Fostering Reading Comprehension and Writing Composition in Chinese Children

Abstract

This chapter emphasizes the principles and learning strategies underpinning children’s text comprehension and written composition in Chinese. The topic-comment nature of Chinese sentences and text, and their comprehension are discussed. Verbal working memory is shown to play an important role in reading. The knowledge telling and knowledge transforming approaches of Bereiter and Scardamalia (1987. The psychology of written composition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum) provide a viable framework in studying written composition in Chinese. Different ways to enhance children’s writing are discussed with examples in learning and teaching. Issues in composing include the quantity and quality of writing and the continuing quest to understand the reading-writing reciprocal relationship.