Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Research motivation 1
1.2 Definition of phonological awareness(PA) 2
1.3 Phonological awareness and L2 word reading 3
1.4 English word reading in the Chinese context 5
1.5 Key research questions 10
Chapter 2 Phonological Skills and English Word Reading 11
2.1 Research background 11
2.1.1 English word reading and English reading 12
2.1.2 Models for development of English word reading skills 14
2.1.3 Phonological skills and English word reading 18
2.2 Issues in PA and English word reading 23
2.3 Issues in English word reading 27
2.4 Methodological matters 31
2.4.1 Classic PA tasks 31
2.4.2 Cognitive dimension 32
2.4.3 Linguistic dimension 35
2.4.4 Orthographic dimension 38
2.5 Theoretical accounts for the connection 40
2.5.1 Cognitive view 41
2.5.2 Emergentist view 42
2.5.3 Representational view 45
2.5.4 Multiconnections account for English word reading 46
Chapter 3 Reconsidering the Issues in EFL Context 48
3.1 Introduction 48
3.1.1 Linguistic differences theory 49
3.1.2 Linguistic differences and reading skills 51
3.1.3 Linguistic differences and PA 54
3.2 Chinese mainland EFL learning context 56
3.3 Research rationale 58
3.3.1 Introduction 58
3.3.2 Syllable structure of Chinese 60
3.3.3 Chinese writing system 62
3.3.4 Structure of Chinese pinyin 64
3.3.5 Problems with pinyin system 66
3.3.6 Role of pinyin in learning to read 67
3.4 Methodological considerations in Chinese EFL context 70
3.4.1 English word reading tests 70
3.4.2 CPA tasks 75
3.5 Summary 78
Chapter 4 Experimental Studies 79
4.0 Research questions 79
4.1 Participants 80
4.2 Chinese and English PA tests 82
4.2.1 Method for PA tests 82
4.2.2 PA task selection 82
4.2.3 CPA tests 84
4.2.4 EPA tests 91
4.3 English vocabulary,Chinese word reading and English word reading tests 95
4.3.1 English vocabulary test 95
4.3.2 Chinese word reading test 96
4.3.3 English word reading test 96
4.4 Pinyin reading test 97
4.4.1 Design&. 97
4.4.2 Materials 99
4.5 English nonword reading test 100
4.5.1 Materials 102
4.5.2 Task considerations 105
4.6 Data collection 108
4.7 Summary 111
Chapter 5 Results and Discussion 112
5.0 Introduction 112
5.1 Chinese and English phonological awareness 112
5.1.1 Descriptive statistics 112
5.1.2 Units and tasks 113
5.1.3 Correlations and regression 114
5.1.4 Composition of PA skills 116
5.1.5 Discussion 117
5.2 Phonological awareness and word reading 119
5.2.1 Validating sample groups 119
5.2.2 Correlations 122
5.2.3 Regression analyses 128
5.3 English nonword reading 131
5.3.1 CV versus VC analogy 132
5.3.2 Analogy and PA 134
5.3.3 Complex onset in VC analogy 137
5.4 Chinese and English deletion tasks 139
5.4.1 Chinese phoneme deletion 139
5.4.2 English phoneme deletion 140
5.4.3 English syllable deletion 141
5.4.4 Summary 142
5.5 Chinese pinyin reading 142
5.6 Summary 144
Chapter 6 General Discussion and Conclusion 145
6.0 Introduction 145
6.1 Research questions revisited 145
6.2 English word reading 148
6.2.1 Findings on correlations 148
6.2.2 English vocabulary,PA and word reading 149
6.2.3 CPA and EPA 152
6.2.4 Phonological skills in EFL word reading 154
6.3 English nonword reading 156
6.3.1 English nonword reading strategies 156
6.3.2 English PA and nonword reading 160
6.4 Chinese pinyin 163
6.5 Contributions of major findings and implications of the study 166
6.5.1 Contributions of the study 166
6.5.2 Implications for teaching 170
6.6 Some limitations on the present study and suggestions for future research 175
6.7 Summary 176
References 178
Appendixes 204
Appendix 1 Reliability coefficients for tests used in the study 204
Appendix 2 English vocabulary test materials 205
Appendix 3 Chinese character reading test materials 206
Appendix 4 English word reading test materials 207
Appendix 5 Instructions in EPA group session tests 208
Appendix 6 Raw scores for reading different types of English nonwords 209
List of Tables 64
3.1 Scheme of rime letters in Chinese pinyin(Wang 1999:243) 64
3.2 Three types of rimes in Chinese pinyin 65
3.3 Hypothesized correspondence between PA,print and reading strategy 73
4.1 Items in Chinese detection test 84
4.2 Materials in rhyme iudgment test 86
4.3 Materials in Chinese rhyme detection test 87
4.4 Onset judgment test material 87
4.5 A comparison of consonant phoneme types in English and Chinese 90
4.6 Materials for Chinese onset phoneme deletion test 90
4.7 Test items containing different distraction types in English rhyme detection task(odd rhyme in bold) 91
4.8 Items in English onset detection test 92
4.9 Items with same or different final phonemes in judgment task 92
4.10 Items with same or different initial phonemes in judgment task 92
4.11 Material in English onset deletion test 94
4.12 Items in Chinese pinyin reading task 100
4.13 Items in English nonword reading task grouped according to segmentation position of the syllable and repetition of clue words 102
4.14 Test items for reading of CCVC type nonwords 104
4.15 A description of group and individual session tests and the number of participants 109
5.1 Mean performance of Chinese PA,English PA and English vocabulary by Grades 3(n=62)and 5 children(n=65) 113
5.2 Intercorrelations of CPA and EPA tasks(G3,n=62) 115
5.3 Intercorrelations of CPA and EPA tasks(G5,n=65) 115
5.4 Factor analysis for Chinese and English PA skills 117
5.5 Mean performance of children who participated in Chinese and English PA,word reading and English vocabulary tests (n=25 for each group) 120
5.6 Results of independent samples t-test on Chinese and English PA,reading and English vocabulary skills 121
5.7 Intercorrelations of Chinese and English PA,reading and English vocabulary tasks for G3 group 123
5.8 Intercorrelations of Chinese and English PA,reading and English vocabulary tasks for G5 group 125
5.9 Summary of stepwise regression analyses predicting English word reading,with English vocabulary and phoneme deletion as predictor variables 129
5.10 Summary of stepwise regression analyses predicting Chinese character reading with Chinese onset judgment as predictor variable for G3 children;rhyme judgment as predictor variable for G5 children 130
5.11 Summary of stepwise regression analyses predicting English nonword reading with CPA and EPA skills as predictor variables in G3 130
5.12 Mean performances on English nonword reading 132
5.13 Mean performance on CV and VC analogy reading with same or different clue words 132
5.14 Correlations between reading related skills and English nonword reading units 135
5.15 Summary of two-step multiple regression,with G5 English rhyme detection as predictor with G5 CV/C unit reading as dependent variable 136
5.16 Summary of two-step multiple regression,with G5 Chinese rhyme detection as predictor with G5 C/VC unit reading as dependent variable 136
5.17 Mean performances on cluster onset type nonwords 138
5.18 Summary of paired t-test across three word types 138
5.19 Mean performance on onset types in English phoneme deletion task 141
5.20 Mean performance on pinyin reading 143
6.1 Correspondences between CV and VC in Chinese and English 159
List of Figures 149
6.1 Relations between Chinese and English word reading skills 149
6.2 Conception of relations between English PA and R in EFL situation 151
6.3 Conception of the relation between CPA and EPA 153
6.4 Results on L1-L2 PA relations in G3 and G5 153