Poster #107 - Delayed Copying Uniquely Correlates with Chinese Spelling in Hong Kong Kindergarteners

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Language, Communication

Integrative Statement

To date, a good deal of the research on spelling development is based on alphabetic languages, especially in English. However, in order to get a comprehensive understanding of children’s spelling development, more research is needed in different language systems such as Chinese. Previous research using Hong Kong primary school children as participants found that Chinese delayed copying, which has long been an emphasis in teaching Chinese children how to spell, was uniquely correlated with spelling in Chinese. This result highlights the potential of a delayed copying task; that is, Chinese delayed copying may be useful as an indicator for spelling difficulties in Chinese. However, more evidence is needed in younger children who are in the early stage of learning to spell. Thus, the first objective of the present study was to explore the various cognitive-linguistic correlates of Chinese spelling development in kindergarteners. The second objective, more specifically, was to determine whether and how delayed copying skill is associated with learning to spell in early spellers. A group of 322 Chinese kindergarteners in Hong Kong (mean age=5.56 years, SD=0.46) were tested. A set of hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to test how rapid naming, Chinese phonological awareness, Chinese morphological awareness, orthographic awareness (using a character decision task), Chinese vocabulary knowledge, orthographic knowledge, visual and motor related skills, and copying skills contributed to Chinese spelling development. In each regression equation, age and IQ scores were entered in the first step as control variables. In the first set of analyses, all literacy-related skills, including rapid naming, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, orthographic awareness, vocabulary knowledge, orthographic knowledge, visual-motor integration, motor coordination, visual perception, delayed copying and pure copying, were entered into the equation in the last step. Previous research had suggested that each of these variables might be important for early spelling in Chinese. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that all measures together accounted for 56.3% of the variance in Chinese spelling scores. After controlling for age and IQ, all other literacy-related measures accounted for 36.7% additional variance in Chinese spelling scores (∆F(11, 308)=23.463, p＜.001). In particular, with all other variables included, visual-motor related skills explained a unique 1.2% (∆F(3, 308)=2.899, p＜.05) of the variance in Chinese spelling. Furthermore, delayed copying itself accounted for 7.9% (∆F(1,308 )=55.916, p＜.001) of additional variance in Chinese spelling scores after controlling all other measures. These results are both theoretically and practically important. Theoretically, the delayed copying task, which involves quickly processing, recalling, and producing Chinese radicals or units of print, appears to be an important key to the spelling process. Practically, the delayed copying task may be a good clinical indicator of early spelling proficiency.

Authors

• Yanyan Ye, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  Presenting Author

• Catherine McBride, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  Non-Presenting Author