• Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.73-85
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• 2016

Speech-print mapping awareness is defined as the awareness of the principles underpinning how speech sound is matched to print symbols. Chinese is unique in that it follows the one syllable one character mapping principle. The present study examined the predictive power of speech-print mapping awareness in young children's word reading. Seventy-four Hong Kong children from the first and second kindergarten years were tested with phonological awareness, visual skills, syllable-level mapping awareness, and Chinese reading ability at Time 1. Chinese reading abilities were tested again 1 year later. It was found that syllable-level mapping awareness predicted Chinese word reading abilities 12 months later. Further, it seemed that the link of syllable mapping to Chinese reading is particularly significant for beginning readers. The findings suggest that understanding the language-specific speech-print mapping principle is critical for reading acquisition at the early stage of reading development.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.5-17
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to assess children's literacy in Korea. The subjects were 147 children aged 3 to 5 in Iksan and Chonju. For the assessment of children's literacy, the revised form of WLAT(Written Language Awareness Test) (Taylor & Blum, 1980) and "The Concept About Books Interview" designed for this study were used. The test scores and oral responses of the children were analyzed by frequencies, means, ${\chi}^2$ test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's r, and $Scheff{\acute{e}}$-test. The findings Showed that : (1) the children had more awareness about the mapping principles between speech and print, and the context of sentence than about technical aspects of the written language, and (2) the children had a low awareness of the ultimate function of books. Younger children recognized a hook as a play instrument, whereas older ones saw it as a decoding instrument.