Dr Tan Chee Lay

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Abstract

The exposure to language use has strong impact on children's language learning and development in the long run. In order to define language dominance of Singapore preschoolers', and especially in the area of Chinese word recognition which is the focus of this paper, I would be looking at a number of multiple factors, such as child's language use in specific contexts, frequency of contact with Mandarin-speaking adults, the exposure to Chinese language the child has and the literacy support given to the child, etc., as points of references in investigating Singapore Chinese preschoolers' competence in Chinese character recognition. While the survey and test results show that there is room for improvement in preschoolers' Character Recognition, the findings also lead me to examine some of the current situations and practices in preschools and at home, and this paper will offer critical reflections to improve teaching and learning of Chinese characters in Singapore.

Keyword(s) :   Character Recognition, Singapore Preschool Chinese, Home Language Environment, PETALS framework