Effects of text messaging using digital Pinyin input on literacy skills of elementary school Chinese immersion learners

Abstract

Children learning Chinese must cope with an opaque orthography lacking transparent relations between oral pronunciations and written characters: a challenge heightened for L2 learners. Use of digital Pinyin input may facilitate connections between oral and written language by allowing learners to access vocabulary they cannot yet write. We assessed the effects of promoting digital Pinyin writing by engaging students in text messaging in digital chat rooms as part of the 4th grade Chinese language arts curriculum at an American Chinese immersion school. Students in two classes engaged in text messaging over eight weeks while a matched group of students in other classes taught by the same teachers (N = 28 per condition) completed their regular pencil-and-paper word work, which emphasized morphological and orthographic analysis of meaning- and sound-based radicals and sets of related characters. Post-intervention, children who engaged in text messaging showed lesser gains in Chinese writing as compared to the children who completed word work, though within texting groups children who did well at texting showed greater gains in writing as compared to children with lesser success at texting. Given the urgent need for effective online learning, the findings indicate that care should be taken when introducing digital Pinyin input into the Chinese language arts curriculum as it should supplement, but not replace, multi-component word work exercises that promote awareness of orthographic patterns, meaning, and Pinyin.