The Influence of Reading Bilingual Newspapers on Readability in Ethnic Chinese Descendant Readers: A Case Study with the Seattle Chinese Times

Abstract

The author conducted a case study to explore the influence of reading the Seattle Chinese Times on ethnic Chinese descendant readers’ reading ability. Four interviewers carried out Qualitative Reading Inventory-5 (QRI-5), reading habits questionnaires, and personal interview questions. Analysis finds reading the bilingual newspaper is conducive to improvement in the areas of reading comprehensibility and vocabulary, while impeding these readers’ spelling development. This difference can be accounted for by readers habitually start by reading the news in Chinese first and then continue on to read the English news. In this manner, readers involuntarily employ residual reading habits of recognizing the shape of Chinese characters when transitioning to reading English news, instead of attending to the letter-sound relationship, which is important for spelling ability. The result indicates that reading the bilingual newspapers as a pastime can benefit minority populations’ vocabulary and comprehension ability, but barely result in much of a positive influence in spelling.