Decoding Strategies for Reading Comprehension in Chinese

Our Year 5 students are developing their decoding strategies to enhance reading comprehension in Chinese. Over this week and next, we are focusing on Visual and Contextual Strategies as well as Morphological Strategies to support their learning.

Use Picture Clues: Analyse images to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words.Context Clues: Examine surrounding words or sentences to deduce the meaning of unknown words. Skip and Return: If a word is difficult, skip it, read ahead for context, and then return to decode it.

Recognise Cognates: Identify words with similar sound in different languages.

For example: Ten-pin “bowling” → 保 (bǎo) 龄 (líng) 球 (qiú); Ballet → 芭 (bā) 蕾 (lěi) 舞 (wǔ).

Identify Word Parts: Recognise radicals部(bù)首(shǒu) within characters to understand their meanings.

For example:木 (mù) – Wood (e.g., 森 sēn – forest)

口 (kǒu) – Mouth (e.g., 叫 jiào – called or to be called)

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Why Are Radicals Important?

Aid Character Recognition: Characters with the same radical are often related in meaning.

Provide Meaning Clues: The radical gives hints about a character’s definition.

Assist in Dictionary Lookup: Traditional dictionaries categorise characters based on radicals.

By mastering these strategies, students can improve their reading fluency and comprehension in Chinese.

Common Chinese Radicals and Their Meanings