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Component awareness facilitates Chinese character recognition in non-native Chinese speakers: analysis of the multiple mediation effect

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Abstract

This study investigated the development of component awareness, semantic radical identification ability, semantic radical knowledge application, Chinese character recognition, and the relationship among these abilities in nonnative speakers. A total of 139 Vietnamese undergraduates majoring in Chinese language who were sorted according to Chinese learning time (second-year, third-year, and fourth-year students) took part in the present study and completed a delayed copy task, a semantic cue searching task, a sentence cloze task, and a Chinese character recognition test. The results showed that (1) semantic radical identification ability, semantic radical knowledge application, and Chinese character recognition improved with additional Chinese language study; (2) there were significant positive correlations among component awareness, semantic radical identification, semantic radical knowledge application, and Chinese character recognition; and (3) semantic radical identification ability and semantic radical knowledge application partially mediated the relationship between component awareness and Chinese character recognition after controlling for Chinese learning time and orthographic awareness. Component awareness impacts semantic radical knowledge application through semantic radical identification, which in turn influences Chinese character recognition. In other words, component awareness positively predicts Chinese character learning for nonnative Chinese learners.

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Notes

  1. GB/T 12200.2: Chinese information processing—Vocabulary—Part 02: Chinese and Chinese character. (1994). State Language Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. www.china-language.gov.cn

  2. GF 0014–2009: Specification of Common Modern Chinese Character Components and Component Names. (2009). State Language Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. www.china-language.gov.cn

  3. Centre for Chinese Linguistics, Peking University, China: http://ccl.pku.edu.cn:8080/ccl_corpus/

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality, Bei**g Normal University, Bei**g, China

    Thi Phuong Nguyen

  2. Faculty of Psychology, Bei**g Normal University, Bei**g, China

    Hong Li & **nchun Wu

  3. Bei**g Electronics Science and Technology Institute, Bei**g, China

    Jie Feng

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  1. Thi Phuong Nguyen
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  2. Hong Li
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  3. Jie Feng
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  4. **nchun Wu
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Correspondence to **nchun Wu.

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Nguyen, T.P., Li, H., Feng, J. et al. Component awareness facilitates Chinese character recognition in non-native Chinese speakers: analysis of the multiple mediation effect. Read Writ 36, 1685–1704 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10353-8

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