Jeung-Ryeul Cho

What's in a Word? Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary Knowledge in Three Languages.

Understanding how words are created is potentially a key component to being able to learn and understand new vocabulary words. However, research on morphological awareness is relatively rare. In this study, over 660 preschool-aged children from three language groups (Cantonese, Mandarin, and Korean speakers) in which compounding morphology is highly prevalent were tested on their abilities to manipulate familiar morphemes to create novel compound words as well as on a variety of early language and reasoning measures twice over the span of 9 months to 1 year. With Time 1 vocabulary knowledge, phonological processing, and reasoning skills controlled, morphological awareness predicted unique variance in Time 2 vocabulary knowledge across languages. Across languages, vocabulary knowledge also predicted unique variance in subsequent morphological awareness, with Time 1 morphological awareness controlled. Findings underscore the bidirectional bootstrapping of morphological awareness and vocabulary acquisition for languages in which lexical compounding is prominent, and suggest that morphological awareness may be practically important in predicting and fostering childrens early vocabulary learning.

Correlates of Korean Hangul Acquisition Among Kindergartners and Second Graders

In two separate studies, 100 South Korean kindergartners and 100 second graders were administered tests of speed of processing and phonological-processing skills as well as a Korean Hangul reading test. Speed of processing tasks were significantly correlated with most of the reading-related tasks but not with Hangul reading itself. Across studies, only tests of syllable and phoneme awareness (either onset or both onset and coda), as well as naming speed, were significantly associated with Korean word-reading. In both studies, in regression equations including all measured skills and age, only syllable and phoneme awareness uniquely predicted Hangul word recognition. Results underscore the uniqueness of the Korean Hangul orthography, which requires children to be sensitive to both syllable- and phoneme-level linguistic and orthographic units.

Visual spatial skill: A consequence of learning to read?

Does learning to read influence ones visual skill? In Study 1, kindergartners from Hong Kong, Korea, Israel, and Spain were tested on word reading and a task of visual spatial skill. Chinese and Korean kindergartners significantly outperformed Israeli and Spanish readers on the visual task. Moreover, in all cultures except Korea, good readers scored significantly higher on the visual task than did less good readers. In Study 2, we followed 215 Hong Kong Chinese kindergartners across 1year, with word reading and visual skills tested twice. In this study, word reading at Time 1 by itself predicted 13% of unique variance in visual skill at Time 2. Together, these results underscore the potential importance of the process of learning to read for shaping ones visual spatial skill development.

Levels of Phonological Awareness in Korean and English: A 1-Year Longitudinal Study

The present study examined associations of levels of phonological awareness to word recognition in Korean and English in a 1-year longitudinal study of 91 children from Masan, Korea. With performances on tasks of speeded naming, vocabulary, and Korean Hangul in 2nd grade statistically controlled, only Korean syllable deletion predicted unique variance in 3rd-grade Korean Hangul reading; phoneme-level awareness did not predict 3rd-grade Korean word recognition. In contrast, only phoneme-level awareness in Korean predicted subsequent English word recognition. When English phonological awareness measures administered at Time 2 were included in regression equations, the strongest predictors of 3rd-grade Korean word recognition were 2nd-grade Korean Hangul reading and 2nd-grade syllable deletion. In contrast, the strongest predictors of English word recognition were ages in 2nd grade and phoneme awareness in English at Time 2. Results underscore the importance of different levels of phonological awareness for understanding reading across scripts.

Morphological Awareness, Phonological Awareness, and Literacy Development in Korean and English: A 2-Year Longitudinal Study

Eighty-one Korean children were tested once a year across Grades 4, 5, and 6 on Korean phonological and morphological awareness, speeded-naming, Hangul word recognition, Hangul spelling, and English word reading. With age, gender, and Korean vocabulary knowledge statistically controlled, both phonological awareness and speeded-naming were uniquely associated with Korean spelling and English reading; this phonological awareness link was stronger for older children than younger ones. In contrast, the only unique predictor of Hangul reading was morphological awareness; morphological awareness also significantly predicted Hangul spelling but not English reading. Of interest, morphological awareness was more strongly associated with Korean literacy skills for younger as compared to older children. Girls outperformed boys on both Hangul measures, but the groups did not differ on English reading. Results support the idea of phonological transfer to reading in a second language and underscore the importance of morphological compounding awareness for early literacy development in Korean.

Rapid naming in relation to reading and writing in Korean (Hangul), Chinese (Hanja) and English among Korean children: a 1-year longitudinal study

The relation of rapid automatised naming (RAN) to word recognition may depend on the phonological regularity of the orthography. This study examined differential contributions of RAN to reading and writing in Korean alphabetic Hangul, logographic Hanja (Chinese) and English as a second language among 73 fifth graders in Korea across 1 year. RAN was differentially associated between reading and writing in Hangul and English. After statistically controlling for age, gender, morphological awareness, vocabulary and phonological awareness, RAN was uniquely predictive of Hangul word writing but not Hangul word recognition, and it uniquely accounted for English word recognition but not English word writing. Meanwhile, RAN explained both reading and writing in Hanja. Findings were discussed in terms of their orthography characteristics and different levels of proficiency.

Is processing of symbols and words influenced by writing system? Evidence from Chinese, Korean, English, and Greek

We examined cross-linguistic effects in the relationship between serial and discrete versions of digit naming and word reading. In total, 113 Mandarin-speaking Chinese children, 100 Korean children, 112 English-speaking Canadian children, and 108 Greek children in Grade 3 were administered tasks of serial and discrete naming of words and digits. Interrelations among tasks indicated that the link between rapid naming and reading is largely determined by the format of the tasks across orthographies. Multigroup path analyses with discrete and serial word reading as dependent variables revealed commonalities as well as significant differences between writing systems. The path coefficient from discrete digits to discrete words was greater for the more transparent orthographies, consistent with more efficient sight-word processing. The effect of discrete word reading on serial word reading was stronger in alphabetic languages, where there was also a suppressive effect of discrete digit naming. However, the effect of serial digit naming on serial word reading did not differ among the four language groups. This pattern of relationships challenges a universal account of reading fluency acquisition while upholding a universal role of rapid serial naming, further distinguishing between multi-element interword and intraword processing.

Unpacking Direct and Indirect Relationships of Short-Term Memory to Word Reading: Evidence From Korean-Speaking Children

We examined the relations of short-term memory (STM), metalinguistic awareness (phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness), and rapid automatized naming (RAN) to word reading in Korean, a language with a relatively transparent orthography. STM, metalinguistic awareness, and RAN have been shown to be important to word reading, but the nature of the relations of STM, metalinguistic awareness, and RAN to word reading has rarely been investigated. Two alternative models were fitted. In the indirect relation model, STM was hypothesized to be indirectly related to word reading via metalinguistic awareness and RAN. In the direct and indirect relations model, STM was hypothesized to be directly and indirectly related to word reading. Results from 207 beginning readers in South Korea showed that STM was directly related to word reading as well as indirectly via metalinguistic awareness and RAN. Although the direct effect of STM was relatively small (.16), the total effect incorporating the indirect effect was substantial (.42). These results suggest that STM is an important, foundational cognitive capacity that underpins metalinguistic awareness and RAN as well as word reading, and further indicate the importance of considering both direct and indirect effects of language and cognitive skills on word reading.

The relation of maternal literate mediation strategies and socioemotional comments to Korean children's Hangul reading

The present study examined Korean mothers’ literate mediation strategies and socioemotional supports for 84 4- and 5-year-old children as they wrote unfamiliar words, and the relation of these strategies and comments to Korean childrens Hangul reading. The mother–child writing interactions were videotaped. Eight strategies of maternal literate mediation were subsequently identified and five socioemotional comments were coded. Mothers of 5-year-olds used a coda-focused (i.e., emphasis on the final consonant of a syllable) strategy more often than those of 4-year-olds. The maternal coda focus was uniquely associated with childrens word reading over and above mothers’ education and childrens age, grade, vocabulary, and writing skill. Maternal literate mediation focused on the consonant–vowel (CV) subsyllabic unit, which explained childrens reading of CV Gulja (Korean written syllable). These results suggest that efficient maternal literate mediation strategies focus on salient psycholinguistic grain size of Korean language such as CV (body) and coda subsyllabic units. In addition, the two socioemotional categories of process and critical comments were uniquely associated with childrens reading. Findings underscore the importance of Korean language and culture in mothers’ early scaffolding to facilitate childrens literacy acquisition.

Utilization Deficiency in The Use of Spontaneous Elaboration Strategy

This study investigated a utilization deficiency phase in the situation of childrens acquiring mnemonic strategies in which children successfully execute a strategy but the strategy does not facilitate memory performance. This study examined spontaneous acquisition of elaboration strategy among 5th grade children in the learning of noun pairs for 5 sessions. Participants were tested in memory task using different list of word pairs in each session. Results showed that children increased the use of elaboration strategy significantly in 5 sessions but they did not gain benefit in recall. When the word pairs were associated, the use of elaboration strategy was significantly increased but children did not gain benefit in recall. This results were discussed in terms of utilization deficiency.