Cover not available
Part of
Writing Systems, Reading Processes, and Cross-Linguistic Influences: Reflections from the Chinese, Japanese and Korean Languages
Edited by Hye K. Pae
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 7] 2018
► pp. 25–48

Chapter 2
Introduction to script processing in Chinese and cognitive consequences for bilingual reading

The Chinese writing system forms the sharpest contrast with the English writing system in terms of its grapheme-phoneme mapping principle. This review paper begins with a description of the characteristics of the Chinese writing and spoken systems, which is followed by the discussion of phonological, morphological, and orthographic processing involved in reading Chinese. We then review the literature central to the question as to how cross-language and cross-script differences and similarities in terms of the three basic processes impact reading English as a second language (L2) by native Chinese readers. We address the question from developmental perspectives targeting both children who are learning to read Chinese and English simultaneously and adult sequential learners of English. The chapter concludes with a discussion of limitations in previous research and future directions.

Keywords: Chinese script, cross-linguistic influence, English as a second language, bilingual reading acquisition
Article outline
  • Characteristics of the writing system
    • Strokes
    • Characters
    • Components
  • Characteristics of the spoken language
  • Phonological processing in reading Chinese
    • Segmental vs. tonal information
  • Morphological processing in reading Chinese
  • Orthographical processing in reading Chinese
  • Contributions of phonology, morphology and orthography in learning to read Chinese
  • Cross-language phonological and orthographic processing in bilingual reading
  • Cross-language morphological processing in bilingual reading
  • Contribution of phonology, morphology, and orthography in bilingual reading development
  • Limitations and future directions
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 July 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.7.02lin
References

References

Anderson, R. C., Ku, Y. M., Li, W., Chen, X., Wu, X., & Shu, H.
(2013) Learning to see the patterns in Chinese characters. Scientific Studies of Reading, 17(1), 41–56. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bauer, R. S., & Benedict, P. K.
(1997) Modern Cantonese phonology. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carlisle, J. F.
(1995) Morphological awareness and early reading achievement. In: L. B. Feldman (ed.), Morphological aspects of language processing (pp. 189–209). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Chen, H. C., d’Arcais, G. B. F., & Cheung, S. L.
(1995) Orthographic and phonological activation in recognizing Chinese characters. Psychological Research, 58(2), 144–153. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Y. P., Allport, D. A., & Marshall, J. C.
(1996) What are the functional orthographic units in Chinese word recognition the stroke or stroke pattern? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 49A, 1024–1043. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, X., & Pasquarella, A.
in press). Learning to read Chinese. In C. A. Perfetti & L. Verhoeven Eds. Reading acquisition across languages and writing systems: An international handbook Cambridge CUP DOI logo
Cheng, C., Wang, M., & Perfetti, C. A.
(2011) Acquisition of compound words in Chinese–English bilingual children: Decomposition and cross-language activation. Applied Psycholinguistics, 32(03), 583–600. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cheung, H., McBride-Chang, C., & Chow, B. W. Y.
(2006) Reading Chinese. In R. M. Joshi & P. G. Aaron (Eds.), Handbook of orthography and literacy (pp.421–438). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chow, B. W-Y., McBride-Chang, C., & Burgess, S.
(2005) Phonological processing skills and early reading abilities in Hong Kong Chinese kindergarteners learning to read English as a second language. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 81–87. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chow, B. W. Y., McBride-Chang, C., Cheung, H., & Chow, C. S. L.
(2008) Dialogic reading and morphology training in Chinese children: Effects on language and literacy. Developmental Psychology, 44, 233–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chung, K. K., McBride-Chang, C., Cheung, H., & Wong, S. W.
(2013) General auditory processing, speech perception and phonological awareness skills in Chinese–English biliteracy. Journal of Research in Reading, 36, 202–222. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
DeFrancis, J.
(1984) The Chinese language: Fact and fantasy. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dijkstra, T.
(2005) Bilingual visual word recognition and lexical access. In J. F. Kroll, & A. M. B. de Groot (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches (pp. 179–201). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Dronjic, V.
(2011) Mandarin Chinese compounds, their representation, and processing in the visual modality. Writing Systems Research, 3(1), 5–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duanmu, S.
(2007) The phonology of standard Chinese (2nd ed.). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Frost, R.
(1998) Toward a strong phonological theory of visual word recognition: True issues and false trails. Psychological Bulletin, 123, 71–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Genesee, F., Geva, E., Dressler, C., & Kamil, M.
(2006) Cross-linguistic relationships in working memory, phonological processes, and oral language. In D. August & T. Shanahan (Eds.), Developing literacy in second language learners: A report of the national literacy panel on language minority children and youth (pp. 175–184). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gertken, L. M., Amengual, M., & Birdsong, D.
(2014) Assessing language dominance with the Bilingual Language Profile. In P. Leclercq, A. Edmons, & H. Hilton (Eds.), Measuring L2 proficiency: Perspectives from SLA (pp. 208–225). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goswami, U., & Bryant, P. E.
(1990) Phonological skills and learning to read. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gottardo, A., Yan, B., Siegel, L. S., & Wade-Woolley, L.
(2001) Factors related to English reading performance in children with Chinese as a first language: More evidence of cross-language transfer of phonological processing. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(3), 530. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guo, T., Peng, D., & Liu, Y.
(2005) The role of phonological activation in the visual semantic retrieval of Chinese characters. Cognition, 98(2), B21–B34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hart, L. A., & Perfetti, C. A.
(2000, July). Quality of lexical representations affects reading comprehension skills. Paper presented at the seventh annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Stockholm.
Ho, C. S. H., & Ma, R. N. L.
(1999) Training in phonological strategies improves Chinese dyslexic children’s character reading skills. Journal of Research in Reading, 22, 131–142. DOI logoGoogle 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(3), 849–878. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holm, A., & Dodd, B.
(1996) The effect of first written language on the acquisition of English literacy. Cognition, 59, 119–147. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoosain, R.
(1992) Psychological reality of the word in Chinese. Advances in Psychology, 90, 111–130. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hsiao, J. H. W., & Shillcock, R.
(2006) Analysis of a Chinese phonetic compound database: Implications for orthographic processing. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 35(5), 405–426. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jackson, N. E., Lu, W. H., & Ju, D.
(1994) Reading Chinese and reading English: Similarities, differences, and second-language reading. In V. W. Berninger (Ed.), The varieties of orthographic knowledge I: Theoretical and development issues (pp. 73–109). Leiden: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kang, S., Xu, X., & Sun, M.
(2005) 现代汉语语义构词规则初探 [The research on the modern Chinese semantic word-formation]. Journal of Chinese Language and Computing, 15, 103–112.Google Scholar
Koda, K.
(1999) Development of L2 intraword orthographic sensitivity and decoding skills. The Modern Language Journal, 83(1), 51–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2000) Cross-linguistic variations in L2 morphological awareness. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21(03), 297–320. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koda, K.
(2008) Impacts of prior literacy experience on learning to read in a second language. In K. Koda & A. M. Zehler (Eds.), Learning to read across languages: Cross-linguistic relationships in first- and second-language literacy development (pp. 68–96). New York, NJ: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leong, C. K.
(1997) Paradigmatic analysis of Chinese word reading: Research findings and classroom practices. In C. K. Leong & R. M. Joshi (Eds.), Cross-language studies of learning to read and spell: Phonologic and orthographic processing (pp. 379–418). Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, C., Lin, C. Y., Wang, M., & Jiang, N.
(2013) The activation of segmental and tonal information in visual word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20, 773–779. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lin, C. Y., Cheng, C., & Wang, M.
(2018) The contribution of phonological and morphological awareness in Chinese-English bilingual reading acquisition. Reading and Writing, 31, 99–132. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, Y., Shu, H., & Xuan, Y.
(2002) Developmental research on sublexical processing in Chinese character recognition. Applied Psychology, 8, 3–7 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Mair, V. H.
(1996) Modern Chinese writing. In P. T. Daniels & W. Bright (Eds), The World’s Writing Systems (pp. 200–208). Oxford: OUPGoogle Scholar
McBride-Chang, C., Bialystok, E., Chong, K., & Li, Y. P.
(2004) Levels of phonological awareness in three cultures. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 89, 93–111. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McBride-Chang, C., Cho, J. R., Liu, H., Wagner, R. K., Shu, H., Zhou, A., Cheuk, C. S.-M. & Muse, A.
(2005) Changing models across cultures: Associations of phonological awareness and morphological structure awareness with vocabulary and word recognition in second graders from Beijing, Hong Kong, Korea, and the United States. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 92, 140–160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McBride-Chang, C., & Ho, C. S-H.
(2000) Developmental issues in Chinese children’s character acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92, 50–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McBride-Chang, C., Tong, X., Shu, H., Wong, A. M-Y., Leung, K-W., & Tardif, T.
(2008) Syllable, phoneme, and tone: Psycholinguistic units in early Chinese and English word recognition. Scientific Studies of Reading, 12, 171–194. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nagy, W., Kuo-Kealoha, A., Wu, X., Li, W., Anderson, R. C., & Chen, X.
(2002) The role of morphological awareness in learning to read Chinese. In W. Li, J. S. Gaffiney, & J. L. Packard (Eds.), Chinese children’s reading acquisition: Theoretical and pedagogical issues (pp. 58–85). Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pasquarella, A., Chen, X., Lam, K., Luo, Y. C., & Ramirez, G.
(2011) Cross-language transfer of morphological awareness in Chinese–English bilinguals. Journal of Research in Reading, 34, 23–42. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Perfetti, C., Cao, F., & Booth, J.
(2013) Specialization and universals in the development of reading skill: How Chinese research informs a universal science of reading. Scientific Studies of Reading, 17(1), 5–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Perfetti, C. A., & Zhang, S.
(1991) Phonological processes in reading Chinese characters. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 17, 633–643. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Perfetti, C. A., Zhang, S., & Berent, I.
(1992) Reading in English and Chinese: Evidence for a “universal” phonological principle. Advances in Psychology, 94, 227–248. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shu, H.
(2003) Chinese writing system and learning to read. International Journal of Psychology, 38(5), 274–285. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shu, H., Anderson, R. C., & Wu, N.
(2000) Phonetic awareness: Knowledge of orthography–phonology relationships in the character acquisition of Chinese children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(1), 56. DOI logoGoogle 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(1), 27–47. DOI logoGoogle 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. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shu, H., Peng, H. & McBride-Chang, C.
(2008) Phonological awareness in young Chinese children. Developmental Science, 11, 171–181. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seidenberg, M. S.
(1985) The time course of phonological code activation in two writing systems. Cognition, 19, 1–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spinks, J. A., Liu, Y., Perfetti, C. A., & Tan, L. H.
(2000) Reading Chinese characters for meaning: The role of phonological information. Cognition, 76(1), B1–B11. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taft, M., & Chen, H. C.
(1992) Judging homophony in Chinese: The influence of tones. Advances in Psychology, 90, 151–172. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taft, M., Liu, Y., & Zhu, X.
(1999) Morphemic processing in reading Chinese. In J. Wang, A. W. Inhoff, & H.-C. Chen (Eds.), Reading Chinese script: A cognitive analysis (pp. 91–113). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Taft, M., & Zhu, X.
(1997) Submorphemic processing in reading Chinese. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 761–775. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taft, M., Zhu, X., & Peng, D.
(1999) Positional specificity of radicals in Chinese character recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 40(4), 498–519. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taylor, I., & Taylor, M. M.
(2014) Writing and literacy in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese (rev. ed.). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tong, X., He, X., & Deacon, S. H.
(2016) Tone matters for Cantonese-English bilingual children’s English word reading development: A unified model of phonological transfer. Memory & Cognition. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tong, X., & McBride-Chang, C.
(2010) Chinese-English biscriptal reading: Cognitive component skills across orthographies. Reading and Writing, 23, 293–310. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tong, X., McBride-Chang, C., Shu, H., & Wong, A. M.
(2009) Morphological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and spelling errors: Keys to understanding early Chinese literacy acquisition. Scientific Studies of Reading, 13, 426–452. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tong, X., Kwan, J. L. Y., Wong, D. W. M., Lee, S. M. K., & Yip, J. H. Y.
(2016) Toward a dynamic interactive model of non-native Chinese character processing. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108, 680–693. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Treiman, R., & Cassar, M.
(1997) Spelling acquisition in English. In C. Perfetti, L. Rieben, & M. Fayol (Eds.), Learning to spell. Research, theory, and practice (pp. 61–80). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Van Orden, G. C.
(1987) A ROWS is a ROSE: Spelling, sound, and reading. Memory & Cognition, 15, 181–198. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, M., Anderson, A., Cheng, C., Park, Y. & Thomson, J.
(2008) General auditory processing, Chinese tone processing, English phonemic processing and English reading skill: A comparison between Chinese–English and Korean–English bilingual children. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 21, 627–644. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Wang, M., Cheng, C., & Chen, S. W.
(2006) Contribution of morphological awareness to Chinese-English biliteracy acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 542–553. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, M., Lin, C. Y., & Gao, W.
(2010) Bilingual compound processing: The effects of constituent frequency and transparency. Writing Systems Research, 2, 117–137. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, M., C. Y. Lin, & C. Yang
(2014) Contributions of phonology, orthography, and morphology in Chinese-English biliteracy acquisition: A one-year longitudinal study. In X. Chen, Q. Wang, & Y. C. Luo (Eds.), Reading development and difficulties in monolingual and bilingual Chinese children (pp. 191–211). Dordrecht: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, M., & Koda, K.
(2005) Commonalities and differences in word identification skills among learners of English as a second language. Language Learning, 55(1), 71–98. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, M., Koda, K., & Perfetti, C. A.
(2003) Alphabetic and nonalphabetic L1 effects in English word identification: A comparison of Korean and Chinese English L2 learners. Cognition, 87(2), 129–149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, M., Perfetti, C. A., & Liu, Y.
(2005) Chinese–English biliteracy acquisition: Cross-language and writing system transfer. Cognition, 97, 67–88. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, M., Yang, C., & Cheng, C.
(2009) The contribution of phonology, orthography, and morphology in Chinese-English biliteracy acquisition. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30, 291–314. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wong, K. F. E., & Chen, H. C.
(1999) Orthographic and phonological processing in reading Chinese text: Evidence from eye fixations. Language and Cognitive Processes, 14(5–6), 461–480. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wu, N., Zhou, X., & Shu, H.
(1999) Sublexical processing in reading Chinese: A development study. Language and Cognitive Processes, 14(5–6), 503–524. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yeung, S. S., & Chan, C. K.
(2013) Phonological awareness and oral language proficiency in learning to read English among Chinese kindergarten children in Hong Kong. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 83(4), 550–568. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, J., Li, H., Dogn, Q., & Xu, J.
(2015) Implicit use of radicals in learning characters for nonnative learners of Chinese. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37, 507–527. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, T., Van Heuven, W. J., & Conklin, K.
(2011) Fast automatic translation and morphological decomposition in Chinese-English bilinguals. Psychological Science, 22, 1237–1242. doi: 10.1177/0956797611421492 DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhou, Y.
(1992) Zhongguo yuwen zongheng tan [Desultory discussion of Chinese language and writing] 中国语文纵横谈. Beijing: Renmin jiaoyu.Google Scholar
Zhou, H., Chen, B., Yang, M., & Dunlap, S.
(2010) Language nonselective access to phonological representations: Evidence from Chinese–English bilinguals. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63(10), 2051–2066. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhou, X. & Marslen-Wilson, W.
(1995) Morphological structure in the Chinese mental lexicon. Language and Cognitive Processes, 10, 545–600. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhou, X. & Marslen-Wilson, W. D.
(2009) Pseudohomophone effects in processing Chinese compound words. Language and cognitive processes, 24(7–8), 1009–1038. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhou, X., Marslen-Wilson, W., Taft, M., & Shu, H.
(1999) Morphology, orthography, and phonology reading Chinese compound words. Language and cognitive processes, 14(5–6), 525–565. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhou, X., Shu, H., Bi, Y., & Shi, D.
(1999) Is there phonologically mediated access to lexical semantics in reading Chinese? In J. Wang, A. W. Inhoff, & H-C. Chen (Eds.), Reading Chinese script: A cognitive analysis (pp. 135–172). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhu, Y. P.
(1987) Analysis of cueing functions of the phonetic in Modern Chinese. Unpublished paper, East China Normal University. (In Chinese).Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 5 other publications

Liaw, Marsha Jing Ji, Maria José Botelho & Sunny Man Chu Lau
2023. Multilingual Learning Inside/Outside the Classroom: Insights from Intra‐Active Events. The Reading Teacher 77:2 ► pp. 199 ff. DOI logo
Pae, Hye K.
2020. Linguistic Evidence for Script Relativity. In Script Effects as the Hidden Drive of the Mind, Cognition, and Culture [Literacy Studies, 21], ► pp. 147 ff. DOI logo
Pae, Hye K.
2022. Toward a script relativity hypothesis: focused research agenda for psycholinguistic experiments in the science of reading. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science 6:2 ► pp. 97 ff. DOI logo
Tian, Zhongfeng & Sunny Man Chu Lau
2022. Translanguaging flows in Chinese word instruction: Potential critical sociolinguistic engagement with children’s artistic representations of Chinese characters. Pedagogies: An International Journal 17:4 ► pp. 282 ff. DOI logo
Yin, Li, Jialin Lai, Shuai Zhang, Chaolumen Bao & Jing Zhao
2023. Early reading skills in Chinese children with autism spectrum disorder. Reading and Writing 36:6 ► pp. 1515 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.