![]() Tone is a unique feature of Chinese and Mandarin Chinese tones can be classified into five categories: high level, rising, falling-rising, falling, and neutral (Cheng, 1991). Chinese is phonologically different from English in terms of the sound inventory, syllable structures, and the use of tones to differentiate the meaning of syllables. Whether and to what extent cross-linguistic transfer occurs between Chinese and English is a compelling question given the clear differences between the two languages. Despite the evidence of positive cross-linguistic transfer between alphabetic languages, there are fewer studies investigating cross-linguistic transfer between non-alphabetic and alphabetic languages, such as Chinese and English. ![]() In addition, a number of studies examining learning English as an L2 among children who speak an alphabetic L1 like Spanish, French or Italian have found that students’ L1 proficiency level can facilitate their L2 learning (e.g., Cisero & Royer, 1995 Comeau et al., 1999 Durgunoglu et al., 1993 D’Angiulli et al., 2001). For example, studies have revealed that bilingual children’s linguistic skills, such as phonological awareness and morphological awareness in their home language, predict their acquisition of English literacy (e.g., Adams, 1990 Casalis & Louis-Alexandre, 2000 Durgunoğlu, 2002 Riches & Genesee, 2006 Snow et al., 1998 Wagner & Torgesen, 1987). There is growing research evidence of cross-linguistic transfer in the process of second or foreign language learning among alphabetic languages. The linguistic dynamics between the two languages have motivated researchers to examine their relationship because transfer plays an important role in second language acquisition (e.g., Bialystok et al., 2005 Tong & McBride-Chang, 2010 Wang et al., 2009 Zhang et al., 2012 Yeung and Ganotice, 2014). A large number of children who speak Chinese as their first language (L1) are also learning English as the second language (L2) in the United States, Canada, UK, and China. census reported that nearly three million people spoke Chinese at home, making it the third most spoken language in United States after English and Spanish (U.S. Recent immigration trends indicate a rapid increase of Chinese-speaking population in many parts of the world. Nearly a quarter of the world’s population speaks Chinese as their native language (Hua, 2002). Bilingual learners can benefit in educational environments that tap into these linguistic features.Ĭhinese is one of the most widely spoken languages worldwide. Overall, the meta-analysis indicates that English and Chinese share common linguistic features that can allow for transfer in learning between the languages. In addition, it was found that the results were moderated by geographic location of the study and participant age. Using 33 articles conducted in different countries, our results show small to moderate levels of transfer in the above four domains. This meta-analysis presents research on cross-linguistic transfer between the two languages in four domains: phonological awareness, decoding skills, vocabulary, and morphological awareness. Therefore, a meta-analysis is needed to systematically investigate the cross-linguistic transfer between Chinese and English. However, variances and inconsistencies exist among prior studies regarding the investigated linguistic domains and reported results. The cross-linguisitc transfer between Chinese and English has been studied by scholars from different disciplines. ![]() Cross-linguistic transfer embodies language learners’ use of linguistic knowledge of their first language to leverage the learning of a second language. ![]()
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