Learning of Putonghua helps children in Hong Kong master modern standard Chinese better

Abstract

Studied whether learning Putonghua helped the learning of written Modern Standard Chinese (MSC) in Hong Kong school children. 120 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders were recruited from a school using Cantonese (Cantonese group) as medium in teaching MSC and a school using Putonghua (Putonghua group). Ss completed the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices and the tasks of Putonghua (listening, notation), Cantonese-MSC conversion (recognition, production), and literacy (Chinese word reading, reading comprehension, sentence construction). The task achievements were studied between groups using age as a covariate. The partial correlation coefficients among the tasks were computed after controlling for the effect of IQ. The results are that the 5th graders of Putonghua group did significantly better than their counterparts in the Cantonese group in Cantonese-MSC conversion, reading comprehension, sentence construction in MSC; and that Putonghua proficiency was significantly correlated with reading comprehension, sentence construction in MSC. It is concluded that children who are proficient in Putonghua are more able to use vocabulary and syntax acceptable in MSC thereby facilitating their learning of written MSC. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)