This study aimed to investigate the relationship between language exposure and Chinese character handwriting (CCW) among 103 non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students in Hong Kong. Specifically, it examined the impact of academic self-concept, including students’ self-perceptions of their Chinese character competence and affect, on the complex learning process of CCW in a multilingual context like Hong Kong. NCS students were invited to complete a writing-to-dictation test, a questionnaire on CCW exposure outside of the classroom, and a self-description questionnaire of academic self-concept. Path analysis was employed to analyse the path models within the constructs. The results revealed that language exposure had both direct and indirect effects on CCW through academic self-concept. Notably, the effect of language exposure on CCW was strongly mediated by competence self-concept but not affect self-concept. This suggests that NCS students evaluate their competence in producing desired outcomes within exposure environments based on their own self-perceptions. Drawing on these empirical findings, the article discusses the educational implications for Chinese as a second language learning and teaching. It emphasizes the significance of tailored instructional methods that can enhance the competence and affective self-concepts of NCS students. By implementing such approaches, students will be better equipped to integrate into diverse multilingual societies. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

The study examines the teaching of Chinese characters in Hong Kong primary and secondary schools. Currently, the “learn character through reading text” approach is widely used, but it lacks an explanation of the connection between form, meaning, and sound. This study aims to provide a systematic understanding of word form and meaning through an etymological approach – Systematic Chinese Etymon Acquisition (SCEA). The system helps students understand Classical Chinese and recognize the different meanings of the same character in various texts. The study involved 114 Year 10 students from a local secondary school in Hong Kong. Learning materials aligned with the school's Chinese language curriculum were used for one month. Pre-and post-tests were conducted to assess the students' knowledge of Classical Chinese vocabulary, and questionnaires were administered to gather feedback on the SCEA approach. The data were analyzed using SPSS. The findings revealed that the participants' knowledge of etymology improved significantly. They demonstrated a stronger understanding of the meaning and extended meaning of Chinese characters, as well as an increased awareness of Chinese culture. Based on these results, pedagogical implications for teaching Chinese characters will be proposed. Copyright © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Sin Manw Sophia Lam, John Chi-Kin Lee and Chung Mou Si; individual chapters, the contributors.

This study investigated learning strategies for Chinese character handwriting (CCW) among students of Chinese as a second language (CSL) in Hong Kong international schools. It first developed an inventory for identifying CCW strategies. The data obtained from the international school students showed that the most frequently used learning strategies as those related to the meaning, structure and shape of Chinese characters; the least frequently used strategies were found to be games, calligraphy, and metacognitive strategies. Then, a factor analysis revealed that two dimensions exist for CCW strategies: knowledge-based and indirect, indicating that both linguistic features of Chinese characters and the cognitive process of handwriting influence students’ employment of CCW strategies. Accordingly, suggestions for teaching approaches and improvement were provided. Copyright © 2024 The Education University of Hong Kong. All Rights Reserved.

In Hong Kong, the issue of teaching Chinese as a second language (CSL) to school children is receiving considerable attention in recent years due to the trending proportion of CSL students in classrooms. While the Hong Kong Government encourages the integration of these students into mainstream schools in which the medium of instruction is predominately Chinese, the inadequate support provided puts these school aged children in a disadvantaged position. In light of this, there is a need of developing effectual interventional strategies to support the CSL learning of these students at preschool, primary and secondary levels. This chapter introduces a new support mode, the Dynamic Enrichment Learning Mode (DELM), which has been specifically developed for an intervention programme for promoting CSL students’ proficiency in Hong Kong kindergartens. Pre-test and post-test data were collected from 146 CSL kindergarteners aged 4 to 5 years who received DELM activities (DELM group) and compared to that of 110 CSL kindergarteners of the same age group who learned Chinese by merely learning in an immersion setting (immersion group). Findings show that the DELM is more effective in promoting CSL kindergarteners’ overall Chinese proficiency levels when compared to an immersion setting. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

This study aims to compare auditory temporal processing and phonological processing across locations and age levels and to test the direct and indirect effects of auditory temporal and phonological processing on proficiency in Chinese character reading. We recruited 108 typically developing children — 25 and 24 kindergarteners from Taiwan and Hong Kong, respectively, and 34 and 25 primary school students from Taiwan and Hong Kong, respectively. Our findings showed that, before learning PCS, the languages’ phonological complexity did not affect the importance of ATP in Chinese reading. Also, we found the use of PCS could lead to a direct effect from students’ ATP to Chinese character reading as well as through phonological awareness. Our findings indicated that ways of learning to read influence children’s patterns of cognitive and linguistic abilities, which should be considered in teaching designs for reading. Copyright © 2023 Fundacion Infancia y Aprendizaje.

This study examined reading motivation in Hong Kong secondary school students, taking account of school-related factors of medium of instruction, teacher support and peer support and demographic factors of gender, grade and socio-economic status. Specifically, the research questions were: (1) How are the school factors of medium of instruction, teacher support and peer support related to reading motivation in Chinese (first language; L1) and reading motivation in English (second language; L2)? (2) How are the demographic factors of socio-economic status, gender and grade related to reading motivation in Chinese and English? and (3) Are there differential patterns of prediction of school factors and demographic factors for Chinese and English reading motivation? The SRQ-Reading Motivation Questionnaire, designed to measure reading motivation as conceptualized by Self-Determination Theory (SDT), was adopted. Nine hundred and forty-one secondary school students participated in this study, from the grade levels of secondary one, four and six in seven secondary schools in Hong Kong. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that their reading motivation was comprised of two factors, Autonomous Chinese Reading Motivation (ACRM), Autonomous English Reading Motivation (AERM), Controlled Chinese Reading Motivation (CCRM) and Controlled English Reading Motivation (CERM). To address the three research questions, structural equation modeling was used to investigate the relationships among the variables examined in the present study. The findings showed that Teacher Support significantly predicted all reading motivation outcomes. A higher level of teacher support was associated with higher levels of autonomous and controlled reading motivation in the two languages. Peer Support was also a significant predictor of all reading motivation outcomes. Surprisingly, peer support had a negative relationship with controlled reading motivation in Chinese and in English but a positive relationship

In this study, we investigated the direct and indirect associations of different cognitive–linguistic skills and Chinese reading comprehension in Hong Kong kindergarteners. We assessed 179 children's nonverbal IQ, cognitive–linguistic skills, word reading, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension. Results showed significant correlations between all variables and reading comprehension. Further path analysis results indicated that rapid automatized naming, orthographic knowledge, and morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension via word reading. Nonverbal IQ and vocabulary knowledge were associated with reading comprehension through listening comprehension. Beyond that, nonverbal IQ and morphological awareness still contributed directly to reading comprehension. Overall, our findings elucidated the importance of nonverbal IQ and cognitive–linguistic skills within the framework of the simple view of reading in Chinese and highlighted the unique roles of nonverbal IQ and meaning-related skills in Chinese reading comprehension, which contributed to understanding the simple view of reading in Chinese. Copyright © 2022 Language Learning Research Club, University of Michigan.

對以中文為第二語言或外語的學生而言，漢字無疑是學習中文的難點。怎樣才能加速學會大量漢字，從而提高學習中文的效率，相信是所有教師都共同關注的議題。通過考察中國兒童學習漢字的過程和方法，崔永華（2008）曾提出過“語文分開，先語後文”、“先認讀，後書寫”、“分層次教學”、“認多讀少”等對外漢字教學的主張。然而，限於不同教學條件，中文二語的漢字教學往往擺脫不了“教材為本，隨文識字”的路徑，同一課文裡出現識漢字和學中文互相牽制的情況──由於漢字難學，課文的篇幅不能過長，內容容易流於膚淺，學生無法學習更深刻、更嚴肅的題材。教與學雙方對每篇課文以致每冊教材的漢字教學缺乏系統科學的認識，更遑論根據所學的漢字，設計反復閱讀和應用的練習，處理好語言教學和漢字教學的關係，提高中文二語的學習效益。有鑑於此，本文以一套專為香港非華語學生設計的教材為基礎，通過全套教材的文本字詞統計、字詞分級、漢字與詞類關聯、漢字構詞位置等層面的分析，探索可以配合該教材的漢字學習系統，並為採用該教材的師生，建議一個與學習內容相關的漢字教學框架和程序。其中研發過程的經驗，相信對中文二語的漢字教材設計也有一點參考價值。 Copyright © 2019 第九屆漢字與漢字教育國際研討會.

This study aims at identifying effective metacognitive teaching strategies (MTSs) in the Chinese Language that can enhance students’ reading comprehension abilities. Learning to learn is the common theme of education reform in Shanghai and Hong Kong since the 21st century. It implies that schools have to train students to become self-regulated learners since the new millennium. However, empirical literature using classroom observation to identify MTSs in a natural environment is scant. Such an approach of study can provide useful results to support student reading abilities within the Chinese-speaking regions. Therefore, this study attempts to fill the research gap. There are three research questions of this study:Q1 What metacognitive teaching strategies are used by the Shanghai and Hong Kong teachers to develop students’ reading comprehension skills in the Chinese Language?Q2 Are the metacognitive teaching strategies used by the teachers of the two regions suggest any similarities and/or differences?Q3 What are the factors that may contribute to teachers’ use of metacognitive teaching strategies?A cross-case analysis was employed in this study to identify teachers’ strategies and the factors that influence teachers’ instruction. The study compared the case studies of Shanghai and Hong Kong teachers’ classroom teaching and explored teachers’ metacognitive teaching factors. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Two schools from Shanghai and two from Hong Kong took part in the research. In each school, two teachers and about 70 students from two separate classes participated. Data were collected in multiple methods of inquiry, including questionnaires, lesson observation, and open-ended interviews. Classroom observations and interviews were conducted to identify MTSs for teaching the Chinese language. Questionnaires and interviews were used to explore the influencing factors of teachers’ use of instructional strategies. This research adopted NVivo to code