汉语儿童英语口语词汇与阅读学习的关系

The Relation between Vocabulary and Reading in English Learner of Mandarin-speaking Children

以120名四、五年级小学儿童为被试,探讨汉语儿童英语口语词汇与阅读学习的关系,并检验了英语语音意识在其中的中介作用。结果表明(1)汉语儿童的英语口语词汇与阅读学习之间存在密切关系。控制一般认知能力和母语口语词汇的影响后,英语口语词汇对阅读学习仍具有显著的预测作用。其中,英语口语词汇产生对于英语单词认读的预测作用更重要,英语口语词汇理解则对英语单词理解的预测作用更重要。(2)英语口语词汇产生既可以直接作用于英语单词认读、理解和假词拼读,也部分通过英语语音意识的中介间接作用于英语阅读;英语口语词汇理解对英语单词理解也具有直接作用,并部分地通过英语语音意识的中介发挥间接作用。

Introduction Although vocabulary development has been found to play a crucial role in reading development of children, the nature of the relation between the two needs to be explored further. The phonological sensitivity approach （PSA） and the comprehensive language approach （CLA） are two major views concerning this question. PSA claims that oral vocabulary only has an indirect effect on reading development via phonological awareness. In contrast, CLA proposes that oral vocabulary plays an important and direct role in reading development, and that the role of phonological awareness might be overemphasized in previous research. The debate between the two views mainly focuses on whether oral vocabulary has a direct effect on reading development and whether phonological awareness has a significant mediating effect. This study aimed to examine the relation between English oral vocabulary and reading development and the mediating effect of phonological awareness on this relation among Chinese primary school children in the context of ESL （English as the second language） learning. Method Fifty seven children in Grade 4 and 63 children in Grade 5 participated in this study. They had been learning English for the same duration （three years and two months） at the time of assessment. All the children had normal IQ as measured by the Chinese version of Raven Progressive Matrices. Children were tested in four domains：（1）English oral vocabulary. Expressive vocabulary was measured by a picture naming task and receptive vocabulary was measured by a sound - picture matching task. （2）Chinese oral vocabulary. Similarly, expressive vocabulary was measured by a picture naming task and receptive vocabulary was measured by the Chinese version of PPVT - R. （3）Phonological Awareness. A phonemic deletion task was used to assess children＇s awareness of the English syllables, onsets - rimes and phonemes,（4）English reading. An English word naming task, an English word comprehension task and an English word attack task were used. Results Both expressive and receptive vocabulary were positively and significantly correlated with all the English reading tasks, even after controlling for the effects of nonverbal IQ and Chinese oral vocabulary. Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed the unique contributions of English oral vocabulary to English reading. In particular, English expressive vocabulary contributed more to English word naming while English receptive vocabulary contributed more to English word comprehension. In addition to the direct effects, English expressive vocabulary also had significant indirect effects on all the reading measures via phonological awareness, while English receptive vocabulary had a significant indirect effect on the English word comprehension task. Furthermore, compared with the indirect effects mediated by phonological awareness, English expressive vocabulary had strong direct effects on all the three tasks of English reading, and English receptive vocabulary had a strong direct effect on the English word comprehension task. Conclusion The results from this study suggest that oral vocabulary is critical for learning to read in a second language, especially for the beginners whose major challenge is to convert print into corresponding sound. Teachers and parents should pay more attention to children＇s speaking and listening experiences. Furthermore, the data also support the comprehensive language approach （CLA） view that oral vocabulary plays an important and direct role in reading development beyond the effect of phonological awareness.