Effects of Prior Chinese Knowledge and of the CIRC (Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition) Model on Chinese American Students’ Reading and Knowledge

• In Event: Roundtable Session 110
  In Roundtable Session: Research on the Education of Asian and Pacific Americans: Roundtable Session on Language and Literacy

Abstract

Using cognitive theory, the study examined the effects of Chinese prior knowledge and the Cooperative Integrated Reading Composition (CIRC) model on 30, 5th- and 6th-graders of Chinese as a second language (CSL) students’reading achievement. Next, examined was students’ surface and deep knowledge of Chinese idioms reflected in responses to journal questions, and finally the study determined the relationship of levels of prior knowledge and reading proficiency on the generation of surface and deep knowledge of Chinese idiom stories. ANOVA indicated no significant differences between levels of prior knowledge in reading comprehension. A t test indicated a significant difference in prior levels, favoring the high prior knowledge group in realizing deep knowledge of idioms.

Author

• Yi-Fang Yeh, Fordham University