To clarify, Chinese children do learn to use a phonetic representation
in the early grades of primary school before transitioning to the
characters even though they already know the sounds of the words. This
is where I see the analogy. Few seem to suffer ill effects of learning a
second code.

 

There is some evidence that Chinese students process English words as
sight words rather than (or in addition to) the phonetic units. Keiko
Koda at University of Illinois has written some very interesting studies
looking at the nature of processing first language writing and its
impact on second language processing. It's fascinating stuff. 

 

In fact your comment about learning Chinese with phonetic notation is
precisely where I see tru-spell or having students learn IPA fitting in.
Because I know the sound and writing system of Arabic and Spanish, I can
read, write, and say new words that I have never heard before from text
fairly reliably. In English, seeing a new word in text frequently does
not provide reliable cues for words a learner has never heard, and this
seems particularly challenging to students who process primarily
(solely) through phonetic means. If integration of skills is a goal,
some learners could be assisted by the use of phonetic codes. I
frequently encourage particular groups of students to annotate materials
phonetically (usually using their own language as the reference) so that
new words and phrases become useable beyond the classroom. This has
increased the return rate on homework that includes interviewing and
interacting with others in English outside of class because of the
increased confidence the annotation provides. 

 

I have some friends that learned IPA as children before they learned to
read in what I suspect was a precursor to tru-spell. They have been
excellent readers. I was taught with traditional phonics methods and am
also an excellent reader. I have a brother that was taught to read with
a traditional phonics approach and really is a poor reader and writer as
an adult. It seem that there are methods to keep in mind that address
the unique difficulties learners have as they arise even if we might not
use them as a primary instructional method. Never hurts to have a few
extra rabbits in our bag of tricks.

 

________________________________

From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Steve Kaufmann
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 1:54 PM
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3530] Re: oral vs reading traditions

 

Having learned Chinese myself, I should say that I see little connection
between learning to write and read Chinese, and using different phonetic
systems to represent English or European languages.

I needed a phonetic script when I learned Chinese because I had not
heard these words before. I suspect that Chinese children have already
heard most of the words they learn in school. Of course as they learn
newer more obscure characters they need a phonetic script since there is
no regular or reliable connection between the characters and their
pronunciation, although there are some hints. And there are at least
4,000 characters to learn.(At least I learned 4,000 of them).

In English there is a pattern, albeit irregular, connecting the written
word and its pronunciation. The more words we have heard, the easier it
is for us to read them. The more we read, the easier it is to guess at
the pronunciation of previously unseen words. So a great deal of reading
and listening are a great boon to literacy. And we only have to learn 26
characters or letters.

I wonder if your beginner Chinese learners are not just better schooled,
and have already had quite a bit of English at school, but just cannot
say much in the language. Also, if they have had the pin yin phonetic
system in school, they are familiar with the alphabet. This might not be
the case with an Arab student, or a not very literate Hispanic.

Steve Kaufmann
www.lingq.com

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