作者：陈毅华
【Abstract】Compared with early native language literacy development， early English literacy development may encounter greater challenges. This paper aims to explore the challenges faced by Chinese children in their early English literacy development and to present a learning activity， thereby promoting their early English literacy development.
【Key words】English； Early Literacy Development； Chinese Learners
【作者簡介】陈毅华，香港浸会大学。
1. Introduction
English， as a second language for Chinese learners，， its early literacy development seems to meet more challenges than that of native language due to the differences between Chinese and English language systems. The paper will identify the challenges in early English literacy development among Chinese children and introduce an activity to improve their early English literacy development.
2. Literature Review
Early literacy refers to pretending to read and write and is a process of becoming literate， which occurs in early childhood （Bardige &Segal， 2005）. Some researchers found that environmental print has a positive and sustained influence in young learners’ literacy development （Kuby &Aldridge， 1996）.
Early literacy skills are essential for the development of reading and reading comprehension， so it is necessary to facilitate children’s early literacy development before entering formal schools.
3. Challenges Faced by Chinese Young Learners
In Chinese learning， children are often taught to use the shape-to-meaning connection to facilitate the understanding of pictographs. For example， the pictograph水is similar to the shape of a river， which helps children identify the character and refer to its meaning. Many other pictographs can be recognized and expressed through connecting the shape with its meaning （Yin & Anderson， 2005）. Since English words are alphabetic orthographies， there is little correlation between the shape and itsmeaning， and it may hinder children’s early English literacy development.
4. A Learning Activity to Improve Chinese Young Learners’ English Literacy Development
An activity， called “Use Environmental Print to Make a Dictionary”， is designed to promote young learners’ English literacy development. The target group is the third grade of kindergarten children. According to Goodman （1986）， 80% of five-year-old children have the ability to read environmental print in its certain context， such as popular logos of food and drink or clothes brands.
