Grammatical and vocabulary knowledge (i.e., breadth and depth) are widely acknowledged as key pre... more Grammatical and vocabulary knowledge (i.e., breadth and depth) are widely acknowledged as key predictors of reading comprehension in a second language (L2). However, it remains unclear how different aspects of vocabulary depth may independently contribute to L2 reading comprehension and how learners' proficiency may moderate the relative contributions of vocabulary knowledge. Based on the Lexical Quality Hypothesis and the Reading Systems Framework, this study investigated 238 L2 Chinese learners who were college-level students in China, using a set of reading-related tasks. The results showed that (1) vocabulary breadth and grammatical knowledge independently contributed to L2 reading comprehension with grammatical knowledge being a more deciding factor; (2) different aspects of vocabulary depth (i.e., polysemy and synonymy), over and above vocabulary breadth and grammatical knowledge, played an independent role; and (3) more importantly, lower-proficiency learners relied more on vocabulary breadth whereas higher-proficiency learners made more use of vocabulary depth during text-level comprehension.
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism , 2023
Lexical ability, an umbrella term to cover various knowledge and skills pertaining to words in pr... more Lexical ability, an umbrella term to cover various knowledge and skills pertaining to words in print, is a key component in reading comprehension. Little is known how different facets of lexical ability jointly contribute to L2 reading comprehension and how the contributions may differ between higher- and lower-proficiency L2 learners. This study, based on 201 adults who had studied Chinese in China, explored direct and indirect effects of distinct facets of lexical ability on L2 reading comprehension. The participants completed three paper-pencil tasks that measured three facets of lexical ability, that is, morphological awareness, character knowledge, and vocabulary knowledge. Their short-term memory, grammatical knowledge, and reading comprehension were also measured. Separate sets of path analysis showed that higher- and lower-proficiency learners had distinct patterns of relationships. Whereas higher-proficiency learners relied more on morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge in L2 Chinese reading comprehension, lower-proficiency learners drew largely upon their character knowledge.
We investigated a technology-based tool for teaching English letter-sound correspondences with bi... more We investigated a technology-based tool for teaching English letter-sound correspondences with bilingual children learning phonologically and typologically distant languages: English and Chinese. We expect that learning about print at the phoneme level may be particularly challenging, given children’s experience with the morphosyllabic language of Chinese. This randomized-controlled study with 90 kindergarteners examined the effects of an iPad-based supplementary reading program compared with a control condition. The See Word Reading® program utilized picture-embedded cues for teaching phonics within lessons directed at the letter, word, and text levels. Measures of decoding, word reading, and spelling were taken at the pretest, posttest, and follow-up for both groups. Results showed better gains in word reading for the reading group, indicating the positive impact of this supplementary reading tool. Further, data collected online from the app showed that different types of letter-sound pairings were more challenging to learn, including pairings that are inconsistent and with phonemes that are specific to English.
Recognition of individual words serves as an initial basis for comprehension of a written text; y... more Recognition of individual words serves as an initial basis for comprehension of a written text; yet there are complex word-to-text (WTT) integration processes underlying the comprehension. This study focused on two components of WTT integration, that is, syntactic parsing and semantic association, and assessed how syntactic and semantic network knowledge differentially predicted two types of text comprehension (literal vs. inferential) in second language readers. Participants were 229 adult learners of English language as a foreign language at a Saudi University. A battery of tasks was administrated to measure their reading comprehension, syntactic knowledge (grammatical error correction), and semantic network knowledge (semantic association), together with working memory and vocabulary knowledge/size. Multiple regression analyses showed that both syntactic and semantic network knowledge significantly predicted reading comprehension (disregarding the type of comprehension), controlling for working memory and vocabulary knowledge. Syntactic knowledge, as opposed to semantic network knowledge, was a significant, unique predictor of literal comprehension, whereas a converse pattern was found for inferential comprehension.
This study compared how distinct lexical competences, including lexical knowledge as well as proc... more This study compared how distinct lexical competences, including lexical knowledge as well as processing skills at both word/lexical and sublexical/ morphological levels, collectively and relatively predict reading comprehension in adult learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). The participants were 220 Arabic speaking EFL learners in a Saudi university. A battery of paper- and computer-based tests was administered to measure the participants’ lexical competences, reading comprehension ability, and working memory. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that over and above working memory, both lexical and sublexical knowledge were significant and unique predictors of reading comprehension, and sublexical processing efficiency, as opposed to lexical processing efficiency, predicted reading comprehension significantly. In addition, among the measured lexical competences, lexical knowledge was the strongest predictor, and the two knowledge variables collectively had a far greater influence on reading comprehension than did the two processing efficiency variables. These findings are discussed in light of the lexical basis of text comprehension.
This scoping review explores the causal relationship between morphological instruction and readin... more This scoping review explores the causal relationship between morphological instruction and reading development in young L2 learners by synthesizing 12 primary studies published between 2004 and 2019 (N = 1,535). These studies focused on reading English as the target language and involved participants between kindergarten and Grade 12 from four countries (China, Egypt, Singapore, and the USA). Findings suggested that (a) morphological instruction led to consistent and positive gains in L2 children's morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge, and the effect sizes (Cohen's ds) ranged from small to large; and (b) the relationship between morphological instruction and other outcomes such as phonological awareness, word reading accuracy, word reading fluency, spelling, and reading comprehension was inconclusive. Notably, transfer effects of L2 English morphological instruction on novel word learning in English or on reading development in an additional language were only examined and observed in four primary studies. Discussion was provided regarding future instructional and research design.
Research in Language and Education: An International Journal [RILE], 2021
Little research has been conducted on self and peer assessment (hereafter, SA and PA) in Chinese ... more Little research has been conducted on self and peer assessment (hereafter, SA and PA) in Chinese language education in the United States, despite the fact that both forms of assessment have multiple benefits for language learning and it is argued they should be an integral component of language teachers' repertoire of classroom assessment. Particularly, little is known about Chinese language teachers' perceptions of SA and PA and their classroom SA and PA practices. To address this knowledge gap, this study aimed at exploring Chinese language teachers' perceptions and implementation of SA and PA and establishing a ground for future research in this field. Using a qualitative methodology, we interviewed ten K-12 Chinese language teachers in US schools. By examining the interview responses of those teachers, this study revealed some important findings. Notably, all the teachers realized the benefits of SA and PA for student learning. Yet, there was rare use of them in most teachers' classrooms. We discussed this gap by drawing upon the probed responses of the teachers as well as our inferences. The findings of this study inform SA and PA of Chinese language in K-12 classrooms and professional development for Chinese language teachers in US schools.
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching
The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the findings in the literature on the rela... more The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the findings in the literature on the relative contribution of two types of linguistic knowledge (i. e., vocabulary and grammatical knowledge) to L2 reading comprehension; and to discuss the possible factors that might have led to the complexity and incongruity of the research findings. Nineteen studies were identified for this review through a systematic process of selection, and were analyzed in terms of the relationship of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge with L2 reading comprehension and their relative significance. The result of this review showed that there was no clear evidence supporting which type of linguistic knowledge is more contributive than the other; and the inconclusive findings might be attributed to the variations in the design of the studies. Two factors emerged, including participants' language proficiency and construct definition, operatio-nalization, and measurement. Some considerations for future research are suggested. Reading comprehension is a constructive process whereby the reader creates a mental representation of the meaning of a text while multiple factors-text, reader, and activity-mutually interact (RAND Reading Study Group 2002). In this process, the reader first accesses word meanings, integrates pieces of syntactic information, and builds local and global coherence (i. e., the text base model; Van Dijk and Kintsch 1983); this is followed by connecting and integrating information from the text with the reader's relevant prior knowledge, which allows deeper comprehension (i. e., the situation model; Van Dijk and
The authors examined the complexity of the simple view of reading, focusing on morphological deco... more The authors examined the complexity of the simple view of reading, focusing on morphological decoding fluency in fourth‐grade readers of English in Singapore. The participants were three groups of students who all learned to become bilingual and biliterate in the English language (EL) and their respective ethnic language in school but differed in the home language they used. The first group was ethnic Chinese students who used English as the dominant home language (Chinese EL1); the other two groups were ethnic Chinese and Malay students whose dominant home language was not English but Chinese (Chinese EL2) and Malay (Malay EL2), respectively. The measures included pseudoword decoding (phonemic decoding), timed decoding of derivational words (morphological decoding fluency), oral vocabulary, and passage comprehension. Path analysis showed that oral vocabulary significantly predicted reading comprehension across all three groups, yet a significant effect of morphological decoding fluency surfaced in the Chinese EL1 and Malay EL2 groups but not the Chinese EL2 group. Multigroup path analysis and commonality analysis further confirmed that morphological decoding played a larger role in the Chinese EL1 and Malay EL2 groups. These findings are discussed in light of the joint influence of target‐language experience and cross‐linguistic influence on second‐language or bilingual reading development.
The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the findings in the literature on the rela... more The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the findings in the literature on the relative contribution of two types of linguistic knowledge (i. e., vocabulary and grammatical knowledge) to L2 reading comprehension; and to discuss the possible factors that might have led to the complexity and incongruity of the research findings. Nineteen studies were identified for this review through a systematic process of selection, and were analyzed in terms of the relationship of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge with L2 reading comprehension and their relative significance. The result of this review showed that there was no clear evidence supporting which type of linguistic knowledge is more contributive than the other; and the inconclusive findings might be attributed to the variations in the design of the studies. Two factors emerged, including participants’ language proficiency and construct definition, operationalization, and measurement. Some considerations for future research are suggested.
This study examined the contribution of the constructs of orthographic processing (orthographic c... more This study examined the contribution of the constructs of orthographic processing (orthographic choice and orthographic choice in context), syntactic processing (grammaticality and sentence integrity), and verbal working memory (two reading span indicators) to written Chinese composition (narration, explanation, and argumentation) in 129 fifteen-year-old L2 learners. A matrix task was also administered as a control task to tap cognitive flexibility. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis with written composition as a latent variable revealed orthographic processing and working memory as two significant, independent contributors, whereas the unique contribution of syntactic processing was not significant. Subsequent SEM analysis with narration, explanation, and argumentation as separate endogenous variables found varied patterns of the contribution of each latent predictor to written composition in different genres. These patterns are discussed in light of the importance of attention to learners’ developmental stage and genre-sensitive measures to capture the psycholinguistic and cognitive underpinnings of written composition in L2 Chinese.
Background: While much is known about how morphological awareness (MA) contributes to reading dev... more Background: While much is known about how morphological awareness (MA) contributes to reading development, little attention has been paid to how reading may conversely affect MA development, particularly in readers of Chinese in a bilingual/multilingual setting.
Methods: The study adopted a cross-lagged panel design. Young bilingual readers of Chinese were measured in MA, word reading and reading comprehension – all in Chinese – twice from Grade 3 to Grade 4.
Results: Path analysis revealed that Grade 3 MA significantly predicted Grade 4 reading comprehension after controlling for the autoregressive effect. Over and above Grade 3 MA, Grade 3 reading also significantly predicted Grade 4 MA. Subsequent analyses, however, revealed disparate developmental patterns between those with Chinese and English, respectively, as their home language.
Implications: These findings, while supporting reciprocity of developmental relationships between MA and reading, also suggested that the pattern of relationships can vary as a function of students’ target language experiences in a bilingual/multilingual setting.
Though pedagogical beliefs have been identified as critical factors in the success of technology ... more Though pedagogical beliefs have been identified as critical factors in the success of technology integration, very few studies have included them in technology-adoption models. The present study revises the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by adding teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, and tests the revised model among university-level English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in China. Specifically, the revised model examines how teachers’ constructivist and/or transmissive pedagogical beliefs influence four key constructs of the TAM: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward use, and intention to use. Survey data were collected from 202 Chinese EFL teachers and analyzed using path analysis. The revised model showed a good model fit. The results indicated that the sampled teachers’ pedagogical beliefs were more constructivist-oriented than transmissive-oriented, and that the former type of beliefs had a significant positive influence on three of the above-mentioned TAM constructs (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude toward use). Teachers’ transmissive pedagogical beliefs, on the other hand, did not have any significant impact on their attitudes toward information and communication technology (ICT) or their perceptions of its usefulness, though such beliefs did significantly affect their perceptions of how easy ICT was to use. Implications of these findings for teacher education and professional training are discussed.
This study examined the similarities and differences in the functioning of component processes un... more This study examined the similarities and differences in the functioning of component processes underlying first language (L1) and second language (L2) word reading in Chinese. Fourth-grade Chinese children in Singapore were divided into L1 and L2 reader groups based on whether they used Mandarin or English as their home language. Both groups were administered a battery of tasks that assessed their orthographic processing skill (OP), phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), oral vocabulary knowledge, as well as the ability to decode characters and multi-character compound words. Separate Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses showed that in the L1 group, over and above all other variables, both OP and MA, as opposed to PA, were significant predictors of word reading, whereas in the L2 group, OP and PA, as opposed to MA, predicted word reading. Multiple-group SEM analysis further revealed that the effects of OP and MA were significantly larger in the L1 than in the L2 group, whereas a converse pattern was found for PA. These findings are discussed in light of the linguistic and language-to-print mapping properties of Chinese as well as the influence of L1 and L2 learners' differential experience on how they learn to read in Chinese.
This study examined internal and external factors affecting pedagogical use of technology among 4... more This study examined internal and external factors affecting pedagogical use of technology among 47 K–12 Chinese language teachers in the United States. Path analysis of the survey data was used to examine the relationships between the teachers’ instructional use of technology, on the one hand, and on the other, their perceptions of three internal factors (i.e., technology’s usefulness, its ease of use, and subjective norms) and one external factor (i.e., facilitating conditions). The results showed that these teachers’ pedagogical use of technology could be predicted by two of the three internal factors (i.e., perceived usefulness and subjective norms) and by the external factor. Additionally, the external factor was found to have a significant influence on both perceived ease of use and subjective norms.
Considering the dual-level representation of meaning in print in Chinese, this study differentiat... more Considering the dual-level representation of meaning in print in Chinese, this study differentiated between morphemic (i.e., morphemic awareness) and sub-morphemic (i.e., graphomorphological awareness) dimensions of morphological awareness and examined their concurrent contributions to text comprehension in fourth grade Chinese readers in a multilingual context where Chinese literacy only has an ancillary function. Structural Equation Modeling analysis revealed that while both dimensions of morphological awareness were significant independent contributors to word reading and vocabulary knowledge, only morphemic awareness significantly predicted text comprehension over and above the two word-level skills. On the other hand, significant indirect effects of both graphomorphological and morphemic awareness were found on text comprehension; in addition, those indirect effects were found to be mediated by vocabulary knowledge or jointly by word reading and vocabulary knowledge. These findings were discussed in light of the centrality of meaning in text comprehension and possible contextual variation in the functioning of different dimensions of morphological awareness in Chinese reading development.
Grammatical and vocabulary knowledge (i.e., breadth and depth) are widely acknowledged as key pre... more Grammatical and vocabulary knowledge (i.e., breadth and depth) are widely acknowledged as key predictors of reading comprehension in a second language (L2). However, it remains unclear how different aspects of vocabulary depth may independently contribute to L2 reading comprehension and how learners' proficiency may moderate the relative contributions of vocabulary knowledge. Based on the Lexical Quality Hypothesis and the Reading Systems Framework, this study investigated 238 L2 Chinese learners who were college-level students in China, using a set of reading-related tasks. The results showed that (1) vocabulary breadth and grammatical knowledge independently contributed to L2 reading comprehension with grammatical knowledge being a more deciding factor; (2) different aspects of vocabulary depth (i.e., polysemy and synonymy), over and above vocabulary breadth and grammatical knowledge, played an independent role; and (3) more importantly, lower-proficiency learners relied more on vocabulary breadth whereas higher-proficiency learners made more use of vocabulary depth during text-level comprehension.
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism , 2023
Lexical ability, an umbrella term to cover various knowledge and skills pertaining to words in pr... more Lexical ability, an umbrella term to cover various knowledge and skills pertaining to words in print, is a key component in reading comprehension. Little is known how different facets of lexical ability jointly contribute to L2 reading comprehension and how the contributions may differ between higher- and lower-proficiency L2 learners. This study, based on 201 adults who had studied Chinese in China, explored direct and indirect effects of distinct facets of lexical ability on L2 reading comprehension. The participants completed three paper-pencil tasks that measured three facets of lexical ability, that is, morphological awareness, character knowledge, and vocabulary knowledge. Their short-term memory, grammatical knowledge, and reading comprehension were also measured. Separate sets of path analysis showed that higher- and lower-proficiency learners had distinct patterns of relationships. Whereas higher-proficiency learners relied more on morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge in L2 Chinese reading comprehension, lower-proficiency learners drew largely upon their character knowledge.
We investigated a technology-based tool for teaching English letter-sound correspondences with bi... more We investigated a technology-based tool for teaching English letter-sound correspondences with bilingual children learning phonologically and typologically distant languages: English and Chinese. We expect that learning about print at the phoneme level may be particularly challenging, given children’s experience with the morphosyllabic language of Chinese. This randomized-controlled study with 90 kindergarteners examined the effects of an iPad-based supplementary reading program compared with a control condition. The See Word Reading® program utilized picture-embedded cues for teaching phonics within lessons directed at the letter, word, and text levels. Measures of decoding, word reading, and spelling were taken at the pretest, posttest, and follow-up for both groups. Results showed better gains in word reading for the reading group, indicating the positive impact of this supplementary reading tool. Further, data collected online from the app showed that different types of letter-sound pairings were more challenging to learn, including pairings that are inconsistent and with phonemes that are specific to English.
Recognition of individual words serves as an initial basis for comprehension of a written text; y... more Recognition of individual words serves as an initial basis for comprehension of a written text; yet there are complex word-to-text (WTT) integration processes underlying the comprehension. This study focused on two components of WTT integration, that is, syntactic parsing and semantic association, and assessed how syntactic and semantic network knowledge differentially predicted two types of text comprehension (literal vs. inferential) in second language readers. Participants were 229 adult learners of English language as a foreign language at a Saudi University. A battery of tasks was administrated to measure their reading comprehension, syntactic knowledge (grammatical error correction), and semantic network knowledge (semantic association), together with working memory and vocabulary knowledge/size. Multiple regression analyses showed that both syntactic and semantic network knowledge significantly predicted reading comprehension (disregarding the type of comprehension), controlling for working memory and vocabulary knowledge. Syntactic knowledge, as opposed to semantic network knowledge, was a significant, unique predictor of literal comprehension, whereas a converse pattern was found for inferential comprehension.
This study compared how distinct lexical competences, including lexical knowledge as well as proc... more This study compared how distinct lexical competences, including lexical knowledge as well as processing skills at both word/lexical and sublexical/ morphological levels, collectively and relatively predict reading comprehension in adult learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). The participants were 220 Arabic speaking EFL learners in a Saudi university. A battery of paper- and computer-based tests was administered to measure the participants’ lexical competences, reading comprehension ability, and working memory. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that over and above working memory, both lexical and sublexical knowledge were significant and unique predictors of reading comprehension, and sublexical processing efficiency, as opposed to lexical processing efficiency, predicted reading comprehension significantly. In addition, among the measured lexical competences, lexical knowledge was the strongest predictor, and the two knowledge variables collectively had a far greater influence on reading comprehension than did the two processing efficiency variables. These findings are discussed in light of the lexical basis of text comprehension.
This scoping review explores the causal relationship between morphological instruction and readin... more This scoping review explores the causal relationship between morphological instruction and reading development in young L2 learners by synthesizing 12 primary studies published between 2004 and 2019 (N = 1,535). These studies focused on reading English as the target language and involved participants between kindergarten and Grade 12 from four countries (China, Egypt, Singapore, and the USA). Findings suggested that (a) morphological instruction led to consistent and positive gains in L2 children's morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge, and the effect sizes (Cohen's ds) ranged from small to large; and (b) the relationship between morphological instruction and other outcomes such as phonological awareness, word reading accuracy, word reading fluency, spelling, and reading comprehension was inconclusive. Notably, transfer effects of L2 English morphological instruction on novel word learning in English or on reading development in an additional language were only examined and observed in four primary studies. Discussion was provided regarding future instructional and research design.
Research in Language and Education: An International Journal [RILE], 2021
Little research has been conducted on self and peer assessment (hereafter, SA and PA) in Chinese ... more Little research has been conducted on self and peer assessment (hereafter, SA and PA) in Chinese language education in the United States, despite the fact that both forms of assessment have multiple benefits for language learning and it is argued they should be an integral component of language teachers' repertoire of classroom assessment. Particularly, little is known about Chinese language teachers' perceptions of SA and PA and their classroom SA and PA practices. To address this knowledge gap, this study aimed at exploring Chinese language teachers' perceptions and implementation of SA and PA and establishing a ground for future research in this field. Using a qualitative methodology, we interviewed ten K-12 Chinese language teachers in US schools. By examining the interview responses of those teachers, this study revealed some important findings. Notably, all the teachers realized the benefits of SA and PA for student learning. Yet, there was rare use of them in most teachers' classrooms. We discussed this gap by drawing upon the probed responses of the teachers as well as our inferences. The findings of this study inform SA and PA of Chinese language in K-12 classrooms and professional development for Chinese language teachers in US schools.
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching
The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the findings in the literature on the rela... more The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the findings in the literature on the relative contribution of two types of linguistic knowledge (i. e., vocabulary and grammatical knowledge) to L2 reading comprehension; and to discuss the possible factors that might have led to the complexity and incongruity of the research findings. Nineteen studies were identified for this review through a systematic process of selection, and were analyzed in terms of the relationship of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge with L2 reading comprehension and their relative significance. The result of this review showed that there was no clear evidence supporting which type of linguistic knowledge is more contributive than the other; and the inconclusive findings might be attributed to the variations in the design of the studies. Two factors emerged, including participants' language proficiency and construct definition, operatio-nalization, and measurement. Some considerations for future research are suggested. Reading comprehension is a constructive process whereby the reader creates a mental representation of the meaning of a text while multiple factors-text, reader, and activity-mutually interact (RAND Reading Study Group 2002). In this process, the reader first accesses word meanings, integrates pieces of syntactic information, and builds local and global coherence (i. e., the text base model; Van Dijk and Kintsch 1983); this is followed by connecting and integrating information from the text with the reader's relevant prior knowledge, which allows deeper comprehension (i. e., the situation model; Van Dijk and
The authors examined the complexity of the simple view of reading, focusing on morphological deco... more The authors examined the complexity of the simple view of reading, focusing on morphological decoding fluency in fourth‐grade readers of English in Singapore. The participants were three groups of students who all learned to become bilingual and biliterate in the English language (EL) and their respective ethnic language in school but differed in the home language they used. The first group was ethnic Chinese students who used English as the dominant home language (Chinese EL1); the other two groups were ethnic Chinese and Malay students whose dominant home language was not English but Chinese (Chinese EL2) and Malay (Malay EL2), respectively. The measures included pseudoword decoding (phonemic decoding), timed decoding of derivational words (morphological decoding fluency), oral vocabulary, and passage comprehension. Path analysis showed that oral vocabulary significantly predicted reading comprehension across all three groups, yet a significant effect of morphological decoding fluency surfaced in the Chinese EL1 and Malay EL2 groups but not the Chinese EL2 group. Multigroup path analysis and commonality analysis further confirmed that morphological decoding played a larger role in the Chinese EL1 and Malay EL2 groups. These findings are discussed in light of the joint influence of target‐language experience and cross‐linguistic influence on second‐language or bilingual reading development.
The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the findings in the literature on the rela... more The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the findings in the literature on the relative contribution of two types of linguistic knowledge (i. e., vocabulary and grammatical knowledge) to L2 reading comprehension; and to discuss the possible factors that might have led to the complexity and incongruity of the research findings. Nineteen studies were identified for this review through a systematic process of selection, and were analyzed in terms of the relationship of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge with L2 reading comprehension and their relative significance. The result of this review showed that there was no clear evidence supporting which type of linguistic knowledge is more contributive than the other; and the inconclusive findings might be attributed to the variations in the design of the studies. Two factors emerged, including participants’ language proficiency and construct definition, operationalization, and measurement. Some considerations for future research are suggested.
This study examined the contribution of the constructs of orthographic processing (orthographic c... more This study examined the contribution of the constructs of orthographic processing (orthographic choice and orthographic choice in context), syntactic processing (grammaticality and sentence integrity), and verbal working memory (two reading span indicators) to written Chinese composition (narration, explanation, and argumentation) in 129 fifteen-year-old L2 learners. A matrix task was also administered as a control task to tap cognitive flexibility. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis with written composition as a latent variable revealed orthographic processing and working memory as two significant, independent contributors, whereas the unique contribution of syntactic processing was not significant. Subsequent SEM analysis with narration, explanation, and argumentation as separate endogenous variables found varied patterns of the contribution of each latent predictor to written composition in different genres. These patterns are discussed in light of the importance of attention to learners’ developmental stage and genre-sensitive measures to capture the psycholinguistic and cognitive underpinnings of written composition in L2 Chinese.
Background: While much is known about how morphological awareness (MA) contributes to reading dev... more Background: While much is known about how morphological awareness (MA) contributes to reading development, little attention has been paid to how reading may conversely affect MA development, particularly in readers of Chinese in a bilingual/multilingual setting.
Methods: The study adopted a cross-lagged panel design. Young bilingual readers of Chinese were measured in MA, word reading and reading comprehension – all in Chinese – twice from Grade 3 to Grade 4.
Results: Path analysis revealed that Grade 3 MA significantly predicted Grade 4 reading comprehension after controlling for the autoregressive effect. Over and above Grade 3 MA, Grade 3 reading also significantly predicted Grade 4 MA. Subsequent analyses, however, revealed disparate developmental patterns between those with Chinese and English, respectively, as their home language.
Implications: These findings, while supporting reciprocity of developmental relationships between MA and reading, also suggested that the pattern of relationships can vary as a function of students’ target language experiences in a bilingual/multilingual setting.
Though pedagogical beliefs have been identified as critical factors in the success of technology ... more Though pedagogical beliefs have been identified as critical factors in the success of technology integration, very few studies have included them in technology-adoption models. The present study revises the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by adding teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, and tests the revised model among university-level English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in China. Specifically, the revised model examines how teachers’ constructivist and/or transmissive pedagogical beliefs influence four key constructs of the TAM: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward use, and intention to use. Survey data were collected from 202 Chinese EFL teachers and analyzed using path analysis. The revised model showed a good model fit. The results indicated that the sampled teachers’ pedagogical beliefs were more constructivist-oriented than transmissive-oriented, and that the former type of beliefs had a significant positive influence on three of the above-mentioned TAM constructs (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude toward use). Teachers’ transmissive pedagogical beliefs, on the other hand, did not have any significant impact on their attitudes toward information and communication technology (ICT) or their perceptions of its usefulness, though such beliefs did significantly affect their perceptions of how easy ICT was to use. Implications of these findings for teacher education and professional training are discussed.
This study examined the similarities and differences in the functioning of component processes un... more This study examined the similarities and differences in the functioning of component processes underlying first language (L1) and second language (L2) word reading in Chinese. Fourth-grade Chinese children in Singapore were divided into L1 and L2 reader groups based on whether they used Mandarin or English as their home language. Both groups were administered a battery of tasks that assessed their orthographic processing skill (OP), phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), oral vocabulary knowledge, as well as the ability to decode characters and multi-character compound words. Separate Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses showed that in the L1 group, over and above all other variables, both OP and MA, as opposed to PA, were significant predictors of word reading, whereas in the L2 group, OP and PA, as opposed to MA, predicted word reading. Multiple-group SEM analysis further revealed that the effects of OP and MA were significantly larger in the L1 than in the L2 group, whereas a converse pattern was found for PA. These findings are discussed in light of the linguistic and language-to-print mapping properties of Chinese as well as the influence of L1 and L2 learners' differential experience on how they learn to read in Chinese.
This study examined internal and external factors affecting pedagogical use of technology among 4... more This study examined internal and external factors affecting pedagogical use of technology among 47 K–12 Chinese language teachers in the United States. Path analysis of the survey data was used to examine the relationships between the teachers’ instructional use of technology, on the one hand, and on the other, their perceptions of three internal factors (i.e., technology’s usefulness, its ease of use, and subjective norms) and one external factor (i.e., facilitating conditions). The results showed that these teachers’ pedagogical use of technology could be predicted by two of the three internal factors (i.e., perceived usefulness and subjective norms) and by the external factor. Additionally, the external factor was found to have a significant influence on both perceived ease of use and subjective norms.
Considering the dual-level representation of meaning in print in Chinese, this study differentiat... more Considering the dual-level representation of meaning in print in Chinese, this study differentiated between morphemic (i.e., morphemic awareness) and sub-morphemic (i.e., graphomorphological awareness) dimensions of morphological awareness and examined their concurrent contributions to text comprehension in fourth grade Chinese readers in a multilingual context where Chinese literacy only has an ancillary function. Structural Equation Modeling analysis revealed that while both dimensions of morphological awareness were significant independent contributors to word reading and vocabulary knowledge, only morphemic awareness significantly predicted text comprehension over and above the two word-level skills. On the other hand, significant indirect effects of both graphomorphological and morphemic awareness were found on text comprehension; in addition, those indirect effects were found to be mediated by vocabulary knowledge or jointly by word reading and vocabulary knowledge. These findings were discussed in light of the centrality of meaning in text comprehension and possible contextual variation in the functioning of different dimensions of morphological awareness in Chinese reading development.
Crossing boundaries in researching, understanding, and improving language education: Essays in honor of G. Richard Tucker, 2023
Since Singapore became an independent republic, careful language-in-education planning that cater... more Since Singapore became an independent republic, careful language-in-education planning that caters to the economic, social, and political development of the country has never been abated. A notable case in point is the constant reviews and reforms of the curriculum of Chinese language (CL), a school subject required of ethnic Chinese children, to respond to gradual home language shift from CL toward English, which is the medium of instruction, in the country. In 2008, a differentiated Modular Curriculum (MC) began to be implemented in all primary schools. We were subsequently commissioned by the Ministry of Education to evaluate the MC. We analyzed CL teaching materials, observed and coded CL classes, and engaged students and CL teachers through various methods. In this chapter, based on student surveys as well as a teacher survey and focus group discussions, we report some evaluation findings on how students' interest in CL learning and use changed, how the MC and its underlying principles were perceived by teachers, and what difficulties and challenges teachers experienced under the MC. Based on the findings, we discuss the interface between sociolinguistics, curriculum innovation and reform, and language policy and planning; and underscore boundary crossing in curriculum and program evaluation toward evidence-based language-in-education planning.
Crossing boundaries in researching, understanding, and improving language education: Essays in honor of G. Richard Tucker, 2023
This chapter first discusses the concept of boundary crossing and its learning potential in educa... more This chapter first discusses the concept of boundary crossing and its learning potential in education and underscores the urgency of crossing a multitude of boundaries for researching, understanding, and improving language education. It then discusses the important role of expert boundary crossers. In particular, it highlights how G. Richard Tucker, whom this volume honors, has exemplified boundary crossing through his distinguished career in applied linguistics and language education for over half a century. The chapter ends with an overview of the four parts that form this volume and brief descriptions of how the chapters in the rest of the volume, each and collectively, contribute to language education research, policy, and practice through boundary crossing.
This chapter reports on a study that explored developmental interdependence between lexical compe... more This chapter reports on a study that explored developmental interdependence between lexical competence and reading comprehension in young L2 readers of Chinese. Participants were ethnic Chinese children with English as the dominant home language in Singapore. The same battery of tests was administered three times across a year, that is, end of Grade 3 (Time 1), middle of Grade 4 (Time 2), and end of Grade 4 (Time 3), to measure children's word decoding, oral vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension. The three waves of data were fitted to a cross-lagged panel model where in addition to its earlier performance predicting its later performance (i.e., autoregressive effect), each of the three literacy variables was hypothesized to predict the other two at an immediate later time (i.e., crossed effect). It was found that word decoding, as opposed to vocabulary knowledge, surfaced as a unique longitudinal lexical predictor of reading comprehension; this was similarly the case from Time 1 to Time 2 and from Time 2 to Time 3. Conversely, however, reading comprehension was not found to be a significant longitudinal predictor of either decoding or vocabulary after accounting for the respective autoregressive effect.
As an approach of assessment as learning, classroom portfolio assessment (CPA) has received much ... more As an approach of assessment as learning, classroom portfolio assessment (CPA) has received much attention in the language assessment community. In this study, ten K-12 Chinese language teachers in U.S. schools were interviewed to examine their understandings, perceptions, and implementations of CPA. Overall, corroborating the findings of previous questionnaire studies on the assessment literacy of language teachers, the participants demonstrated rather limited knowledge of CPA (i.e., a knowledge gap). In addition, while the benefits of CPA were recognized by the participants, they showed little interest in implementing it in their classrooms (i.e., a gap between teacher thinking and classroom practice). These two gaps are discussed in light of the importance of a strong knowledge base for effective implementation of CPA and external factors that may affect teachers’ motivation, intention, or decision to implement CPA. It is recommended that language teachers be provided with systematic initial training and professional development in CPA; and that contextual constraints on the implementation of CPA be recognized and support be provided to teachers to promote their professional learning of language assessment.
This chapter reports on our development and initial validation of a Word Associates Test (WAT) fo... more This chapter reports on our development and initial validation of a Word Associates Test (WAT) for assessing the depth of vocabulary knowledge of Chinese as Second/Foreign Language learners. The validation study revealed the Chinese WAT (WAT-C) to be a reliable and valid test. Specifically, the WAT-C’s medium-sized correlations with a vocabulary size measure and its unique predictive effect on reading comprehension suggested that the test, as intended, assessed a distinct aspect of vocabulary knowledge (i.e., depth). Learners’ performance on the WAT-C was significantly better when they were informed on the number of associates (informed condition) than when they were not (uninformed condition). The scores of the WAT-C produced by three different scoring methods consistently predicted reading comprehension significantly in the informed condition as opposed to the uninformed condition. Taken together, these findings suggest that the informed condition may be preferred for administering the WAT-C. Finally, in both conditions, the All-or-Nothing scoring method, which awards a point only if all associates but no distractors are selected, consistently predicted reading comprehension significantly and uniquely, and it also tended to explain more variance in reading comprehension than the One-Point method (i.e., one point awarded for each associate without considering distractor selection) and the Correct-Wrong (i.e., one point awarded for selecting an associate as well as non-selection of a distractor). With consideration of both the strength of predictive validity and the complexity of scoring, the All-or-Nothing method was evaluated to be the best for scoring the WAT-C. Some remaining issues for the future and the implications of the reported work for instruction and classroom assessment of Chinese L2 learners are discussed.
This chapter provides an overview of developments in research on testing Chinese as a Second Lang... more This chapter provides an overview of developments in research on testing Chinese as a Second Language (CSL), with a focus on four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and two types of language knowledge (vocabulary and grammatical knowledge). It aims to make CSL testing research, which has almost all been published in Chinese, accessible to non-Chinese-speaking scholars who might have become interested in Chinese testing and assessment as the popularity of the language grows. It is also hoped to make scholars of CSL testing aware of the research limitations so that more high-quality research, especially original research on issues that specifically pertain to Chinese testing, could be conducted in the future.
[ABSTRACT] Drawn up the Sociocultural Theory and using classroom data from CRPP's Co... more [ABSTRACT] Drawn up the Sociocultural Theory and using classroom data from CRPP's Core Project, this study examines teacher questioning discourse and its effects on student learning in Primary 5 Chinese Language classrooms in Singapore. Integrating quantitative and ...
Crossing boundaries in researching, understanding, and improving language education: Essays in honor of G. Richard Tucker
This volume brings together original papers from language education scholars from around the worl... more This volume brings together original papers from language education scholars from around the world to explore, exemplify, and discuss the multiplicity of boundary crossing in language education. It emphasizes the potential of boundary crossing for expansive learning, and aims to generate new insights, through boundary crossing, into the complexity of language education and approaches to innovative practices. This volume also underscores the important role of expert boundary crossers. In particular, it aims to honor G. Richard Tucker, Paul Mellon University Professor Emeritus of Applied Linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University, celebrating his distinguished scholarship on language education and paying tribute to the inspiration and mentorship he has given to the contributors of this volume to cross boundaries academically and professionally. This volume is organized into four sections, namely, language learning and development; teachers and instructional processes; program innovation, implementation, and evaluation; and language-in-education policy and planning. These sections or themes, which are necessarily cross-cutting, also represent the major areas of scholarship where Prof. Tucker has made distinguished contributions for over half a century.
This Element aims to address the complexity of metalinguistic awareness to achieve a thorough acc... more This Element aims to address the complexity of metalinguistic awareness to achieve a thorough account of its impacts on second language (L2) reading development and promote an in-depth understanding of the factors regulating the influence of first language (L1) metalinguistic awareness on L2 reading. It is guided by four questions: 1) To what extent do L1 phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness correlate with L2 phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness in L2 readers? 2) To what extent do phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness correlate with word decoding intralingually in L2 readers? 3) To what extent do L1 phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness correlate with L2 word decoding in L2 readers? 4) To what extent do the relations in questions 1–3 vary as a function of linguistic-, learner-, measurement-, and instruction-related factors? This Element is the first to systematically investigate the roles of distinct facets of metalinguistic awareness in L2 reading.
Reading in Chinese as an Additional Language focuses on Chinese literacy acquisition, which has b... more Reading in Chinese as an Additional Language focuses on Chinese literacy acquisition, which has been considered most difficult by both learners and teachers of Chinese as an additional language (CAL). Three major areas are covered: (1) acquisition of Chinese characters; (2) reading comprehension subskills and reader's identity; (3) reading instruction and assessment. The first part delves into the foundation of Chinese literacy development-how to learn and teach Chinese characters. The second part examines various learners' reading comprehension subskills, as well as the evolution of learners' literacy identity. The third part explores effective instructional methods and assessment practices for CAL reading development. Theoretically, this book provides frameworks and evidence from both cognitive and sociocultural perspectives on the nature of CAL reading development. Pedagogically, the book showcases how to teach and assess CAL reading skills. Methodologically, this book includes empirical studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods. In terms of scope, the book covers a much broader spectrum of issues about CAL reading research and classroom teaching than has previously been available. Writing is also discussed in several chapters. In terms of technology, the book includes discussion on how the use of computers, the Internet, and social media impacts students' Chinese literacy acquisition. This book will help CAL researchers and educators better understand the nature of CAL reading development and become well informed about CAL classroom teaching and assessment, including the application of interactive approaches to teaching and assessing diverse reading skills.
The growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed the dynamics of educatio... more The growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed the dynamics of education, as self-directed learning, especially on mobile devices, is as accessible as ever. Despite the near infinite amount of information available for students outside of school, the classroom remains the most critical aspect of student’s growth. Teachers now play crucial roles in engaging ICT’s full potential to create an environment of meaningful learning to develop students’ critical thinking skills.
Preparing Foreign Language Teachers for Next-Generation Education concerns itself with the integration and study of new technologies in foreign-language education. Featuring theoretical and empirical chapters related to the confluence of teacher-education, teacher cognition, and innovative technologies, it provides engaging insight into foreign-language teachers’ perceptions and the influence of those perceptions. This publication is quintessential to foreign-language teachers, administrators, policy makers, students of education, programmers, and developers.
China through the Dynasties provides a quick introduction to Chinese history in a simple and enga... more China through the Dynasties provides a quick introduction to Chinese history in a simple and engaging manner. Through the use of a conversational style of writing, and a generous spread of beautiful photographs and illustrations, readers will find this an enjoyable read. In this book, Chinese history is presented in a chronological order, starting with the earliest human activities in China and concluding with the end of the Qing dynasty. Most chapters are divided into three sections: The Dynastic Cycle, Social Development and Cultural Advancement. The Dynastic Cycle section outlines the key historical events of that period. The Social Development section summarizes the political and economic development of Chinese society in that particular period. The Cultural Advancement section introduces each period s cultural development and achievements. Through this structured approach, readers are given a broad and balanced view of each dynasty. An English summary provided at the beginning of each chapter gives readers a quick overview and highlights the key points for that chapter. Hanyu pinyin and English definitions are provided for difficult words. While China through the Dynasties is primarily planned as an intermediate/advanced Chinese language course material or as extra curriculum reading material, it can also be a good read for the layman looking for an easier way to digest Chinese history.
This book brings together 13 original research papers that address emerging issues in the assessm... more This book brings together 13 original research papers that address emerging issues in the assessment of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) in five major areas, including standards in CSL assessment; development of CSL tests; assessment of diverse knowledge and skills; computer-supported assessment; and CSL assessment in relation to instruction and teachers’ assessment competence. It goes beyond the psychometric testing of Chinese and provides cutting-edge examinations of the interfaces of assessment with sociology of language, acquisition, pedagogy, and modern technologies, as well as teacher education. Given its unique features and broad range of topics, the book offers an intriguing and valuable resource, not only for scholars and researchers but also teacher educators and assessment practitioners who are directly or indirectly involved in CSL assessment.
This study examined internal and external factors affecting pedagogical use of technology among 4... more This study examined internal and external factors affecting pedagogical use of technology among 47 K–12 Chinese language teachers in the United States. Path analysis of the survey data was used to examine the relationships between the teachers’ instructional use of technology, on the one hand, and on the other, their perceptions of three internal factors (i.e., technology’s usefulness, its ease of use, and subjective norms) and one external factor (i.e., facilitating conditions). The results showed that these teachers’ pedagogical use of technology could be predicted by two of the three internal factors (i.e., perceived usefulness and subjective norms) and by the external factor. Additionally, the external factor was found to have a significant influence on both perceived ease of use and subjective norms.
Recognition of individual words serves as an initial basis for comprehension of a written text; y... more Recognition of individual words serves as an initial basis for comprehension of a written text; yet there are complex word-to-text (WTT) integration processes underlying the comprehension. This study focused on two components of WTT integration, that is, syntactic parsing and semantic association, and assessed how syntactic and semantic network knowledge differentially predicted two types of text comprehension (literal vs. inferential) in second language readers. Participants were 229 adult learners of English language as a foreign language at a Saudi University. A battery of tasks was administrated to measure their reading comprehension, syntactic knowledge (grammatical error correction), and semantic network knowledge (semantic association), together with working memory and vocabulary knowledge/size. Multiple regression analyses showed that both syntactic and semantic network knowledge significantly predicted reading comprehension (disregarding the type of comprehension), controll...
This book series investigates several critical issues embedded in fundamental, technical, and app... more This book series investigates several critical issues embedded in fundamental, technical, and applied research in the field of Chinese as second language (CSL) learning and teaching, including learning mechanism in the brain, technology application for teaching, learning and assessment. The book series discusses these issues from the perspectives of science (evidence-based approach) and technology. The studies in the book series uses the methods from the fields of linguistics (such as corpus linguistics and computational linguistics), psychological and behavioural sciences (such as experimental design and statistical analyses), informational technology (such as information retrieval and natural language processing) and brain sciences (such as neuroimaging and neurolinguistics). The book series generally covers three main interdisciplinary themes: (1) fundamental investigation of Chinese as a first or second language acquisition, (2) development in Chinese language learning technology, and (3) applied research on Chinese language education. More specifically, the book series involves seven research topics: language transfer mechanism in Chinese as a second language factors of Chinese as a second language acquisition in childhood cultural influence on Chinese acquisition information technology, corpus teaching material design teaching strategies and teacher training learning models assessment methods Series Editors: Cheng, Chin-chuan, University of Illinois & Academia Sinica & National Taiwan Normal University Chang, Kuo-En, National Taiwan Normal University Executive Editors: Sung, Yao-ting, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan Li, Ping, Pennsylvania State University, USA Editorial Board: Chu-Ren Huang, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China Yen-Hui Audrey Li, University of Southern California, USA Chin-Hui Lee, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA Catherine McBride-Chang, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China Brian MacWhinney, Carnegie Mellon University, USA Charles Perfetti, University of Pittsburgh, USA Alain Peyraube, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France Li-Hai Tan, University of Hong Kong, China Ovid Jyh-Lang Tzeng, Academia Sinica, Taiwan William Shi-Yuan Wang, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China Joël Bellassen, Ministère de l'éducation nationale & Institut national des langues et civilizations orientales, France Please contact Lawrence Liu (e-mail: Lawrence.Liu@springer.com) for submitting book proposals for this series.
Bilingualism is becoming more common worldwide, and it remains a central educational policy in Si... more Bilingualism is becoming more common worldwide, and it remains a central educational policy in Singapore. In this document, we review research related to bilingualism and literacy development and achievement. Following an ecological framework, we outline known factors contributing to literacy achievement and discuss findings from bilingual research regarding these factors. We conclude with recommendations for educational practice informed by the research literature. Section 1: Background and Introduction It has often been said that bilingualism is the cornerstone of Singapore’s education system. As a polyglot nation with citizens who speak Malay, Tamil, and Mandarin, the English language was chosen to be the language of instruction in Singapore. Thus, students in school who learn in English, while also maintaining proficiency in a mother tongue, are by definition all bilingual. But what does it mean to be bilingual? To know two languages is the simple answer, but this does not conve...
This chapter provides an overview of developments in research on testing Chinese as a Second Lang... more This chapter provides an overview of developments in research on testing Chinese as a Second Language (CSL), with a focus on four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and two types of language knowledge (vocabulary and grammatical knowledge). It aims to make CSL testing research, which has almost all been published in Chinese, accessible to non-Chinese-speaking scholars who might have become interested in Chinese testing and assessment as the popularity of the language grows. It is also hoped to make scholars of CSL testing aware of the research limitations so that more high-quality research, especially original research on issues that specifically pertain to Chinese testing, could be conducted in the future.
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Routledge via the lin... more This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Routledge via the link in this record
This study was sponsored by a fellowship to the first author from the Michigan State University C... more This study was sponsored by a fellowship to the first author from the Michigan State University College of Education, and the MSU Graduate School.
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 2018
The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the findings in the literature on the rela... more The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the findings in the literature on the relative contribution of two types of linguistic knowledge (i. e., vocabulary and grammatical knowledge) to L2 reading comprehension; and to discuss the possible factors that might have led to the complexity and incongruity of the research findings. Nineteen studies were identified for this review through a systematic process of selection, and were analyzed in terms of the relationship of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge with L2 reading comprehension and their relative significance. The result of this review showed that there was no clear evidence supporting which type of linguistic knowledge is more contributive than the other; and the inconclusive findings might be attributed to the variations in the design of the studies. Two factors emerged, including participants’ language proficiency and construct definition, operationalization, and measurement. Some considerations for future resea...
Preparing Foreign Language Teachers for Next-Generation Education
Prior studies (e.g., Li & Walsh, 2011) found that language teachers did not use technology fully ... more Prior studies (e.g., Li & Walsh, 2011) found that language teachers did not use technology fully despite its possible facilitating function in language teaching. Through a survey and group discussions, this study explores pre-service Chinese-language teachers' perceptions of the internal and external barriers to their instructional technology use. The respondents (N=47) expressed five main types of external barriers: a) lack of technology, b) difficulty in accessing the available technology, c) lack of technical support, d) lack of proper assessment, and e) negative parental attitude. The two main internal barriers identified in this research were a) negative attitude originating from teachers' pedagogical beliefs, and b) lack of technology-related knowledge. The findings of this study should be of practical use in the future design and implementation of professional development aiming at improving language teachers' use of technology in teaching.
The growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed the dynamics of educatio... more The growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed the dynamics of education, as self-directed learning, especially on mobile devices, is as accessible as ever. Despite the near infinite amount of information available for students outside of school, the classroom remains the most critical aspect of student’s growth. Teachers now play crucial roles in engaging ICT’s full potential to create an environment of meaningful learning to develop students’ critical thinking skills. Preparing Foreign Language Teachers for Next-Generation Education concerns itself with the integration and study of new technologies in foreign-language education. Featuring theoretical and empirical chapters related to the confluence of teacher-education, teacher cognition, and innovative technologies, it provides engaging insight into foreign-language teachers’ perceptions and the influence of those perceptions. This publication is quintessential to foreign-language teachers, administrators, policy makers, students of education, programmers, and developers.
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2015
This intervention study examined the effect of English morphological instruction on the developme... more This intervention study examined the effect of English morphological instruction on the development of English as well as Malay morphological awareness and word reading abilities among Malay–English bilingual fourth graders in Singapore, where English is the medium of instruction. The intervention group experienced semester-long instruction in English derivation; the control group was taught with their regular English curriculum. Both groups were tested with derivational awareness and derived word decoding tasks in English and Malay at the end of Grade 3 prior to the intervention (pre-test) and at the end of the first semester of Grade 4 right after the intervention (post-test). There was no significant difference between the two groups on all tasks at pre-testing. Significant intervention effects were found on the development of English abilities in that the intervention group's performance gain was significantly greater than that of the control group on all English tasks except the derived decoding fluency task. More important, such intervention effects were also evident with some Malay tasks. These findings provide empirical evidence that supports the benefits of morphological instruction to bilingual children's reading development and a possibly causal effect of cross-linguistic transfer of morphological awareness from English to Malay.
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Journal Papers by Dongbo Zhang
Methods: The study adopted a cross-lagged panel design. Young bilingual readers of Chinese were measured in MA, word reading and reading comprehension – all in Chinese – twice from Grade 3 to Grade 4.
Results: Path analysis revealed that Grade 3 MA significantly predicted Grade 4 reading comprehension after controlling for the autoregressive effect. Over and above Grade 3 MA, Grade 3 reading also significantly predicted Grade 4 MA. Subsequent analyses, however, revealed disparate developmental patterns between those with Chinese and English, respectively, as their home language.
Implications: These findings, while supporting reciprocity of developmental relationships between MA and reading, also suggested that the pattern of relationships can vary as a function of students’ target language experiences in a bilingual/multilingual setting.
Methods: The study adopted a cross-lagged panel design. Young bilingual readers of Chinese were measured in MA, word reading and reading comprehension – all in Chinese – twice from Grade 3 to Grade 4.
Results: Path analysis revealed that Grade 3 MA significantly predicted Grade 4 reading comprehension after controlling for the autoregressive effect. Over and above Grade 3 MA, Grade 3 reading also significantly predicted Grade 4 MA. Subsequent analyses, however, revealed disparate developmental patterns between those with Chinese and English, respectively, as their home language.
Implications: These findings, while supporting reciprocity of developmental relationships between MA and reading, also suggested that the pattern of relationships can vary as a function of students’ target language experiences in a bilingual/multilingual setting.
Preparing Foreign Language Teachers for Next-Generation Education concerns itself with the integration and study of new technologies in foreign-language education. Featuring theoretical and empirical chapters related to the confluence of teacher-education, teacher cognition, and innovative technologies, it provides engaging insight into foreign-language teachers’ perceptions and the influence of those perceptions. This publication is quintessential to foreign-language teachers, administrators, policy makers, students of education, programmers, and developers.