Browsing by Author "Li, Yixun"
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Item How Do Children Learn New Words in A Second Language? The Role of Self-Teaching in Orthographic Learning(2021) Li, Yixun; Wang, Min; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Learning to read written words is the major benchmark that beginning readers must meet to achieve high-level reading comprehension later on. In my dissertation, I make among the first attempts to examine self-teaching— the process by which children teach themselves new written words via independent text reading— in L2. In past decades, self-teaching has been shown to be a robust means of written word learning across writing systems in L1. But very limited research has examined self-teaching in L2. The overarching aim of my dissertation is to: (1) identify the challenges of self-teaching in L2; (2) examine potential optimal learning conditions that can help L2 learners compensate for poor learning; and (3) provide a robust accounting of this literature via meta-analysis. Studies 1 and 2 examined self-teaching among English L2 learners with a non-alphabetic L1—Chinese (Study 1) and an alphabetic L1—Spanish (Study 2), and seek to explore the potential factors that affect L2 learners’ self-teaching. A systematic review will then be conducted to compare self-teaching across studies (Study 3). These attempts, among the first in the field, are expected to yield a comprehensive understanding of existing evidence and guide future research. Collectively, the findings from my work will not only enrich the theories of self-teaching and L2 word learning, but also will add to the growing evidence supporting the educational value of self-teaching in L1 and L2, and the mechanisms that support L2 learners in this endeavor.Item Phonological Training and Word Learning in a Novel Language(Frontiers, 2022-02-17) Li, Yixun; Wang, Min; Li, Chuchu; Li, ManIn reading Chinese words, learners may process segment and tone either separately or as an integral unit, as evidenced in previous research. The present study compared two ways—Segmental versus Whole-Syllable-Based Training—for improving learners’ phonological and word learning in Chinese as a novel language, while controlling for learners’ musical ability, an important factor that may contribute to phonological learning. Forty-two American college students learned Chinese words represented by Pinyin, a Romanized script which denotes the pronunciation of Chinese characters. Before the training, all participants were introduced to the phonology and Pinyin system. Then, they were trained on the pronunciation and meaning of the Pinyin words with or without an emphasis on separating the tonal from segmental information. All participants’ musical ability was assessed using a musical ability test. Learning outcomes were measured through tasks of same-different phonological judgment, tone identification, and word comprehension. Results showed the equal success of the two training methods, probably due to the consistent involvement of Pinyin and learner’s reliance on segment and tone as an integral unit rather than separate cues in phonological and word learning. Furthermore, musical ability seems to play a role in phonological and word learning among novel learners of Chinese.