A Study On The Influencing Factors Of Chinese Reading Ability Of Native Thai Native Language

Cognitive factors contributing to language acquisition are focus of research onlanguage acquisition. The thesis analyzes influential factors of Chinese characterreading ability. Subjects of the thesis are Thai college students who learn Chinese as aforeign language. Data on several language cognitive tests are collected and analyzed.Co-relational and regression analysis are employed. The results show that:(1) Tone, onset, and rhyme awareness can predict the performance of Pinyinreading. Tone awareness appears the most predictive factor for Pinyin reading.(2) Rapid naming ability and orthographical awareness can predict theperformance of Chinese character reading and two-character words reading.Phonological awareness and visual ability do not show predictive powers.(3) There are no correlations between performance on Pinyin reading andcharacter reading, neither between Pinyin reading and two-character words reading. Itimplies that the Pinyin reading ability and character reading ability are relativelyindependent of each other.(4) Tone awareness develops first among all the phonological components;followed by the rhyme awareness and onset awareness. Components of phonologicalawareness are relatively independent.The study shows that the development of cognitive components of Thai adultslearning Chinese as a foreign language has some common ground with that ofchildren learning Chinese as a native language. However, Thai adults have someunique features as they are learning a foreign language. The development ofphonological awareness plays an important role on Pinyin reading ability; while not ofimportance on characters reading ability. Orthographical ability has a positive effecton Chinese character reading ability. Rapid naming ability is a valid indicator ofChinese character reading ability for adult learners.The results of the study enhance the understanding of cognitive features of adultlearners who are at their initial stages of Chinese learning. The research shows thenecessity of conducting some research on cognitive features of adults who learnChinese as a foreign language.