Tag Archives: Chinese
Early achievement in rural China: The role of preschool experience
Rao, N., Sun, J., Zhou, J., & Zhang, L. (2012). Early achievement in rural China: The role of preschool experience. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27, 66-76
Abstract:
Two studies examined the relationship between preschool experiences and the early academic achievement of rural Chinese children. In both Study 1 (n = 165) and Study 2 (n = 205), the school preparedness, and the literacy and mathematics attainment of first graders with different preschool experiences (kindergarten, separate pre-primary class, “sitting-in” a Grade 1 class, no preschool experience) were assessed. In Study 1, educational attainment was evaluated using end-of-semester examinations designed by local educational authorities; whereas in Study 2, better-constructed and identical tests were administered at the beginning and end of the academic year. Further, in Study 2, the different types of preschool programs attended by participating children were directly observed. Findings from both studies showed that children with developmentally appropriate preschool experiences (kindergartens or separate pre-primary classes) had higher school readiness scores than other children. Results from Study 2 also indicated that (i) disparities in children’s school attainment were associated with the type of their preschool experience; and (ii) children from the developmentally appropriate kindergarten program showed higher mathematics and literacy achievement at the end of Grade 1 than children who merely “sat in” Grade 1 classes or had no preschool experience. Implications of the findings for the scaling up of preschool services in rural China are discussed.
Relationship between riddle appreciation and reading comprehension in Chinese children
[speaker]Tang, Nga-yee, Ivy[/speaker]
Tang, I.; To, KS. ; Weekes, B. Relationship between riddle appreciation and reading comprehension in Chinese children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 2013
Abstract:
Using riddles to train inference-making skills for better reading comprehension is effective for English-speaking children. Given the different writing system of Chinese, the goal of the present study was to investigate the relationship between riddle appreciation and reading comprehension performance in typically developing Cantonese-speaking children. Methods. Forty Cantonese-speaking children aged between 9;1 and 11;0 (Grade 4) were given tests of reading comprehension and riddle appreciation ability. Chinese character reading and auditory comprehension abilities were also assessed using standardized tests in Hong Kong. Regression analyses revealed that riddle appreciation explained a significant amount of variance in reading comprehension ability but not in character reading skills after auditory comprehension skills had been controlled for. Lexical, morphological, orthographic, and syntactic riddles were significantly correlated with reading comprehension ability in Chinese speakers. The conclusion is Inference-making abilities predict reading comprehension in Chinese Fourth Graders. Training riddles in reading comprehension training programs may be effective for Chinese speakers.