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12 Segmental฀Analysis฀and฀Reading฀ in฀Chinese฀ Che-Kan฀Leong฀ In learnin g t o read , childre n nee d t o mak e contac t fro m thei r develope d ability of listening and speaking with what the graphic symbols in differen t writing system s o r orthographie s represent . Emergen t reader s nee d t o be awar e of , o r sensitiv e to , th e mappin g betwee n speec h sound s an d the basi c graphi c unit s i n orde r t o acces s print . Whil e ther e ar e certai n universal phonologica l principle s governin g th e translatio n fro m speec h sounds t o orthographi c representation , th e phonologica l involvemen t is constraine d b y variation s i n languag e o r orthograph y system s (Fros t 6c Katz , 1992 ; Leong , 1997 ; Leon g 6c Joshi , 1997) . Th e Englis h orthography, fo r example , i s morphophonemi c an d i s represente d b y phonemes, syllable s wit h thei r onset s an d rime s an d othe r sublexica l units. Sensitivit y t o thes e unit s i s importan t i n emergen t literacy . Fo r the mor e consisten t Germa n orthography , phonologica l knowledg e i s still importan t i n emergen t literac y an d i s reinforce d b y orthographi c knowledge i n a n interactiv e manne r (Landed , Frith , 6c Wimmer, 1996) . In th e biscripta l Japanese syllabar y wit h it s kanji an d kan a scripts , eac h Japanese kan a symbo l represent s a speec h uni t know n a s mora, whic h is mor e o f a subsyllabi c an d a timin g uni t o n whic h th e rhyth m o f the Japanese languag e i s based (Leon g 6c Tamaoka, 1995 , 1998 ; Otake , Hatano, Cutler , 6c Mehler, 1993) . Thus , i f phonologica l awarenes s i s a precurso r t o learnin g t o rea d Japanes e (a t leas t fo r hiragan a an d katakana script) , the n th e sensitivit y t o mora e a s unit s o f segment s o f 228฀CHE-KA N฀LEONG฀ speech i n bot h speec h perceptio n an d productio n become s importan t (Leong, 1995) . The ai m o f thi s chapte r i s to explor e th e natur e o f wha t i s usuall y termed metalinguisti c awarenes s (Leong , 1991 ) o r sensitivit y t o speech sounds an d it s relatio n t o learnin g t o rea d Chinese . Th e interpla y wit h orthographic form , which , i n the Englis h literature , is usually define d i n terms o f th e 'systemati c relationship s t o phonologica l propertie s o f th e word' (Ehri , 1980 , p . 313) , i s discussed . Chines e languag e learnin g principles an d classroo m practice s i n emergent literac y al l emphasize th e integration o f orthographi c o r spellin g pattern s (shape) , speec h sound s and meaning at the word level. The psychological principles of redundanc y and precisio n ar e importan t i n enhancing earl y reading an d spelling . C Manipulatin g Speec h Sound s by Chines e Subject s Since the prototypic study by Read, Zhang, Nie and Ding (1986) of speech sounds manipulatio n b y Chines e adult s ha s spurre d o n subsequen t research, th e wor k wil l b e briefl y revisite d a s the startin g poin t o f ou r discussion. Related studies by Holm and Dodd (1996) , Huang and Hanle y (1995), Hanle y an d Huan g (1997) , Ho an d Bryan t (1997a , 1997b ) an d Cheung (1999 ) wil l als o b e outlined . Studies b y Rea d e t al . (1986 ) an d Hol m an d Dod d (1996 ) wit h Chinese adult s In essence , Rea d e t al . (1986 ) predicate d thei r phonemi c segmentatio n study on the logic of the Brussels...

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