The Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication (CLIC) is pleased to offer a presentation-workshop on reading strategies in other languages. The workshop title is Strategy-use while reading Chinese texts and responding to comprehension questions. This workshop will showcase some of the findings and examples of a reading project conducted at CLIC.
The presenters will first introduce the background and included reading strategies in the research project. Reading strategies can be divided into lower-level and higher-level strategies. Lower-level strategies are used for recognizing words, and higher-level strategies are used for orchestrating coherent understanding. Studies have found that orthography and morphology skills significantly predict reading comprehension for Chinese readers (Cheung, Chan, & Chong, 2007; Li, Anderson, Nagy, & Zhang, 2002; Shu, Chen, Anderson, Wu, & Xuan, 2003; Tong & McBride-Chang, 2010). However, the emphasis on orthography and morphology skills tend to assume that successful word-recognition equals to coherent comprehension. Therefore, the conducted project includes both lower-level and higher-level strategies in an intermediate-level of Chinese course (adapted from Grenfell & Harris, 2002; Phakiti, 2008). The project is currently at the first stage with a Control Group. Next, the presenters will share some of the study findings and an example when a High-reader failed an Easy-question. At the end of the workshop, the workshop participants will discuss the aforementioned example on other strategies the High-reader could have used. We hope that our workshop participants will learn more on consciously using strategies while reading through our presentation and the discussion activity.
When: April 1st, 12:45 – 1:40pm
Where: Rayzor Hall, Room 123
If you are interested, please, RSVP to Wei-Li Hsu at wh20@rice.edu.
Workshop References
Cheung, H., Chan, M., & Chong, K. (2007). Use of orthographic knowledge in reading by Chinese-English bi-scriptal children. Language Learning, 57(3), 469–505.
Grenfell, M. & Harris, V. (2002). Modern Languages and Learning Strategies. New York, NY: Routledge.
Li, W., Anderson, R. C., Nagy, W., & Zhang, H. (2002). Facets of metalinguistic awareness that contribute to Chinese literacy. In W. Li, J. S. Gaffney, & J. L. Packard (Eds.), Chinese children’s reading acquisition: Theoretical and pedagogical issues (pp. 87–111). Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic.
Phakiti, A. (2008). Construct validation of Bachman and Palmer’s (1996) strategic competence model over time in EFL reading tests. Language Testing, 25(2), 237–272.
Shu, H., & Anderson, R. (1999). Learning to read Chinese: The development of metalinguistic awareness. In J. Wang, A. W. Inhoff, & H.-C. Chen (Eds.), Learning to read Chinese script: A cognitive analysis (pp. 1-18). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Tong, X., & McBride-Chang, C. (2010). Chinese-English biscriptal reading: Cognitive component skills across orthographies. Reading and Writing, 23, 293–310.
