The challenges in learning pinyin, the romanized Chinese orthography, faced by 5-to-7-year-olds, have received little attention. This study represents an attempt to better understand learning an alphabetic writing system from the viewpoint of the alphabetic principle, in the context of the Chinese language, by examining both reading aloud and spelling, with a particular focus on spelling. To detect the challenges, a pinyin syllable-type test (STT) was developed, in which syllables were classified into seven spelling types guided by the alphabetic principle, where there is a letter-sound correspondence. Syllables of all the lengths under each type of spelling pattern were given to two age groups, 6-year-old first-grade pupils and 7-year-old second-grade pupils, at the start of their school year. The sample consists of a total of 192 pupils. In spelling, the STT reveals that challenges appear when the spelling type departs from the alphabetic principle. The results show that the hardest type of spelling is not the type containing the longest syllables, but a type one-half of that length, for which the correspondence between letters and sounds is abridged, but explicitly taught. In contrast, the latter type poses no problem in the reading-aloud test, where the results show little variation between the spelling types. Comparing the students' performance on the STT shows an order of challenges among the seven types emerging in the first grade. This order is confirmed in the second grade in some types but not others. The pupils' raw data reveal not only what is challenging but also why it is so. Along with an indication of the influence from the local speech, the data also point to the effect of the teaching method, which is more or less uniform all over China. Thus, there is a possible application of the findings to a larger population.

徐匡謀. / 據稿本複印. / Thesis (M.A.) -- 香港中文大學硏究院敎育學部. / Ju gao ben fu yin. / Includes bibliographic references: leaves (167-172). / Xu Kuangmou. / Thesis (M.A.) -- Xianggang Zhong wen da xue yan jiu yuan jiao yu xue bu. / Chapter 第一章 --- 導言 / 問題說明 --- p.1 / 有關文獻 --- p.11 / 假設 --- p.26 / 定義 --- p.28 / Chapter 第二章 --- 研究方法 / 研究設計 --- p.35 / 研究對象 --- p.37 / 研究工具 --- p.43 / 資料收集 --- p.44 / 資料分析 --- p.48 / Chapter 第三章 --- 結果與討論 / 量化分析結果與討論 --- p.57 / 質化分析結果與討論 --- p.115 / Chapter 第四章 --- 摘要，結論及建議 / 摘要與結論 --- p.138 / 建議 --- p.157