How Hong Kong Preschoolers Perceive Chinese Characters: Are There AnyRelationships between the Effect of HP and Literacy Ability?
Abstract
The present study examined the relationship between Holistic processing (HP), a well-established perceptual-expertisephenomenon for visual-object recognition, and Chinese literacy ability in Hong Kong preschoolers. The literacy abilityof participants was assessed by The Hong Kong Reading Ability Screening Test for Preschool Children (RAST-K); whileHP of Chinese characters was measured by adopting the complete composite paradigm from Hsiao & Cottrell (2009). Inline with the previous findings, preschoolers also showed HP in Chinese character perception, with a negative correlationbetween HP and writing ability when other measurements were controlled. This study provides a theoretical contributionon the study of Chinese writing difficulties among preschoolers. Educational implications will also be discussed.