The Link Between a Set of Tangram-Based Tasks and Chinese and English Reading and Related Skills Among Chinese Kindergarteners

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanley

The study examines how tangram-based games relate to emergent literacy skills in Chinese kindergarteners learning English as a second language. Five games were developed and tested with 102 children aged 4–5. Reading and related abilities were measured using literacy tests, teacher ratings, and Raven’s IQ. Correlational and regression analyses show tangram performances predict unique variance in visual-orthographic skills and word identification in both Chinese and English, supporting tangram games as assessment tools.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Study purpose and design

Participants and learning context

Measures and analysis methods

Key findings and implications

Background on emergent literacy in bilingual children

Code-related versus oral language precursors

L2 emergent literacy and transfer challenges

AERA Open January-March 2019, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 1–14 DOI: 10. 1177/2332858419829723 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2019. [http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) The Link Between a Set of Tangram-Based Tasks and Chinese and English Reading and Related Skills Among Chinese Kindergarteners Simpson W. L. Wong Hong Kong Baptist University Rebecca Wing-yi Cheng The Education University of Hong Kong Bonnie Wing-Yin Chow City University of Hong Kong Sandrine Man-Chi Chung The Education University of Hong Kong Learning to read two scripts at a young age is a demanding task. This study aims to develop games for building fundamental code-related emergent literacy skills among biscriptal preschoolers. We developed five games and tested them on a sample of 102 Chinese kindergarteners. The participants were aged 4 to 5 years and were learning English as a second language. The children’s reading skills were measured with a battery of literacy tests as well as estimated by their teachers using a literacy-related behavior checklist. Correlational analysis revealed that the performances of the children in the tangram games were significantly correlated with teachers’ratings and children’s Raven’s IQ. Further regression analysis confirmed that the tangram hand-copying game predicted unique variances for visual-orthographic skills and word identification abilities in Chinese and English. This study provides valuable evidence regarding the application of tangram games for assessing code-related emergent literacy skills in the visual domain. Keywords: emergent literacy, educational games, Chinese tangram, visual skills Emergent Literacy Development in Bilingual Children A growing trend was observed in learning to read in one’s nonnative language (e.g., Goodrich & Lonigan, 2017; see also Hammer et al., 2014, for a review); this trend is attributed to many reasons, such as immigration and mandatory bilingual education. In the United States, 24% of children in the Head Start program are dual language learners (Klein, Nikki, & Knas, 2017). In many Asian countries, English language education is mandatory (Nunan, 2003) . As reading is a complex skill that requires effortful learning and practice, children who are learning more than one script are under enormous pressure and are more prone to difficulties, especially when mastering two distinctive orthographies, such as Chinese and English (Buckwalter & Lo, 2002) . Large populations of children have no choice but to learn two scripts. Thus, they need to understand the biscriptal development process and receive optimal instructional solutions. The present study aims to examine if games created with Chinese tangrams can estimate visual processing skills in young Chinese children learning English as a second language. If supporting evidence is found, then the tangram games can be used to assess multiple visual processing skills in emergent readers and screen out children who have early visual processing difficulties. Reading acquisition is a continuous process that starts from a very early stage of life. Children can discover and recognize the properties of print in early childhood through their own attempts at reading storybooks (Justice & Ezell, 2002) and a range of environmental prints, such as billboards, food labels, road signs, and toy packaging (Horner, 2005; Vera, 2011) . For instance, children can distinguish letters from their nonprint context and make predictions of their meanings (Baker, Fernandez-Fein, Scher, & Williams, 1998) . As empirically proven, the potential strengths and weaknesses of preschoolers in relation to reading can be Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([http://www.creativecommo

FAQs

What is the purpose of using tangram-based tasks in this study?

To develop and test tangram games that support or assess foundational code-related emergent literacy skills in biscriptal preschoolers learning English as a second language.

How were children’s reading and related skills evaluated?

Through a battery of literacy tests, estimated teacher ratings using a behavior checklist, and Raven’s IQ.

Which outcomes did tangram hand-copying specifically predict?

Regression results indicate it predicted unique variance in visual-orthographic skills and word identification abilities in both Chinese and English.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanley