The link between a set of tangram-based tasks and Chinese and English reading and related skills among Chinese kindergarteners

Wai Lap Simpson WONG, Wing Yi Rebecca CHENG, Bonnie Wing-Yin CHOW, Man Chi CHUNG

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Learning to read two scripts at a young age is a demanding task. This study aims to develop games for building fundamental code-related emergent literacy skills among biscriptal preschoolers. We developed five games and tested them on a sample of 102 Chinese kindergarteners. The participants were aged 4 to 5 years and were learning English as a second language. The children's reading skills were measured with a battery of literacy tests as well as estimated by their teachers using a literacy-related behavior checklist. Correlational analysis revealed that the performances of the children in the tangram games were significantly correlated with teachers' ratings and children's Raven's IQ. Further regression analysis confirmed that the tangram hand-copying game predicted unique variances for visual-orthographic skills and word identification abilities in Chinese and English. This study provides valuable evidence regarding the application of tangram games for assessing code-related emergent literacy skills in the visual domain. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s).
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-14
JournalAERA Open
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2019

Citation

Wong, S. W. L., Cheng, R. W.-Y., Chow, B. W.-Y., & Chung, S. M.-C. (2019). The link between a set of tangram-based tasks and Chinese and English reading and related skills among Chinese kindergarteners. AERA Open, 5(1), 1-14. doi: 10.1177/2332858419829723

Keywords

  • Emergent literacy
  • Educational games
  • Chinese tangram
  • Visual skills

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