Do ethnic minority children have equity on the starting line?

Abstract

Language proficiency in the host country language is important for ethnic minority children as it entitles access to learning resources and opportunities. The study compared Chinese character acquisition in 79 ethnic minority children with 68 native-speaking children in Hong Kong preschools where the demand of Chinese learning in ethnic minority children is increasing. With a six-subset measure developed for multicultural children, the study detected widening gaps in association abilities related to character forms across preschool grades in three- to five-year-olds. The study further demonstrated the importance of distinguishing children’s abilities to associate character form, sound, and meaning. The study shed light on the different language learning needs ethnic minority children whose demand of language learning is increasing.