Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T11:41:29.179Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Best Practices in Teaching Logographic and Non-Roman Writing Systems to L2 Learners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2011

Michael E. Everson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The past few decades have witnessed a growing interest in how second language (L2) learners come to read in languages employing non-alphabetic writing systems such as Chinese and Japanese and languages employing non-Roman alphabetic systems such as Arabic and Hebrew. Indeed, with efforts afoot to begin more programs in these languages at the K-12 and collegiate levels, in immersion and bilingual settings, and with stated goals for students to eventually attain high levels in reading proficiency, an understanding of this research is critical if program development is to go forward in a principled way. This article discusses some of the theoretical developments that have helped illuminate the cross-orthographic reading process and reports on the relevant research in L2 cross-orthographic reading that has shaped our understanding of the issues involved in learning to read in languages that employ non-Roman alphabetic, logographic, and syllabary systems of writing. The article will also discuss teaching implications, strategies, and classroom practice put forth by reading practitioners, many of which have yet to find consensus.

Type
SECTION D: INSTRUCTION IN SPECIFIC SKILL AREAS
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 31 , March 2011 , pp. 249 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cook, V., & Bassetti, B. (Eds.) (2005). Second language writing systems. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everson, M.E., & Xiao, Y. (Eds.). (2009). Teaching Chinese as a foreign language: Theories and applications. Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui.Google Scholar
Koda, K., & Zehler, A. M. (Eds.). (2008). Learning to read across languages: Cross-linguistic relationships in first- and second-language literacy development. New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nara, H., & Noda, M. (2003). Acts of reading: Exploring connections in pedagogy of Japanese. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar

REFERENCES

Abu-Rabia, S. (1997). Reading in Arabic orthography: The effect of vowels and context upon reading accuracy on poor and skilled native readers of Arabic. Social and cognitive factors influencing the reading comprehension of Arab students learning Hebrew as a second language in Israel. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 9, 65–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abu-Rabia, S. (1998a). Social and cognitive factors influencing the reading comprehension of Arab students learning Hebrew as a second language in Israel. Journal of Research in Reading, 21, 201–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abu-Rabia, S. (1998b). Reading Arabic texts: Effects of text type, reader type, and vowelization. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 10, 105–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abu-Rabia, S. (1999). Towards a second-language model of learning in problematic social contexts: The case of Arabs learning Hebrew in Israel. Race Ethnicity and Education, 2, 109–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abu-Rabia, S. (2001). The role of vowels in reading Semitic scripts: Data from Arabic and Hebrew. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 14, 39–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abu-Rabia, S. (2002). Reading in a root-based-morphology language: The case of Arabic. Journal of Research in Reading, 25, 299–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abu-Rabia, S., & Siegel, L. S. (2002). Reading, syntactic, orthographic, and working memory skills of bilingual Arabic-English speaking Canadian children. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 31, 661–678.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abu-Rabia, S., & Siegel, L. S. (2003). Reading skills in three orthographies: The case of trilingual Arabic-Hebrew-English-speaking Arab children. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 16, 611–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asia Society. (2010). Meeting the challenge: Preparing Chinese language teachers for American schools. New York, NY: Asia Society.Google Scholar
Allen, J. R. (2008). Why learning to write Chinese is a waste of time: A modest proposal. Foreign Language Annals, 41, 237–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baluch, B. (2006). Persian orthography and its relation to literacy. In Joshi, R. M. & Aaron, P. G. (Eds.), Handbook of orthography and literacy (pp. 365–376). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Bassetti, B. (2005). Effects of writing systems on second language awareness: Word awareness in English learners of Chinese as a foreign language. In Cook, V. & Bassetti, B. (Eds.), Second language writing systems, (pp. 335–356). London, UK: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brecht, R. D., & Rivers, W. P. (2000). Language and national security in the 21st century. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Brecht, R. D., & Walton, A. R. (1993). National strategic planning in less commonly taught languages. Washington, D.C.: The National Foreign Language Center.Google Scholar
Chang, C. (2010). See how they read: An investigation into the cognitive and metacognitive strategies of nonnative readers of Chinese. In Everson, M. E. & Shen, H. H. (Eds.), Chinese Language Teachers Association Monograph Series: Vol. 4. Research among learners of Chinese as a foreign language (pp. 93–116). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i, National Foreign Language Resource Center.Google Scholar
Cheung, H., McBride-Chang, C., & Chow, B. W-Y. (2006). Reading Chinese. In Joshi, R. M. & Aaron, P. G. (Eds.), Handbook of orthography and literacy (pp. 421–438). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Chikamatsu, N. (1996). The effects of L1 orthography on L2 word recognition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18, 403–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chikamatsu, N. (2005). L2 Japanese kanji memory and retrieval: An experiment on the tip-of-the-pen (TOP) phenomenon. In Cook, V. & Bassetti, B. (Eds.), Second language writing systems (pp. 71–96). London, UK: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chikamatsu, N. (2006). Developmental word recognition: A study of L1 English readers of L2 Japanese. The Modern Language Journal, 90, 67–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, M. B., & Warnick, J. P. (2006). Performed culture: An approach to East Asian language pedagogy. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University, National East Asian Languages Resource Center.Google Scholar
DeFrancis, J. (1984). The Chinese language: Fact and fantasy. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeFrancis, J. (1989). Visible speech: The diverse oneness of writing systems. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewey, D. P. (2004). Connections between teacher and student attitudes regarding script choice in first-year Japanese language classrooms. Foreign Language Annals, 37, 567–577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everson, M. E. (1998). Word recognition among learners of Chinese as a foreign language: Investigating the relationship between naming and knowing. The Modern Language Journal, 82, 194–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everson, M. E. (2009). Literacy in Chinese as a foreign language. In Everson, M. E. & Xiao, Y. (Eds.), Teaching Chinese as a foreign language: Theories and applications (pp. 97–112). Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui.Google Scholar
Everson, M. E., & Ke, C. (1997). An inquiry into the reading strategies of intermediate and advanced learners of Chinese as a foreign language. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 3, 1–20.Google Scholar
Falsgraf, C., & Spring, M. K. (2007). Innovations in language learning: The Oregon Chinese flagship model. Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages, 4, 1–16.Google Scholar
Fan, M. H. (2010). Developing Chinese orthographic awareness: What insights into characters do beginning level Chinese as a foreign language textbooks provide? Berlin, Germany: Lambert Academic Publishing.Google Scholar
Fender, M. (2008). Arabic literacy development and cross-linguistic effects in subsequent L2 literacy development. In Koda, K. & Zehler, A. M. (Eds.), Learning to read across languages: Cross-linguistic relationships in first- and second-language literacy development (pp. 101–124). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gamage, G. H. (2003). Perceptions of kanji learning strategies: Do they differ among Chinese character and alphabetic background learners? Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 26, 17–31. Retrieved from http://ro.uow.edu.au/artspapers/69CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geva, E. (2006). Learning to read in a second language: Research, implications, and recommendations for services. In Tremblay, R. E., Barr, R. G., & Peters, R. D. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of early childhood development (pp. 1–12). Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development. Retrieved from http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/pages/PDF/second_language.pdfGoogle Scholar
Geva, E., & Siegel, L. S. (2000). Orthographic and cognitive factors in the concurrent development of basic reading skills in two languages. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 12, 1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geva, E., & Wade-Woolley, (1998). Component processes in becoming English-Hebrew biliterate. In Yucesan Durgunoglu, A. Y. & Verhoeven, L. (Eds.), Literacy development in a multilingual context: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 85–110). Mawah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Geva, E., Wade-Woolley, L., & Shany, M. (1997). Development of reading efficiency in first and second language. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1, 119–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grabe, W. (2004). Research on teaching reading. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 44–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grabe, W. (2009). Epilogue: Reflections on second language reading research and instruction. In Hong, Z. H. & Anderson, N. J. (Eds.), Second language reading research and instruction: Crossing the boundaries (pp. 192–205). Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Hatasa, Y. A. (2002). The effects of differential timing in the introduction of Japanese syllabaries on early second language development in Japanese. The Modern Language Journal, 86, 349–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, A. (2008). Chinese as a heritage language: An introduction. In He, A. W. & Xiao, Y. (Eds.), Chinese as a heritage language: Fostering rooted world citizenry (pp. 1–12). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i, National Foreign Language Resource Center.Google Scholar
Hitosugi, C. I., & Day, R. R.. (2004). Extensive reading in Japanese. Reading in a Foreign Language, 16, 20–30.Google Scholar
Jackson, N. E., Everson, M. E., & Ke, C. (2003). Beginning readers’ awareness of the orthographic structure of semantic-phonetic compounds: Lessons from a study of learners of Chinese as a foreign language. In McBride-Chang, C. & Chen, H. C. (Eds.), Reading development in Chinese children (pp. 141–153). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Jackson, F. H., & Malone, M. E. (2010). Building the foreign language capacity we need: Toward a comprehensive strategy for a national language framework. Washington, D.C.: Center of Applied Linguistics. Retrieved from http://www.cal.org/resources/pubs/building-the-foreign-language-capacity-we-need.htmlGoogle Scholar
Katz, L., & Frost, R. (1992). The reading process is different for different orthographies: Theorthographic depth hypothesis. In: Frost, R. & Katz, L. (Eds.), Orthography, phonology, morphology, and meaning (pp. 67–84). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ke, C. (1998). Effects of strategies on the learning of Chinese characters among foreign language students. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 33, 93–112.Google Scholar
Koda, K. (1990). The use of L1 reading strategies in L2 reading, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 12, 293–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koda, K. (1992). The effects of lower-level processing skills in FL reading performance: Implications for instruction. The Modern Language Journal, 76, 502–12.Google Scholar
Koda, K. (1996). L2 word recognition research: A critical review. The Modern Language Journal, 80, 450–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koda, K. (2001). Development of kanji knowledge among adult JFL learners. In Nara, H. (Ed.), Advances in Japanese language pedagogy (pp. 1–21). Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University, National East Asian Languages Resource Center.Google Scholar
Koda, K. (2008). Impacts of prior literacy experience on second language learning to read. In Koda, K. & Zehler, A. M. (Eds.), Learning to read across languages: Cross-linguistic relationships in first- and second-language literacy development (pp. 68–96). New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koda, K., Zhang, Y., & Yang, C. (2008). Literary development in Chinese as a heritage language. In He, A. W. & Xiao, Y. (Eds.), Chinese as a heritage language: Fostering rooted world citizenry (pp. 137–149). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i, National Foreign Language Resource Center.Google Scholar
Kondo-Brown, K. (2006a). Affective variables and Japanese L2 reading ability. Reading in a Foreign Language, 18, 55–71.Google Scholar
Kondo-Brown, K. (2006b). How do English L1 learners of advanced Japanese infer unknown kanji words in authentic texts? Language Learning, 56, 109–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kondo-Brown, K. (2010). Curriculum development for advancing heritage language competence: Recent research, current practices, and a future agenda. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 30, 24–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee-Thompson, L. C. (2008). An investigation of reading strategies applied by American learners of Chinese as a foreign language. Foreign Language Annals, 41, 702–721.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leikin, M., Schwartz, M., & Share, D. L. (2010). General and specific benefits of bi-literate bilingualism: A Russian-Hebrew study of beginning literacy. Reading and Writing, 23, 269–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leikin, M., Share, D. L., & Schwartz, M. (2005). Difficulties in L2 Hebrew reading in Russian-speaking second graders. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 18, 455–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsunaga, S. (1995). The role of phonological coding in reading kanji: A research report and some pedagogical implications (Tech. Rep. No. 6). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.Google Scholar
Matsunaga, S. (1996). The linguistic nature of kanji reexamined: Do kanji represent only meanings? Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, 30, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsunaga, S. (2001). Subvocalization in reading kanji: Can Japanese text be comprehended without it? In Nara, H. (Ed.), Advances in Japanese language pedagogy (pp. 30–46). Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University, National East Asian Languages Resource Center.Google Scholar
McGinnis, S. (1999). Student goals and approaches. In Chu, M. (Ed.), Mapping the course of the Chinese language field (pp. 151–188). Kalamazoo, MI: The Chinese Language Teachers Association.Google Scholar
Modern Language Association. (2007). Enrollments in languages other than English in United States institutions of higher education, Fall 2006. Retrieved from http://www.mla.org/2006_flenrollmentsurveyGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S. (2010). Current issues in heritage language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 30, 3–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mori, Y. (1998). Effects of first language and phonological accessibility on kanji recognition. The Modern Language Journal, 82, 69–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mori, Y. (1999). Beliefs about language learning and their relationship to the ability to integrate information from word parts and context in interpreting novel kanji words. The Modern Language Journal, 83, 534–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mori, Y. (2002). Individual differences in the integration of information from context and word parts in interpreting unknown kanji words. Applied Psycholinguistics, 23, 375–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mori, Y. (2003). The roles of context and word morphology in learning new kanji words. The Modern Language Journal, 87, 404–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mori, Y., & Nagy, W. (1999). Integration of information from context and word elements in interpreting novel kanji compounds. Reading Research Quarterly, 34, 80–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mori, Y., Sato, K., & Shimizu, H. (2007). Japanese language students’ perceptions on kanji learning and their relationship to novel kanji word learning ability. Language Learning, 57, 57–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mori, Y., & Shimizu, H. (2007). Japanese language students’ attitudes toward kanji and their perceptions on kanji learning strategies. Foreign Language Annals, 40, 472–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nara, H. (2003). Designing a reading program. In Nara, H. & Noda, M. (Eds.), Acts of reading: Exploring connections in pedagogy of Japanese. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Packard, J. L. (1990). Effects of time lag in the introduction of characters into the Chinese language curriculum. The Modern Language Journal, 74, 167–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perfetti, C. A., & Dunlap, S. (2008). Learning to read: General principles and writing system variations. In Koda, K. & Zehler, A. M. (Eds.), Learning to read across languages: Cross-linguistic relationships in first- and second-language literacy development (pp. 13–38). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Perfetti, C. A., & Liu, Y. (2005). Orthography to phonology and meaning: Comparison across and within writing systems. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 18, 193–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perfetti, C. A., Liu, Y., & Tan, L. H. (2002). How the mind can meet the brain in reading: A comparative writing systems approach. In Kao, H. S. R., Leong, C. K., & Gao, D. G. (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience studies of the Chinese language (pp. 35–60). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Perfetti, C. A., Liu, Y., & Tan, L. H. (2005). The lexical constituency model: Some implications of research on Chinese for general theories of reading. Psychological Review, 112, 43–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perfetti, C. A., Zhang, S., & Berent, I. (1992). Reading in English and Chinese: Evidence for a “universal” phonological principle. In Frost, R. & Katz, I. (Eds.), Orthography, phonology, morphology, and meaning (pp. 227–248). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ravid, D. (2006). Hebrew orthography and literacy. In Joshi, R. M. & Aaron, P. G. (Eds.), Handbook of orthography and literacy (pp. 339–364). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Saiegh-Haddad, E., & Geva, E. (2010). Acquiring reading in two languages: An introduction to a special issue. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 23, 263–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, M., Geva, E., Share, D. L., & Leikin, M. (2007). Learning to read in English as a third language: The cross-linguistic transfer of phonological processing skills. Written Language and Literacy, 10, 25–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, M., Leikin, M., & Share, D. L. (2005). Bi-literate bilingualism versus mono-literate bilingualism: A longitudinal study of reading acquisition in Hebrew (L2) among Russian-speaking (L1) children. Written Language and Literacy, 8, 179–206.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M., Share, D. L., Leikin, M., & Kominsky, E. (2008). On the benefits of bi-literacy: Just a head start in reading or specific orthographic insights? Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 21, 905–927.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, H. H. (2004). Level of cognitive processing: Effects on character learning among non-native learners of Chinese as a foreign language. Language and Education, 18, 167–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, H. H. (2005). An investigation of Chinese character learning strategies among non-native speakers of Chinese. System, 33, 49–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, H. H. (2008). An analysis of word decision strategies among learners of Chinese. Foreign Language Annals, 41, 501–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, H. H. (2010). Analysis of radical knowledge development among beginning CFL learners. In Everson, M. E. & Shen, H. H. (Eds.), Research among learners of Chinese as a foreign language (Chinese Language Teachers Association Monograph Series: Vol. 4), (pp. 45–65). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i, National Foreign Language Resource Center.Google Scholar
Shen, H. H., & Ke, C. (2007). Radical awareness and word acquisition among nonnative learners of Chinese. The Modern Language Journal, 91, 97–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimizu, H., & Green, K. E. (2002). Japanese language educators’ strategies for and attitudes toward teaching kanji. The Modern Language Journal, 86, 227–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Standards for foreign language learning in the 21st century (2006). National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project (3rd Edition). Lawrence, KS: Allen Press.Google Scholar
Taft, M., & Chung, K. (1999). Using radicals in teaching Chinese characters to second language learners. Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychology in the Orient, 42, 243–251.Google Scholar
Toyoda, E. (2000). English–speaking learners’ use of component information in processing unfamiliar kanji. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 23, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toyoda, E. (2009). An analysis of L2 readers’ comments on kanji recognition. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 6, 5–20.Google Scholar
Unger, J. M. (2001). The first framework: getting down to basics. In Nara, H. (Ed.), Advances in Japanese language pedagogy (pp. 336–428). Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University, National East Asian Languages Resource Center.Google Scholar
Walker, G. (1989). The less commonly taught languages in the context of American pedagogy. In Lepke, H. S. (Ed.), Shaping the future: Challenges and opportunities (pp. 111–137). Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference.Google Scholar
Wang, M., Liu, Y., & Perfetti, C. (2004). The implicit and explicit learning of orthographic structure and function of a new writing system. Scientific Studies of Reading, 4, 357–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warnick, J. P. (2001). Reading as socio-cultural performance. In Nara, H. (Ed.), Advances in Japanese language pedagogy (pp. 137–180). Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University, National East Asian Languages Resource Center.Google Scholar
Winke, P. M., & Abbuhl, R. (2007). Taking a closer look at vocabulary learning strategies: A case study of a Chinese foreign language class. Foreign Language Annals, 40, 697–712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamashita, H., & Maru, Y. (2000). Composition features of kanji for effective instruction. Japanese Language and Literature, 34, 159–178.Google Scholar
Xing, J. Z. (2006). Teaching and learning Chinese as a foreign language: A pedagogical grammar. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Zhu, D. X. (1988). Dynamic account of the functions of phonetic radicals in modern Chinese character. In Yuen, X. (Ed.), Written language and culture. Beijing, China: Beijing Guanming Daily Publishing House.Google Scholar