The use of orthographic analogies in learning to read Chinese

Two studies, comprising training in phonological analogy and semantic analo gy with pre- and post-training assessments, were conducted to investigate w hether young children made orthographic analogies in learning to read a non alphabetic script, Chinese, as alphabetic readers do. Twenty Chinese first- graders and 20 third-graders participated in each of the studies. The resul ts showed that not only the third-graders, but also the first-graders made phonological analogies by the phonetic (i.e, the orthographic component in a Chinese character that provides sound cues) and semantic analogies by the radical (i.e. the orthographic component that provides meaning cues). It w as, therefore, suggested that the roles and functions of the phonetics and radicals could be taught explicitly in school from an early age to help imp rove children's reading skills.