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Inserting spaces into Chinese text helps readers to learn new words: an eye movement study

Inserting spaces into Chinese text helps readers to learn new words: an eye movement study
Inserting spaces into Chinese text helps readers to learn new words: an eye movement study
We examined whether inserting spaces between words in Chinese text would help children learn to read new vocabulary. We recorded adults’ and 7- to 10-year-old children’s eye movements as they read new 2-character words, each embedded in four explanatory sentences (the learning session). Participants were divided into learning subgroups – half read word spaced sentences, and half read unspaced sentences. In the test session participants read the new words again, each in one new sentence; here, all participants read unspaced text. In the learning session, participants in the spaced group read the new words more quickly than participants in the unspaced group. Further, children in the spaced group maintained this benefit in the test session (unspaced text). In relation to three different models of Chinese lexical identification, we argue that the spacing manipulation allowed the children to form either stronger connections between the two characters’ representations and the corresponding, novel word representation, or to form a more fully specified representation of the word itself.
chinese text, eye movements, reading, children
0749-596X
241-254
Blythe, Hazel I.
51835633-e40b-4e8b-ae49-ad6b2f927f4c
Liang, F.
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Zang, C.
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Wang, J.
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Yan, G.
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Bai, X.
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Liversedge, Simon P.
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Blythe, Hazel I.
51835633-e40b-4e8b-ae49-ad6b2f927f4c
Liang, F.
9b275f55-215c-421f-a974-858ba191caf6
Zang, C.
ca6fff4a-b8cc-4b14-b440-b23889aa3f62
Wang, J.
53d8d8bd-3c17-406e-9acf-961cc86b9a00
Yan, G.
c7a3dacc-6ea1-488f-8051-1a9b6c13fe4e
Bai, X.
7eb0bf18-b331-4b92-b298-56781a312ed2
Liversedge, Simon P.
3ebda3f3-d930-4f89-85d5-5654d8fe7dee

Blythe, Hazel I., Liang, F., Zang, C., Wang, J., Yan, G., Bai, X. and Liversedge, Simon P. (2012) Inserting spaces into Chinese text helps readers to learn new words: an eye movement study. Journal of Memory and Language, 67 (2), 241-254. (doi:10.1016/j.jml.2012.05.004).

Record type: Article

Abstract

We examined whether inserting spaces between words in Chinese text would help children learn to read new vocabulary. We recorded adults’ and 7- to 10-year-old children’s eye movements as they read new 2-character words, each embedded in four explanatory sentences (the learning session). Participants were divided into learning subgroups – half read word spaced sentences, and half read unspaced sentences. In the test session participants read the new words again, each in one new sentence; here, all participants read unspaced text. In the learning session, participants in the spaced group read the new words more quickly than participants in the unspaced group. Further, children in the spaced group maintained this benefit in the test session (unspaced text). In relation to three different models of Chinese lexical identification, we argue that the spacing manipulation allowed the children to form either stronger connections between the two characters’ representations and the corresponding, novel word representation, or to form a more fully specified representation of the word itself.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 7 June 2012
Published date: August 2012
Keywords: chinese text, eye movements, reading, children
Organisations: Psychology

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Local EPrints ID: 341793
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/341793
ISSN: 0749-596X
PURE UUID: f817f682-ad51-4c43-835e-ec4d9a702842

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Date deposited: 06 Aug 2012 13:28
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 11:45

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Contributors

Author: Hazel I. Blythe
Author: F. Liang
Author: C. Zang
Author: J. Wang
Author: G. Yan
Author: X. Bai
Author: Simon P. Liversedge

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