Chinese character acquisition assessment for second language learners in Hong Kong kindergartens

Abstract

There is a growing global urgency to understand non-native speaking children’s language acquisition. No appropriate assessment exists for L2 learners in their earliest stage of Chinese character acquisition. We developed an assessment for L2 kindergarteners in Hong Kong, with six subtests to assess learners’ abilities to associate among the form, sound, and meaning of 40 characters. We administered the assessment to 173 L2 children (aged five to six) in Hong Kong. A high model-data fit was found using the two-parameter logistic Item Response Theory model. The results demonstrated that the test was a valid and reliable measure for L2 kindergarteners and suggested that L2 learners may develop abilities to map between character meaning to sounds prior to form-related mapping.