The roles of on- and kun-readings in the process of kanji acquisition.

摘要

The purpose of this study is to investigate how native and non-native learners of Japanese develop the ability to read kanji in on- and kun-readings, and the ability to use the appropriate on- and kun-readings when reading kanji compound words. Native Japanese adults, fifth graders, and JFL learners were recruited and tested using naming tasks.; The data in naming single characters indicated that the kun-reading skill was developed earlier than the on-reading skill regardless of the learning background. The data also revealed that the ability of the fifth graders, but not the JFL learners, to name kanji in kun-readings was comparable to that of the native Japanese adults whereas the ability to name kanji in on-readings was significantly different among the three groups.; In naming kanji compound words, both the native Japanese groups performed better in naming on-compound words than kun-compound words whereas although they named on-compound words faster than kun-compound words, the JFL learners named on- and kun-compound words at similar accurate rates.; In conclusion, there seem to have different factors that affect the development of the two types of kanji readings: i.e., the kun -reading is more closely bound to the spoken skills and the on-reading to literacy experience; more specifically, to the knowledge of kanji compound words.