Parent-child joint writing in Chinese kindergarteners: Explicit instruction in radical knowledge and stroke writing skills

Abstract The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of two types of learning, stroke order writing and radical knowledge training, for enhancing children's Chinese literacy skills in the context of parent-child joint Chinese writing. Eighty Hong Kong kindergarteners were pretested on nonverbal IQ, word reading, vocabulary knowledge, semantic-radical awareness tasks, writing dictation and single character reading. Then they were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: stroke training, radical training or control. After eight weeks of training, the radical condition yielded greater improvement compared with the control condition in dictation and semantic-radical awareness tasks. The findings of the study highlight the potential positive effects of parent-child joint writing on children's Chinese language and literacy skills. Findings also demonstrate that parents typically use multiple strategies in parent-child joint writing, and it is likely that different approaches to writing might facilitate literacy knowledge in different ways with development.