Abstract as per original application
(English/Chinese): |
Considerable theoretical and empirical research suggests that phonological awareness (i.e., the ability to identify and manipulate basic units of sounds (i.e., phonemes)), plays a fundamental role in reading development across languages. However, increasing evidence shows that Hong Kong children exhibit difficulties in learning basic phonological skills in Chinese and demonstrate limited phonological awareness in English compared to Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese children. It is well known that Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese children use Zhu-Yin-Fu-Hao and Pinyin, respectively, as aids to learn their L1 Chinese, and derive assistance from English phonics to learn their L2. It remains unclear, however, whether Pinyin and English phonemic training effectively facilitate the acquisition of phonological awareness and, if they do, whether L1 and L2 reading skills will improve. This study will combine behavioural training and a neurophysiological approach (i.e., event-related potentials (ERPs)) to investigate three key questions: 1) Does Pinyin-to-Chinese training program (i.e., designed to teach children Pinyin knowledge) enhance Hong Kong trilingual children’s phonological awareness in L1 Chinese and word reading? 2) Does Phoneme-to- English phonemic training program (i.e., designed to teach children’s English phonemic knowledge) facilitate L2 English phonological awareness and word reading?3) Is there any possible transfer effect of Pinyin training on children’s English phonological skills and word reading?4) Are there any changes at the neural level after receiving Pinyin and English phonemic training and, if so, how do the behavioural training effects correlate with brain activities?
Employing a randomized controlled trial design, we will randomly assign ninety 5- to 6-year-old typically developing kindergarteners into Pinyin-to-Chinese and Phoneme-to-English training and control groups (N = 30 for each group). Children in the Pinyin-to-Chinese and Phoneme-to-English training groups will receive 8 weeks of explicit instruction on Pinyin and English phonemic knowledge. Tasks of nonverbal IQ, phonological awareness, and word reading in Chinese and English, as well as brain activities of speech perception in both L1 Chinese and L2 English, will be administered before and after the training.
Findings of this study will provide key behavioural and neural evidence on the effectiveness of Pinyin and English phonemic training to facilitate Hong Kong children’s phonological skills and word reading in both L1 and L2, which, in turn, can inform educational policy and guide Chinese and English curriculum design. Findings of this study will also shed light on the neural plasticity of learning related to intervention, which suggests the need to accelerate phonological learning and reading acquisition.
大量的理論研究和實證研究指出語音意識（即辨認與運用聲音基本單位即音素的能力）在各語言的閱讀發展中起著重要的作用。然而，有越來越多的證據發現， 對比與台灣和大陸兒童，香港兒童在中文語音基礎知識學習上表現出一定的困難和較弱的英文語音意識。眾所周知，台灣和中國大陸的兒童分別使用注音符號和拼音來輔助學習他們的第一語言中文，並且從英文語音拼讀法中得到學習第二語言英文的輔助。但目前仍未確定拼音和英文音素訓練能否有效地促進語音意識的學習及語音訓練是否能夠提高第一語言與第二語言的閱讀能力的發展。本研究將結合行為訓練和認知神經生物學的方法（即事件相關電位，ERPs）探討以下三個主要研究問題：１）「由拼音至中文」訓練計劃（即旨在訓練拼音知識）能否加強香港三語兒童的中文語音意識和閱讀能力？２）「由音素至英文」訓練計劃（即旨在訓練英文音素知識）能否加強他們第二語言英文的語音意識和閱讀能力？３）中文拼音訓練在兒童的英文語音技能和閱讀能力上有否存在遷移？４）接受完中文和英文的語音訓練計劃後，在腦部神經層面上有否出現改變？如有，該行為訓練的效果與腦部活動有怎樣的關聯？
運用隨機對照試驗，九十名５至６歲發展正常的幼稚園兒童將會隨機被編入「由拼音至中文」組別、「由音素至英文」組別和對照組（每組n = 30人）。被編入「由拼音至中文」和「由音素至英文」組別的兒童將會接受維期8星期的拼音或英文語音拼讀法的外顯教學。於訓練之前和之後，兒童將會接受非文字智力測驗、中英文語音意識測試和中英文閱讀測試，他們處理語言知覺時的腦部活動亦會被收集。
本研究之結果將為由中文拼音與英文音素訓練在香港兒童第一和第二語言的語音技能和閱讀能力之效用提供行為上以及腦部神經上的證據。由此，為教育政策和中、英文課程設計提出參考。是次研究的結果亦可以解釋與介入訓練相關的學習神經可塑性，間接表明加快培養語音和閱讀能力的必要性。
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