Development and Validation of a Chinese Character Acquisition Assessment for Second-Language Kindergarteners

Autor/inn/en	Chan, Stephanie W. Y.; Cheung, Wai Ming; Huang, Yanli; Lam, Wai-Ip; Lin, Chin-Hsi
Titel	Development and Validation of a Chinese Character Acquisition Assessment for Second-Language Kindergarteners
Quelle	In: Language Testing, 37 (2020) 2, S.215-234 (20 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Chan, Stephanie W. Y.) ORCID (Lin, Chin-Hsi)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0265-5322
DOI	10.1177/0265532219876527
Schlagwörter	Chinese; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Written Language; Orthographic Symbols; Kindergarten; Language Skills; Language Tests; Correlation; Item Response Theory; Interrater Reliability; Phonemes; Cognitive Mapping; Foreign Countries; Intelligence Tests; Verbal Ability; Vocabulary; Scoring; Item Analysis; Pictorial Stimuli; Hong Kong; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? China; Chinesen; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Geschriebene Sprache; Language skill; Sprachkompetenz; Language test; Sprachtest; Korrelation; Item-Response-Theorie; Interrater-Reliabilität; Fonem; Ausland; Intelligence test; Intelligenztest; Mündliche Leistung; Wortschatz; Bewertung; Itemanalyse; Fantasieanregung; Hongkong
Abstract	Demand for second-language (L2) Chinese education for kindergarteners has grown rapidly, but little is known about these kindergarteners' L2 skills, with existing studies focusing on school-age populations and alphabetic languages. Accordingly, we developed a six-subtest Chinese character acquisition assessment to measure L2 kindergarteners' abilities to make associations among the forms, sounds, and meanings of 40 Chinese characters, and administered it to 173 five- and six-year-old L2 kindergarteners in Hong Kong. We found a high model-to-data fit using the two-parameter logistic item response theory model (MS[subscript infit] = 0.87 to 1.07, ps > 0.41). Of the 40 items, 36 exhibited a range of difficulty and good discrimination. Internal consistency reliability and inter-rater reliability were also high. The children scored highest in the category of meaning-sound associations, followed by mapping from meaning to form. The results demonstrate that the instrument is adequately valid and reliable for assessing L2 kindergarteners' character acquisition and imply that child L2 learners may develop abilities to map meanings and sounds prior to their development of form-related mapping. With minor modifications, the developed instrument can be used in various child Chinese L2 programs around the world. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01