Proficient Readers' Reading Behavior in Taiwan: The Study of Young Chinese Readers

The purpose of this study was to explore the reading behavior of young proficient Chinese readers at preschool age. Especially, the roles of phonetic skill and Chinese Character recognition in reading comprehension were explored. 10 kindergartens were recruited to participate in the study. Subjects were 72-98 kindergarten children. Instruments include 5 measures of language assessments. Pearson product-moment correlation, ANOVA and stepwise regression were used to analyze quantitative data. Reading miscue analysis was employed to analyze children's reading style and error patterns. The results found: (1) Word recognition was a better predictor in reading fluency when comparing with Chinese phonic spelling ability, (2) Reading fluency was positively correlated with reading comprehension, (3) There were 4 types of young readers, (4) Balanced readers had the best reading comprehension abilities, (5) Young children used mostly syntax and semantics clues in miscue analysis, and (6) Reading fluency and PPVT were the two best early predictors for later reading comprehension abilities.