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The problems in reading comprehension of Chinese passages by non-Chinese Malaysian undergraduates

This study investigates the correction between the use of Malay alphabets for the romanization of Chinese characters by non-Chinese learners and their test results in Chinese reading comprehension. The subjects involved are Malay undergraduates from Universiti Putra Malaysia who learn Chinese as a f...

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Main Author: Wong, Ling Yann
Format: Article
Published: Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Centre for Chinese Language Publisher 2014
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/35783/
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spelling my.upm.eprints.357832016-02-15T04:58:51Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/35783/ The problems in reading comprehension of Chinese passages by non-Chinese Malaysian undergraduates Wong, Ling Yann This study investigates the correction between the use of Malay alphabets for the romanization of Chinese characters by non-Chinese learners and their test results in Chinese reading comprehension. The subjects involved are Malay undergraduates from Universiti Putra Malaysia who learn Chinese as a foreign language. The study examines whether the mother tongue of this group of Malay undergraduates affect their performance in Chinese passages comprehension. There are two main findings: (1) The cognitive thinking of the subjects was affected by their mother tongue. To comprehend a Chinese passage, they needed to go through an intermediate step by romanizing Chinese characters based on the sound system of the alphabets in Malay, their mother tongue. They would then proceed to use Malay to translate the meanings of Chinese comprehension test of the subjects. The increase in the percentage of romanizing Chinese characters by the Malay undergraduates did not result in a corresponding increase in the percentage of scores for their Chinese comprehension test. Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Centre for Chinese Language Publisher 2014 Article PeerReviewed Wong, Ling Yann (2014) The problems in reading comprehension of Chinese passages by non-Chinese Malaysian undergraduates. Journal of Chinese Language Education, 12 (1). pp. 88-108. ISSN 0219-810X
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
description This study investigates the correction between the use of Malay alphabets for the romanization of Chinese characters by non-Chinese learners and their test results in Chinese reading comprehension. The subjects involved are Malay undergraduates from Universiti Putra Malaysia who learn Chinese as a foreign language. The study examines whether the mother tongue of this group of Malay undergraduates affect their performance in Chinese passages comprehension. There are two main findings: (1) The cognitive thinking of the subjects was affected by their mother tongue. To comprehend a Chinese passage, they needed to go through an intermediate step by romanizing Chinese characters based on the sound system of the alphabets in Malay, their mother tongue. They would then proceed to use Malay to translate the meanings of Chinese comprehension test of the subjects. The increase in the percentage of romanizing Chinese characters by the Malay undergraduates did not result in a corresponding increase in the percentage of scores for their Chinese comprehension test.
format Article
author Wong, Ling Yann
spellingShingle Wong, Ling Yann
The problems in reading comprehension of Chinese passages by non-Chinese Malaysian undergraduates
author_facet Wong, Ling Yann
author_sort Wong, Ling Yann
title The problems in reading comprehension of Chinese passages by non-Chinese Malaysian undergraduates
title_short The problems in reading comprehension of Chinese passages by non-Chinese Malaysian undergraduates
title_full The problems in reading comprehension of Chinese passages by non-Chinese Malaysian undergraduates
title_fullStr The problems in reading comprehension of Chinese passages by non-Chinese Malaysian undergraduates
title_full_unstemmed The problems in reading comprehension of Chinese passages by non-Chinese Malaysian undergraduates
title_sort problems in reading comprehension of chinese passages by non-chinese malaysian undergraduates
publisher Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Centre for Chinese Language Publisher
publishDate 2014
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/35783/
_version_ 1643831556112908288
score 13.211869

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