Re: Reading depends on writing, in Chinese
- From: "Dylan Sung" <dylanwhs.tsktsktsk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 23:14:57 +0100
"Austin P. So (Hae Jin)" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:d8ngfb$8cf$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/102/24/8781?etoc
>
> PNAS | June 14, 2005 | vol. 102 | no. 24 | 8781-8785
>
> Reading depends on writing, in Chinese
>
> Li Hai Tan *, John A. Spinks {dagger}, Guinevere F. Eden {ddagger},
> Charles A. Perfetti § and Wai Ting Siok *, ¶
>
> *Department of Linguistics, and {dagger}Vice Chancellor's Office,
> University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China;
> {ddagger}Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20057; and
> §Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh,
> Pittsburgh, PA 12560
>
> Communicated by Robert Desimone, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda,
> MD, April 28, 2005 (received for review January 3, 2005)
>
> Language development entails four fundamental and interactive abilities:
> listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Over the past four decades, a
> large body of evidence has indicated that reading acquisition is strongly
> associated with a child's listening skills, particularly the child's
> sensitivity to phonological structures of spoken language. Furthermore, it
> has been hypothesized that the close relationship between reading and
> listening is manifested universally across languages and that behavioral
> remediation using strategies addressing phonological awareness alleviates
> reading difficulties in dyslexics. The prevailing view of the central role
> of phonological awareness in reading development is largely based on
> studies using Western (alphabetic) languages, which are based on
> phonology. The Chinese language provides a unique medium for testing this
> notion, because logographic characters in Chinese are based on meaning
> rather than phonology. Here we show that the ability to read Chinese is
> strongly related to a child's writing skills and that the relationship
> between phonological awareness and Chinese reading is much weaker than
> that in reports regarding alphabetic languages. We propose that the role
> of logograph writing in reading development is mediated by two possibly
> interacting mechanisms. The first is orthographic awareness, which
> facilitates the development of coherent, effective links among visual
> symbols, phonology, and semantics; the second involves the establishment
> of motor programs that lead to the formation of long-term motor memories
> of Chinese characters. These findings yield a unique insight into how
> cognitive systems responsible for reading development and reading
> disability interact, and they challenge the prominent phonological
> awareness view.
Thanks Austin,
There is also the problem amongst adults that the ability to recall how to
write those characters fade with time, if they do not keep up their writing
skills. They continue to be able to read those characters, but in people
I've met who do not do a lot of writing, they say they can read newspapers,
but asked if they can write specific characters, they cannot recall how
exactly the character is composed.
In this respect, one could argue that the fewer the number of penstrokes a
character has, one would expect that it would be easier to recall how to
write it, after a period of not having used it. It may be why there is a
drive for simplification in modern China of the last century. However, I'm
not convinced of this arguement, since there are folks who read simplified
Chinese writing, but still have the same problem of recalling how characters
are written if asked to write them down.
In South Korea, I understand that there are 1800 characters that are
supposed to be taught in school, and their use is beginning to gradual
diminish, except for the use in names. This is sad in a way, as a lot of
Korean historical documents utilise hanja. Will the trend to move towards
total use of hangul as in North Korea happen in South Korea?
Dyl.
.
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