How does repeated oral reading of Chinese characters affect radical recognition, Chinese word reading accuracy and fluency?

Abstract

In this study, we designed an intervention that focused on phonetic radical awareness and the repeated oral reading of Chinese characters containing specific phonetic radicals to see how this might affect reading fluency and accuracy. We also attempted to explore the relations among radical processing, phonetic radical naming, character naming, and word reading, in order to better understand the mechanisms underlying the intervention effects, if any. We postulated that reduced holistic processing of Chinese characters and enhanced radical processing might be plausible candidates underlying this intervention effect. Sixty-nine Grade 1 and Grade 2 Hong Kong Chinese children were randomly assigned to the Induction group with explicit teaching of orthography-phonology correspondence (OPC) rules, the induction and repeated reading intervention group and the control group. Repeated reading training conducted three times a week for two weeks significantly improved reading accuracy of trained characters as well as phonetic radical naming accuracy and fluency. Induction group showed significant improvement in fluency of phonetic radical naming. Both radical processing and phonetic radical naming contributed uniquely to Chinese word reading, and the relations were mediated by Chinese character naming. Pedagogical implications for the mediation model were discussed.