Beyond Copying

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of three intervention programs for Chinese literacy development in kindergartners: the copying (Copy) program; a combined program of copying and Pinyin knowledge (Copy + Pinyin); and a combined program of copying and morphological awareness (Copy + MA). Ninety-seven kindergarteners aged 5–7 years in mainland China (30 in Copy, 32 in Copy + Pinyin, 35 in Copy + MA) participated. Thirty untrained children served as a control group. Children were tested on nonverbal IQ, morphological awareness, orthographic awareness, phonological awareness, invented Pinyin spelling, word reading and writing skills in Chinese. After an eight-week intervention period, children in all three intervention groups progressed significantly more than the control group on literacy skills. Furthermore, the combined program of copying and Pinyin knowledge yielded significantly greater improvement in invented Pinyin spelling than the Copy and control groups. Finally, the combined program of copying and morphological awareness yielded greater improvement in word reading and writing, as well as significantly higher orthographic awareness than other groups. These findings suggest the utility of multi-component interventions for early Chinese literacy learning. That the combined program particularly benefited children’s reading and writing skills at the beginning level suggests that both rote practice and analytic strategies should be emphasized in kindergartens and primary schools in order to produce greater improvements in Chinese literacy acquisition.