The effect of phonological working memory on children's Chinese spoken word learning
Wei, Junli
Loading…
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/32066
Description
Title
The effect of phonological working memory on children's Chinese spoken word learning
Author(s)
Wei, Junli
Issue Date
2012-06-27T21:31:17Z
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Anderson, Richard C.
Department of Study
Educational Psychology
Discipline
Educational Psychology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Level
Thesis
Keyword(s)
phonological working memory
English-speaking children
Chinese
learning
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate how well English speaking children’s phonological working memory can predict their ability to learn Chinese spoken words. Standard Chinese (Mandarin) is considered in this study and thus both terms (Chinese and Mandarin) will be used interchangeably. Participants included a total of 32 fourth grade American children who spoke English as a first language and attended primary school in the Midwestern region of the
U. S. A battery of measures was administered orally to test children’s phonological working memory and Chinese word learning ability. The results showed that the children’s phonological working memory could predict their Chinese spoken word learning ability and the strongest predictors were the performance on the repetition of Chinese nonwords with tone and English nonwords without stress. These findings improve understanding of how phonological working memory underpins children’s vocabulary development. Finally, these results provide insight for administrators, teachers and parents in predicting whether students have potential to learn Chinese and therefore help them make decisions accordingly. The result also has implications for teaching Mandarin to English speaking children.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
