Teaching Chinese characters to Chinese heritage language learners : effects of shared reading, frequency of character exposure and explicit teaching of radicals.

Learning to read Chinese has been the main focus of Chinese heritage language education. According to models of Chinese word recognition and orthographic learning (Perfetti & Tan, 1999; Perfetti & Harris, 2013; Share, 1995), orthography-phonology mapping is core to reading development, though semantic and phonetic radical awareness, along with the frequency of exposure to orthography-phonology and orthography-semantics correspondences, also play significant roles. However, the lack of explicit instruction on phonetic radicals and limited exposure to characters in Chinese textbooks have been proposed as limitations to conventional instruction methods used with Chinese heritage language learners (Ho, Yau et al., 2003; Koda, Lü, et al., 2008; Wu et al., 1999). Alternative methods that focus on teaching characters through reading activities have been found to be useful with Chinese native children (e.g. Anderson et al., 2002; Lee et al., 2011; Shum & Liu, 2014; Tse et al., 2006), and may show similar benefits for Chinese heritage language learners (e.g. Lü, 2017; Li, 2006). However, there is scant empirical research examining the effectiveness of such methods with Chinese heritage language learners. ` The current research examined Chinese character acquisition and reading comprehension among Chinese heritage language learners who were at their early stages of learning to read Mandarin Chinese. The research focused on a newly developed teaching method that involved classroom shared reading activities. Individual studies also considered the effects of frequency of exposure to Chinese characters during shared reading activities and explicit instruction on phonetic and semantic radicals. Study 1 involved frequent exposure to novel Chinese characters’ orthography, phonology and semantics in the context. Study 2 also considered explicit instruction about semantic radicals, whereas Study 3 also investigated explicit instruction on phonetic radicals. The three studies implemented a quasi-experimental design in which a group of children experienced the new shared reading method and were compared against a control group who experienced traditional teaching methods. All child participants were in Year 1 classes at a Chinese community school in New Zealand. Both groups were assessed on measures of Chinese character knowledge and Chinese reading comprehension both before and after ten teaching sessions. Study 1 and Study 3 found that the shared reading method produced greater improvement of character knowledge (orthography-phonology correspondence and orthography-semantics correspondence) and Chinese sentence reading comprehension than the traditional textbook-based method. Study 3 also found that the shared reading method was related to better phonetic radical awareness. These findings suggest that Chinese heritage language learners can benefit from frequent exposure to the orthography, phonology, and semantics of novel characters provided in shared reading activities. However, given the null effect in Study 2, this positive effect may have been influenced by children’s radical awareness. For example, poor phonetic radical awareness may suppress the facilitation of semantic radical awareness on character acquisition. Findings from the current research imply that the combination of shared reading activities and instruction on new characters can provide an effective alternative to conventional textbook-based teaching methods used with Chinese heritage children. The current research demonstrated a way to design reading materials for Chinese heritage children that considered the format of words and the frequent appearance of new characters in the text. The research findings imply that teaching common phonetic radicals along with semantic radicals may facilitate character learning for children at the early stages of learning to read Chinese

The effects of a peer-tutoring strategy on children’s e-book reading comprehension

Reading competence is one of the most critical skills for children’s academic success. In the study reported on here we proposed an integrated peer-tutoring strategy for reading comprehension that employs e-books for elementary school students. The effects of this strategy on children’s reading comprehension were investigated using a quasi-experimental design. Three classes of 11–12-year-old students (n = 73) participated in the study for 12 weeks. Compared to the control group, students in the experimental group, who engaged in peer tutoring with e-book reading, showed significant gains in reading comprehension. Students’ perceptions of the benefits of the peer-tutoring resources to their reading are discussed. The findings demonstrate that the integration of peer tutoring in e-book reading results in an effective instructional model for the enhancement of elementary school students’ reading. Keywords: e-book; elementary school children; mobile learning; peer tutoring; reading comprehensio

Uncovering the dispersion history, adaptive evolution and selection of wheat in China

Wheat was introduced to China approximately 4500 years ago, where it adapted over a span of time to various environments in agro-ecological growing zones. We investigated 717 Chinese and 14 Iranian/Turkish geographically diverse, locally adapted wheat landraces with 27,933 DArTseq (for 717 landraces) and 312,831 Wheat660K (for a subset of 285 landraces) markers. This study highlights the adaptive evolutionary history of wheat cultivation in China. Environmental stresses and independent selection efforts have resulted in considerable genome-wide divergence at the population level in Chinese wheat landraces. In total, 148 regions of the wheat genome show signs of selection in at least one geographic area. Our data show adaptive events across geographic areas, from the xeric northwest to the mesic south, along and among homoeologous chromosomes, with fewer variations in the D genome than in the A and B genomes. Multiple variations in interdependent functional genes, such as regulatory and metabolic genes controlling germination and flowering time were characterized, showing clear allelic frequency changes corresponding to the dispersion of wheat in China. Population structure and selection data reveal that Chinese wheat spread from the northwestern Caspian Sea region to south China, adapting during its agricultural trajectory to increasingly mesic and warm climatic areas

Identification of candidate gene for the defective kernel phenotype using bulked segregant RNA and exome capture sequencing methods in wheat

Wheat is a significant source of protein and starch worldwide. The defective kernel (Dek) mutant AK-3537, displaying a large hollow area in the endosperm and shrunken grain, was obtained through ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) treatment of the wheat cultivar Aikang 58 (AK58). The mode of inheritance of the AK-3537 grain Dek phenotype was determined to be recessive with a specific statistical significance level. We used bulked segregant RNA-seq (BSR-seq), BSA-based exome capture sequencing (BSE-seq), and the ΔSNP-index algorithm to identify candidate regions for the grain Dek phenotype. Two major candidate regions, DCR1 (Dek candidate region 1) and DCR2, were identified on chromosome 7A between 279.98 and 287.93 Mb and 565.34 and 568.59 Mb, respectively. Based on transcriptome analysis and previous reports, we designed KASP genotyping assays based on SNP variations in the candidate regions and speculated that the candidate gene is TraesCS7A03G0625900 (HMGS-7A), which encodes a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase. One SNP variation located at position 1,049 in the coding sequence (G>A) causes an amino acid change from Gly to Asp. The research suggests that functional changes in HMGS-7A may affect the expression of key enzyme genes involved in wheat starch syntheses, such as GBSSII and SSIIIa

Rota-Baxter Operators on 3-Dimensional Lie Algebras and the Classical R-Matrices

Our aim is to classify the Rota-Baxter operators of weight 0 on the 3-dimensional Lie algebra whose derived algebra’s dimension is 2. We explicitly determine all Rota-Baxter operators (of weight zero) on the 3-dimensional Lie algebras g. Furthermore, we give the corresponding solutions of the classical Yang-Baxter equation in the 6-dimensional Lie algebras g ⋉ad⁎ g⁎ and the induced left-symmetry algebra structures on g

Identification and Characterization of PLATZ Transcription Factors in Wheat

The PLATZ (plant AT-rich protein and zinc-binding protein) transcription factor family is a class of plant-specific zinc-dependent DNA-binding proteins. PLATZ has essential roles in seed endosperm development, as well as promoting cell proliferation duration in the earlier stages of the crops. In the present study, 62 TaPLATZ genes were identified from the wheat genome, and they were unequally distributed on 15 chromosomes. According to the phylogenetic analysis, 62 TaPLATZ genes were classified into six groups, including two groups that were unique in wheat. Members in the same groups shared similar exon-intron structures. The polyploidization, together with genome duplication of wheat, plays a crucial role in the expansion of the TaPLATZs family. Transcriptome data indicated a distinct divergence expression pattern of TaPLATZ genes that could be clustered into four modules. The TaPLATZs in Module b possessed a seed-specific expression pattern and displayed obvious high expression in the earlier development stage of seeds. Subcellular localization data of TaPLATZs suggesting that they likely perform a function as a conventional transcription factor. This study provides insight into understanding the structure divergence, evolutionary features, expression profiles, and potential function of PLATZ in wheat