R., Birchenough, J. M., Grimmond, D., & Houlson, S. (2017). Reading through the life span: Individual differences in psycholinguistic effects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43, 1298–1338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ding, G., Peng, D., & Taft, M. (2004). The nature of the mental representation of radicals in Chinese: A priming study, Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory and Cognition, 30, 530–539.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehri, L. C. (1998). Development of the ability to read words. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. II, pp. 323–358). New York: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elleman, A. M., Steacy, L. M., Olinghouse, N. G., & Compton, D. L. (2017). Examining child and word characteristics in vocabulary learning of struggling readers. Scientific Studies of Reading, 21, 133–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang, S. P., Horng, R. Y., & Tzeng, O. J. L. (1986). Consistency effects in the Chinese character and pseudo-character naming tasks. In H. S. R. Kao & R. Hoosain (Eds.), Linguistics, psychology, and the Chinese language (pp. 11–21). Hong Kong: Center of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Francis, D. J., Shaywitz, S. E., Stuebing, K. K., Shaywitz, B. A., & Fletcher, J. M. (1996). Developmental lag versus deficit models of reading disabilities: A longitudinal, individual growth curve analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 3–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goswami, U., & Bryant, P. (1990). Phonological skills and learning to read. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grainger, J., & Ferrand, L. (1994). Phonology and orthography in visual word recognition: Effects of masked homophone primes. Journal of Memory and Language, 33(2), 218.

  • Grainger, J., & Ziegler, J. (2011). A dual-route approach to orthographic processing. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 54.

  • Guan, C. Q. & Fraundorf, S. H. (2019). Cross-linguistic word recognition development among Chinese children with and without dyslexia: A multilevel linear mixed-effects modeling approach. Manuscript under review.

  • Guan, Q. C., Liu, Y., & Perfetti, C. A. (2011). Writing strengthens orthography and alphabetic-coding strengthens phonology in learning to read Chinese. Journal of Educational Psychology., 103, 509–522.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guan, Q. C., Perfetti, C. A., & Meng, W. J. (2015). Writing quality predicts Chinese learning. Reading and Writing: An International Journal, 28, 763–695.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guan, Q. C., Kwok, R., & Wang, Y. (2019a). How does morphosyntactic skill contribute to different genres of Chinese writing from grades 3 to 6? Journal of Research in Reading, 42, 239–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guan, C. Q., Zhao, J., Kwok, R. K. W., & Wang, Y. (2019b). How does morphosyntactic skill contribute to different genres of Chinese writing from grades 3 to 6? Journal of Research in Reading, 42, 239–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • He, Y., Wang, Q., & Anderson, R. C. (2005). Chinese children’s use of subcharacter information about pronunciation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(4), 572–579.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ho, C. S.-H., Ng, T.-T., & Ng, W.-K. (2003). A “radical” approach to reading development in Chinese: The role of semantic radicals and phonetic radicals. Journal of Literacy Research, 35, 849–878.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsu, C.-H., Tsai, J.-L., Lee, C.-Y., & Tzeng, O. J.-L. (2009). Orthographic combinability and phonological consistency effects in reading Chinese phonograms: An event-related potential study. Brain & Language, 108, 56–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsuan, C.-H., Tsai, H. J., & Stainthorp, R. (2018). The role of phonological and orthographic awareness in learning to read among grade 1 and 2 students in Taiwan. Applied PsychoLinguistics, 39(1), 117–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hu, C.-F., & Catts, H. W. (1998). The role of phonological processing in early reading ability: What we can learn from Chinese. Scientific Studies of Reading, 2, 55–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jared, D. (2002). Spelling-sound consistency and regularity effects in word naming. Journal of Memory and Language, 46, 723–750.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jared, D., McRae, K., & Seidenberg, M. S. (1990). The basis of consistency effects in word naming. Journal of Memory and Language, 29, 687–715.

    Google Scholar 

  • Juhaz, B. J., Yap, M. J., Raoul, A., & Kaye, M. (2018). A further examination of word frequency and age-of-acquisition effects in English lexical decision task performance: The role of frequency trajectory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 45, 82–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kearns, D. M., Steacy, L. M., Compton, D. L., Gilbert, J. K., Goodwin, A. P., Cho, E., & Collins, A. A. (2016). Modeling polymorphemic word recognition: Exploring differences among children with early-emerging and late-emerging word reading difficulty. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 49, 368–394.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, C.-Y., Hsu, C.-H., Chang, Y.-N., Chen, W.-F., & Chao, P.-C. (2015). The consistency effect in Chinese character recognition: Evidence from a psycholinguistic norm. Language and Linguistics, 16, 535–554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liberman, I. Y. (1983). A language-oriented view of reading and its disabilities. In H. Myklebust (Ed.), Progress in learning disabilities (Vol. 5, pp. 53–75). New York: Grune & Stratton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mancilla-Martinez, J., & Lesaux, N. (2010). Predictors of reading comprehension for struggling readers: The case of Spanish-speaking language minority learners. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 701–711.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marslen-Wilson, W., Tyler, L. K., Waksler, R., & Older, L. (1994). Morphology and meaning in the English mental lexicon. Psychological Review, 101, 3–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matuschek, H., Kliegl, R., Vasishth, S., Baayen, H., & Bates, D. (2015). Balancing type I error and power in linear mixed models. Journal of Memory and Language, 94, 305–315.

    Google Scholar 

  • McBride, C., Wang, Y., & Cheang, L. M.-L. (2018). Dyslexia in Chinese. Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 5, 217–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moll, K., Ramus, F., Bartling, J., Bruder, J., Kunze, S., Neuhoff, N., et al. (2014). Cognitive mechanisms underlying reading and spelling development in five European orthographies. Learning and Instruction, 29, 65–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • NIES. (2012). Initial success in assessment and intervention on Learning Disabilities at GaoQiao Primary school in Ningbo. Retrieved from http://www.nies.net.cn/ky/syq/nbyz/jbcg/201211/t20121101_306943.html

  • Peng, P., Wang, C., Tao, S., & Sun, C. (2017). The deficit profiles of Chinese children with reading difficulties: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 29, 513–564.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peng, P., Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L. S., Elleman, A. M., Kearns, D. M., Gilbert, J. K., et al. (2019). A longitudinal analysis of the trajectories and predictors of word reading and reading comprehension development among at-risk readers. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 52, 195–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, C. A. (2007). Reading ability: Lexical quality to comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 11, 357–383.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, C. A., & Harris, L. N. (2013). Universal reading processes are modulated by language and writing system. Language Learning and Development, 9, 296–316.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plaut, D. C., McClelland, J. L., Seidenberg, M. S., & Patterson, K. (1996). Understanding normal and impaired word reading: Computational principles in quasi-regular domains. Psychological Review, 103, 56–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (1988). Methodological advances in analyzing the effects of schools and classrooms on student learning. Review of Research in Education, 15, 423–475.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shu, H., & Anderson, R. C. (1997). Role of orthographic awareness in the character and word acquisition of Chinese children. Reading Research Quarterly, 32, 78–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shu, H., Chen, X., Anderson, R. C., Wu, N., & Xuan, Y. (2003). Properties of school Chinese: Implications for learning to read. Child Development, 74, 27–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siok, W. T., & Fletcher, P. (2001). The role of phonological awareness and visual-orthographic skills in Chinese reading acquisition. Developmental Psychology, 37, 886–899.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steacy, L. M., Elleman, A. M., Lovett, M. W., & Compton, D. L. (2016). Exploring differential effects across two decoding treatments on item-level transfer in children with significant word reading difficulties: A new approach for testing intervention elements. Scientific Studies of Reading, 20, 283–295.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, J. (2018). What is developmental dyslexia? Brain Sciences, 8, 26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taraban, P., & McClelland, J. L. (1987). Conspiracy effects in word pronunciation. Journal of Memory and Language, 26, 608–631.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tibi, S., & Kirby, J. R. (2018). Investigating phonological awareness and naming speed as predictors of reading in Arabic. Scientific Studies of Reading, 22, 70–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, R., & Cassar, M. (1997). Can children and adults focus on sound as opposed to spelling in a phoneme counting task? Developmental Psychology, 33, 771–780.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tunmer, W., & Greaney, K. (2010). Defining dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 43, 229–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Linden, W. J. (2006). A lognormal model for response times on test items. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 31, 181–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Orden, G. C., Pennington, B. F., & Stone, G. O. (1990). Word identification in reading and the promise of subsymbolic psycholinguistics. Psychological Review, 97, 488–522.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughn, S., Fletcher, J. M., Francis, D. J., Denton, C. A., Wanzek, J., Wexler, J., Cirino, P. T., Barth, A. E., & Romain, M. A. (2008). Response to intervention with older students with reading difficulties. Learning and Individual Differences, 18, 338–345.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, R. K., & Torgenson, J. K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 192–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, M., & Bowers, P. G. (1999). The double-deficit hypothesis for the developmental dyslexias. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 415–438.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weekes, B. S., Castles, A. E. & Davies, R. A. (2006). Effects of consistency and age of acquisition on reading and spelling among developing readers. Reading and Writing, 19, 133–169.

  • Wright, T. S., & Cervetti, G. N. (2017). A systematic review of the research on vocabulary instruction that impacts text comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 52, 203–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zevin, J. D., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2004). Age-of-acquisition effects in reading aloud: Tests of cumulative frequency and frequency trajectory. Memory & Cognition, 32, 31–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zevin, J. D., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2006). Simulating consistency effects and individual differences in nonword naming: A comparison of current models. Journal of Memory and Language, 54, 145–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ziegler, J. C., Bertrand, D., Tóth, D., Csépe, V., Reis, A., Faísca, L., et al. (2010). Orthographic depth and its impact on universal predictors of reading: A cross-language investigation. Psychological Science, 21, 551–559.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China

    Connie Qun Guan

  2. University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China

    Connie Qun Guan

  3. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Connie Qun Guan

  4. Learning Research and Development Center and Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Scott H. Fraundorf & Charles A. Perfetti

Authors
  1. Connie Qun Guan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Scott H. Fraundorf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Charles A. Perfetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Connie Qun Guan.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Guan, C.Q., Fraundorf, S.H. & Perfetti, C.A. Character and child factors contribute to character recognition development among good and poor Chinese readers from grade 1 to 6. Ann. of Dyslexia 70, 220–242 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-020-00191-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-020-00191-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation