Character Reading Research Articles

Same or different: Chinese character reading and word reading of young readers with development

Same or different: Chinese character reading and word reading of young readers with development

Neurocognition in the reading of Chinese characters

Chinese characters, which form an ideographic writing system, have shown distinctive features in the neurocognition of their reading. This paper gives a comprehensive review of five main issues of Chinese reading, which are (1) the relationship across written forms, sounds, and meanings during the neurocognitive processing of Chinese reading, (2) the involvement of structural and linguistic units, such as strokes (笔画), radicles (部件), components (偏旁), whole characters (整字), and words (词), in character reading, (3) the influence of attentional conditions on character reading, (4) the activation of Chinese characters from non-character input, and (5) the influences of readers’ linguistic experiences on character reading. We summarize that the reading of Chinese characters involves dynamic integration of multi-channel information and multiple levels of processing units, which, as compared with alphabetic writing systems, rely more on form-to-meaning semantic processing, while its form-to-phonology non-semantic processing is greatly influenced by para-linguistic context.

Readability of Korean-Language COVID-19 Information from the South Korean National COVID-19 Portal Intended for the General Public: Cross-sectional Infodemiology Study.

BackgroundThe coronavirus pandemic has increased reliance on the internet as a tool for disseminating information; however, information is useful only when it can be understood. Prior research has shown that web-based health information is not always easy to understand. It is not yet known whether the Korean-language COVID-19 information from the internet is easy for the general public to understand.ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate the readability of Korean-language COVID-19 information intended for the general public from the national COVID-19 portal of South Korea.MethodsA total of 122 publicly available COVID-19 information documents written in Korean were obtained from the South Korean national COVID-19 portal. We determined the level of readability (at or below ninth grade, 10th to 12th grade, college, or professional) of each document using a readability tool for Korean-language text. We measured the reading time, character count, word count, sentence count, and paragraph count for each document. We also evaluated the characteristics of difficult-to-read documents to modify the readability from difficult to easy.ResultsThe median readability level was at a professional level; 90.2% (110/122) of the information was difficult to read. In all 4 topics, few documents were easy to read (overview: 5/12, 41.7%; prevention: 6/97, 6.2%; test: 0/5, 0%; treatment: 1/8, 12.5%; P=.006), with a median 11th-grade readability level for overview, a median professional readability level for prevention, and median college readability levels for test and treatment. Difficult-to-read information had the following characteristics in common: literacy style, medical jargon, and unnecessary detail.ConclusionsIn all 4 topics, most of the Korean-language COVID-19 web-based information intended for the general public provided by the national COVID-19 portal of South Korea was difficult to read; the median readability levels exceeded the recommended ninth-grade level. Readability should be a key consideration in developing public health documents, which play an important role in disease prevention and health promotion.

Exploring Relationships Between L2 Chinese Character Writing and Reading Acquisition From Embodied Cognitive Perspectives: Evidence From HSK Big Data.

Chinese characters are central to understanding how learners learn to read a logographic script. However, researchers know little about the role of character writing in reading Chinese as a second language (CSL). Unlike an alphabetic script, a Chinese character symbol transmits semantic information and is a cultural icon bridging embodied experience and text meaning. As a unique embodied practice, writing by hand contributes to cognitive processing in Chinese reading. Therefore, it is essential to clarify how Chinese character writing (bodily activity), language distance (past language usage), and cultural background (bodily coupling with the environment) influence CSL reading proficiency. Based on extant research on L2 reading acquisition and strength of key theoretical perspectives of embodied cognition theory (ECT), this study tested a regression model for CSL reading involving individual-level factors (Chinese character writing proficiency [CCWP]) and group-level predictors (language distance and cultural background). This study collected big data in a sample of 74,362 CSL learners with 67 diverse L1s. Results of hierarchical linear modeling showed a significant effect of CCWP and significant language distance × CCWP interaction effect on reading proficiency; however, cultural background × CCWP interaction effect was not significant. These results conform to the ECT and indicate that bodily activity, past language usage, and cultural background aided reading. CCWP may benefit from withstanding the negative transfer from L1s. Furthermore, CCWP and cultural background are not synergistic predictors of reading. This study may open novel avenues for explorations of CSL reading development.

Saviors, nurturers, or magically insane: a braided reading of white women characters in three ecological narratives

ABSTRACT Media can both perpetuate and disrupt the patriarchal, anthropocentric discourses that shape social understandings of “woman” and “nature.” Using a braided feminist lens, we investigated media discourses about white women’s relationships with the human and more-than-human world. We present our analysis in three cases: Olivia from the novel, The Overstory; mother from the film, mother!; and Eleven from the Netflix series, Stranger Things. These characters illuminate stories of injustice and separation at the intersections of gender, race, species, and settler colonialism. We specifically consider the discourses of woman as crazy, woman as magical, woman as white savior, and woman as nurturer. Recognizing that no text tells a single story, we explore how we might re-story the discourses around white womanhood to invite a more reciprocal and feminist orientation to relationships, building from Donna Haraway’s notion of the Chthulucene (a trans-species, non-hierarchical response to the Anthropocene). Finally, we discuss how “othering” may not always occur as explicit marginalization and inferiority. For instance, by constituting white women as “saviors” or essentially magical (and possibly crazy), media may reinforce social and ecological hierarchies.

Measuring Orthographic Knowledge of L2 Chinese Learners in Vietnam Using a Handwriting Task - A Preliminary Report.

In the current study, the orthographic knowledge required for writing Chinese characters was assessed among participants with L1 Vietnamese background who learn Chinese as a foreign language. A total of 42 undergraduates were recruited. They were invited to participate in a delayed Chinese character copying task consisting of 32 characters. Their Chinese character reading abilities were also obtained using a character naming task. All the tests were conducted online during the pandemic in 2021. Results indicated that the participants’ accuracy in the copying task was affected by the familiarity of the characters and the number of strokes of the characters. These effects minimized as reading performance increased. In the inter-stroke interval (ISI) analysis, results indicated a significant boundary effect where ISIs between orthographic units were longer than ISIs within orthographic units, showing the participants’ tendency to chunk Chinese characters into functional units when they write. Only high achievers in the reading task demonstrated the use of both large and small grain-size units in writing (i.e., radical-boundary ISI > logographeme-boundary ISI > non-boundary ISI), while the low achievers only used small grain-size units in their writing. We suggest that the delayed copying task incorporated with handwriting measures is an effective method to assess orthographic knowledge of L2 Chinese learners.

Perceptual simulation in language comprehension and Chinese character reading among third-grade Hong Kong children

The current study investigated perceptual simulation and its relationship with literacy ability in Chinese children. Ninety-three third-grade Hong Kong Chinese children completed a sentence-picture verification task for perceptual simulation. In this task, a sentence mentioning an object was presented first, followed by a picture involving the object. The picture was either a perceptual match with the preceding sentence or a mismatch. The participants were asked to judge whether the object in the picture was mentioned in the preceding sentence. Literacy ability was measured by a Chinese character reading task. Model analysis revealed a significant mismatch effect: the children gave faster correct responses to the perceptually matched pictures than to the mismatched ones. Furthermore, the children with lower literacy abilities displayed larger mismatch effects than those with higher literacy abilities. The results suggest that children with lower literacy abilities may rely more heavily on reactivated perceptual representations in language comprehension.

Development of stimulus-driven attention test for unilateral spatial neglect – Accuracy, reliability, and validity

We developed a simple method to assess stimulus-evoked attention function in unilateral spatial neglect (USN), and examined its accuracy, reliability, and validity. Thirty-one patients with USN and sixteen patients with right hemisphere damage without USN were given a task of reading Japanese characters that suddenly appeared on a display, and a reading or touching task of red Japanese characters that are arranged on the display. The sensitivity and specificity were calculated from the measurement results, and the cutoff value was calculated using the receiver operating characteristic curve. Area under the curve was used to evaluate the discriminatory ability. Reliability was calculated by the intraclass correlation coefficient using the test-retest method. Validity was assessed by correlating the scores of the new method with the scores of the traditional assessment, the behavioral inattention test, and the Catherine Bergego Scale.This new method was able to detect left USN with the same level of accuracy as the conventional assessment and showed moderate or better reliability. In addition, a moderate correlation was found with the conventional assessment, and a higher correlation was observed with items related to perception and cognition in daily life.

Is phonological deficit a necessary or sufficient condition for Chinese reading disability?

While phonological skills have been found to be correlated with reading across different writing systems, recent findings have shown that developmental dyslexia in Chinese individuals has multiple deficits, and no single factor has ever been identified as crucial for learning this writing system. To examine whether a deficit in the phonological or another cognitive domain is a necessary or sufficient condition for Chinese reading disability, this study examined the cognitive profiles of 521 good readers and 502 dyslexic readers in Chinese primary schools using a battery of behavioral measures covering phonological, visual, orthographic, visual-motor coordination and working memory skills. The results showed that among all cognitive measures, phonological skills correlated more strongly with character reading performance but that poor phonological skills did not necessarily or sufficiently lead to poor reading performance in Chinese.

Textual Encounters: Reading Character in the Nineteenth-Century Novel

Textual Encounters: Reading Character in the Nineteenth-Century Novel

“Bird Script” is not Bird Script

Ever since the 1930s, scholars have adopted the Eastern Han terms niaoshu 鳥書 (bird script) and niaochongshu 鳥蟲書 (bird and insect script) to refer to the beautiful gold inlaid writing, with added bird elements, inscribed on bronzes associated with Wu and Yue. However, before the 1930s, no experts agreed on how to define these terms. This paper argues that “bird script,” as used by Eastern Han writers, described writing on seals, banners, and a popular calligraphic style, none of which had added bird elements. Also, the florid style of writing inscribed on the Mancheng vessels was neither “bird script” nor related to the earlier Wu and Yue inscriptions. After discussing the florescence of Wu and Yue scripts, and then Eastern Han uses of the term “bird script,” this paper examines known examples of attempts by Songperiod antiquarians at reading characters with bird elements, including a fifth-century bronze bell from Yue. Although familiar with Eastern Han writings on scripts, Song scholars neither described these inscriptions as “bird script,” nor placed these bronzes in their correct historical contexts. Apparently, added bird elements was not yet a criterion for “bird script.” Subsequently, this paper explores the initial breakthroughs in the process of deciphering Wu and Yue scripts in the late Qing and early twentieth century. Although this was the first time some inscriptions with added bird elements were called “bird script,” this paper shows that the term was still not universally adopted by philologists until 1934, when Rong Geng 容庚 (1894–1983) produced the first systematic study of Eastern Zhou writing with added bird elements. Thanks to Rong Geng, scholars today can read pre-unification inscriptions from the southeast coast; unfortunately, Rong’s anachronistic use of “bird script” and “bird and insect script” has continued to this day.

Effects of Pacing, Computer Font, and Dynamic Text Presentation Method on the Reading of Chinese Characters on Visual Legibility Performance Under Different Lighting Conditions

Effects of Pacing, Computer Font, and Dynamic Text Presentation Method on the Reading of Chinese Characters on Visual Legibility Performance Under Different Lighting Conditions

Usability Evaluation of the Electronic Medical Record of the Rapid Response Team: a Case Study

Aim: This study was conducted to determine the usability of the rapid response team (RRT) electronic medical records (EMRs) system at an Abu-Ali-Sina organ transplant hospital, Shiraz, Iran. Method: This cross-sectional study was carried out in partnership with 25 direct members of RRT includes nurses and anesthesia technicians who were on the shift during the data collection for two months. To evaluate, the Questionnaire for User Interaction Satisfaction (QUIS) version 7 was used. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 19. Results: A total of 20 out of 25 questionnaires were obtained. Seven (25.0 %) of 27 sections were higher than seven, and all areas were higher than five. The highest rankings were for 1) reading characters on the computer screen 2) highlighting on the screen simplify task 3) overall reactions: wonderful and learning to operate the system. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the usability of the hospital RRT for the EMRs system and over the moderate. However, the flexibility and capability of the rapid response for EMRs tool require to be improved.

Integration of language, psychology, and technology and the concept of independence learning in reading characters in indonesian children's films as media and learning materials in character building for elementary school students-indonesia

The purpose of this research is to integrate psychology, technology, and language in reading the characters in Indonesian children's films as media and learning materials for character building for elementary school students in Indonesia. This research design uses mixed methods. The source of research data is sourced from elementary school students' learning activities in Indonesian subjects using Indonesian children's films as media and learning materials. Data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussions. Respondents of this study were elementary school teachers as many as 98 teachers. Qualitative data were analyzed by interpreting techniques and presented in the form of descriptions, while quantitative data were analyzed by calculating the average student learning outcomes presented in the form of percentages. The findings of this study are twofold, namely, the findings of this study are twofold, namely by using Indonesian children's films as a medium as well as a source of learning and learning materials can shape students' character and improve student achievement.

The Effectiveness of Image Preprocessing on Digital Handwritten Scripts Recognition with The Implementation of OCR Tesseract

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) has been widely discussed in various topics in the rise of robotics, artificial intelligence and computer vision. OCR has become a solution in extracting characters from the image into machine-encoded text. This research aims to discuss character recognition from digital handwritten image. However, characters recognition problems using OCR has been more or less solved. OCR mainly implemented in reading characters from scanned of printed documents. In this research, image preprocessing including convert to grayscale, morphological operations and noise removal has been successfully boost the accuracy score of OCR performance. The average success outcome resulted to 79.26% in reading characters from the image.

When and How Much Hiragana Characters Reading Are Acquired ? ─Readiness Related to Acquiring Hiragana─

When and How Much Hiragana Characters Reading Are Acquired ? ─Readiness Related to Acquiring Hiragana─

Menanamkan Karakter Gemar Membaca pada Anak Melalui Gerakan Literasi Sekolah (GLS) di SD Negeri 131 Kota Jambi

Introduction. Based on the results of the TIMSS and PIRLS survey obtained that the literacy ability of Indonesian students is in a state of concern, so one of the efforts made by the Indonesian government through the Ministry of Education and Culture is by issating the School Literacy Movement (GLS). The School Literacy Movement is an effort made thoroughly to make the school as a learning organization whose citizens are literate throughout life through public involvement. The lack of awareness of students to read results in the urgency of literacy needing to be instilled from elementary school age.
 Research Method. This study used descriptive qualitative methods with the determination of the subject purposive sampling.
 Result and Discussion. The results showed that SD Negeri 131 Kota Jambi has a GLS strategy in instilling reading character that is done through three (3) stages, namely the habituation stage, development and learning stages. At the habituation stage to familiarize children to read without a bill, the development stage to form reading interests with non-academic bills and the learning stage with academic bills. The impact of GLS strategy in instilling the character of reading in students in State Elementary School 131 can be said that GLS activities begin to instill a favorite or penchant for reading seen from the feeling of pleasure to read, the need for students to read, the desire to always read, the act of finding reading and follow-up. Supporting factors in the implementation of GLS are the active role of all school residents, educator training, the role of parents of students in the form of book donation and involvement in literacy activities and support from outside parties, namely Tanoto foundation, mobile library and student participation in the Evergreen Reading House program. An inhibitory factor is the absence of a dedicated space for libraries as well as different students' reading interests. Efforts to overcome these obstacles are to make a corner of the library as a temporary replacement for the library and make reading angles in each class and the need for commitment of all parties in running literacy programs.

Development of radical awareness at initial learning stage in L2 Chinese: stronger vs. weaker learners of Chinese characters

Radical awareness (i.e. the ability to identify, analyze, and manipulate radicals within compound characters) plays an important role in character reading and learning for first language and second language (L2) learners of Chinese. Previous studies have shown that radical awareness contributes to character recognition, inference, and comprehension. However, it is unclear how elementary-level L2 Chinese learners develop radical awareness over a relatively long period, particularly for the potential differences between stronger and weaker learners of Chinese characters. To fill the gap, this study investigated 45 beginning-level L2 Chinese participants during a 16-week semester at an American university. They completed a radical identification task, a radical analysis task, and a radical manipulation task in Week 4, Week 9, and Week 15; and a character knowledge task and a vocabulary knowledge task in Week 15. The results showed that learners who were stronger and weaker at reading characters had similar developmental patterns of radical identification, but different developmental patterns of radical analysis and manipulation. Furthermore, each sub-ability of radical awareness of the stronger learners improved faster than those of the weaker learners after Week 4.

Phoneme Awareness Predicts Character Reading Ability in Young Chinese Children Through Phonemic Mismatch Negativity

The current literature suggests mixed findings regarding the relationship between visual spatial skill and Chinese reading ability. In this longitudinal study, 106 kindergarteners in Hong Kong were tested on visual spatial skill and Chinese character reading ability in their first, second, and third years of kindergarten (K1, K2, and K3) with 12-month intervals between the three testing points. Cross-lagged path analysis showed a bidirectional relationship between visual spatial skill and Chinese character reading ability from K1 to K2. Children's visual spatial skill in K1 predicted their reading ability in K2 (B = 0.35, SE = 0.17, p < .05, β = .17), and their reading ability in K1 explained the unique variance of visual spatial skill measured in K2 (B = 0.29, SE = 0.12, p < .05, β = .25). In total, it explained 19.4% (p < .01) and 35.8% (p < .001) variance of visual spatial skill at T2 and reading ability at T2. However, the bidirectional relationship diminished between K2 and K3. The results demonstrate the developmental course of the relationship between visual spatial skill and reading ability as well as the reciprocal facilitation of the two skills in the beginning phase of reading development but not later phases.

The development of Chinese character reading and knowledge in young children

Early reading and literacy are critical for helping children to become good readers, and character reading and knowledge are important aspects. However, few studies have investigated this issue. By drawing on 127 children between 4 and 6 years of age from five Level 1 kindergartens in Shanghai, this study examined the development of Chinese character reading and knowledge in young children. Character reading was assessed using the revised Chinese Communicative Development Inventory. Children’s knowledge of Chinese characters was administered through three tasks, namely stroke-pattern recognition, visual memorization and component detection, and component positioning. Results indicated that children acquired some characters before formally learning to read and write. Both character reading and knowledge developed rapidly with age. Further, children’s knowledge of Chinese characters was closely associated with their character reading. Findings suggest that children’s interest and knowledge of characters should be fostered during the early years to prepare them to be successful readers.