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Article published In: Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education
Vol. 8:2 (2020) ► pp.230–256

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Repeated readings and Chinese immersion students’ reading fluency, comprehension and character recognition

 | Brigham Young University
 | University of Utah
Published online: 20 March 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.00009.kne
Abstract
Although reading fluency instruction has been identified as an important literacy focus for English proficient students, little research has examined its role in foreign language settings, and it has not been studied in Chinese immersion education. The current research compared two seventh grade Chinese immersion classes. One class did repeated timed readings in student pairs, while the other class spent more time on comprehension activities. Both groups increased their correct Chinese characters per minute rates over the treatment period, but the repeated readings group outperformed the other group on reading fluency, character recognition, and reading comprehension measures. In addition, the students who engaged in repeated readings were better able to generalize reading fluency gains to new, but related, reading materials; they also reported more confidence and enjoyment when reading Chinese. Suggestions for integrating peer reading fluency procedures into language arts instruction are proposed.
本文摘要
虽然训练学生流利阅读是英语教学环节中非常重要的一部分，但是探讨其他外语教学阅读流利程度训练的研究并不多，尤其在中文沉浸式教育领域，对该问题的研究尚存空白。本文以两个七年级中文沉浸式项目的班级为研究对象，由同一位任课老师在其中一班进行同伴互助的计时重复阅读练习，作为此项研究的实验组；而将另一班作为此项研究的控制组，不在班上做重复阅读练习，而是进行较多的阅读理解活动。经过一段时间的训练之后，两班学生在计时一分钟的阅读流利程度测验当中，正确认字字数都明显增加；然而，实验组学生无论在阅读流利度、辨认汉字并读出正确发音的认字测验，或是在阅读理解能力测验等各方面，进步情况都超过控制组学生。除此之外，研究结果还显示，在阅读一篇与之前学习过的课文有关、但内容全新的文章时，实验组学生的阅读流利度也优于控制组学生。实验组学生并表示经过重复阅读训练之后，他们对阅读中文更加有信心，也对阅读更感兴趣。因此，本研究建议老师们应该将同伴互助的阅读流利程度练习纳入到语言教学当中。
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1L1 reading fluency research
    • 2.2L2/FL reading fluency research
    • 2.3Reading fluency and Chinese foreign language learners
    • 2.4Attitudes about reading Chinese
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Setting and participants
    • 3.2Materials
      • 3.2.1Chinese reading fluency (CRF)
      • 3.2.2Chinese character recognition (CCR)
      • 3.2.3Multiple-choice reading comprehension (MCRC) and cloze reading comprehension
      • 3.2.4Attitudes about reading Chinese questionnaire
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Limitations and future directions
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
References (61)
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