Li-Yun Chang

• Ph.D.
• Professor (Assistant) at National Taiwan Normal University

The Design Fluency Test (DFT) is an assessment of an individual’s figural fluency or non-verbal fluency ability, which is one of the measures of executive function. However, there is a lack of normative data for Taiwan. This study aimed to address this gap by examining the psychometric properties of the DFT and exploring its relations to demographi...

This study aimed to determine how Chinese children adapt to Chinese orthography–phonology correspondence by acquiring phonetic radical awareness (PRA). This study used two important Chinese encoding approaches (rote and orthographic approaches) as the developmental trajectory, in which the present study hypothesized that phonological awareness (PA)...

This study investigates the effects of visual mnemonics and the methods of presenting learning materials on learning visually similar characters for Chinese-as-second-language (CSL) learners. In supporting CSL learners to build robust orthographic representations in Chinese, addressing the challenges of visual similarity of characters (e.g., 理 and...

This study developed and validated a Chinese pseudo-character/non-character producing system (CPN system) that can assist researchers in creating experimental materials using Chinese characters. Based on a large-scale dataset of 6097 characters, the CPN system provides researchers with precise Chinese orthographic information (structures and positi...

When reading in a second language, a reader’s first language may be involved. For word reading, the question is how and at what level: lexical, pre-lexical, or both. In three experiments, we employed an implicit reading task (color judgment) and an explicit reading task (word naming) to test whether a Chinese meaning equivalent character and its su...

This study examined the integration of the Key-Image method (KIM), a novel mnemonic, into a Chinese curriculum and the effect on improving learning. It is the first Chinese intervention study for this topic. We designed a development trial with 143 first-grade students. After a six-week course, the experimental group (n = 72) outperformed the compa...

This study aimed to investigate the commonality and differences among AI research and development (R&D) guidelines across nations. Content analysis was conducted on AI R&D guidelines issued by more economically developed countries because they may guide the trend of AI-based applications in education. Specifically, this study consisted of three pha...

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate a mobile-assisted Chinese language learning app that introduces hundreds of fundamental Chinese characters with an innovative method, namely the Key-Image Mnemonics (KIM). This method is developed based on cognitive and learning theories (i.e., the Elaboration Theory, the Dual Coding Theory, and...

How do skilled Chinese readers, accustomed to characters, process Pinyin, a phonemic transcription of Chinese? Does the orthography of Chinese characters become activated? In four experiments, native speakers first made a meaning judgment on a two-syllable word written in Pinyin. Immediately following, they responded to a character whose orthograph...

Previous cross-orthography studies have shown that visual complexity is critical to reading development. Children who learn to read visually more complex orthographies tend to outperform children who learn to read relatively simple orthographies on visual-spatial tasks (McBride-Chang et al. 2011). However, whether there is a direct link between vis...

This book provides readers with a unique array of scholarly reflections on the writing systems of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean in relation to reading processes and data-driven interpretations of cross-language transfer. Distinctively broad in scope, topics addressed in this volume include word reading with respect to orthographic, phonological, mo...

Chinese characters are composed of radicals appearing in non-linear spatial configurations. Although the visual complexity of Chinese orthography has been widely recognized, the probability that a radical appears in a permissible position within a configuration is yet to be investigated. This understanding of what patterns of radicals are spatially...

We report a new multidimensional measure of visual complexity (GraphCom) that captures variability in the complexity of graphs within and across writing systems. We applied the measure to 131 written languages, allowing comparisons of complexity and providing a basis for empirical testing of GraphCom. The measure includes four dimensions whose valu...

The visual complexity of orthographies varies across writing systems. Prior research has shown that complexity strongly influences the initial stage of reading development: the perceptual learning of grapheme forms. This study presents a computational simulation that examines the degree to which visual complexity leads to grapheme learning difficul...

Learning to read a second language (L2) is especially challenging when a target L2 requires learning new graphic forms. Learning Chinese, which consists of thousands of characters composed of hundreds of basic writing units, presents such a challenge of orthographic learning for adult English speakers at the beginning stages of learning. In this st...

The logographic nature of the Chinese writing system creates a huge hurdle for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners. Existing literature (e.g., Shen, 2010; Taft & Chung, 1999) suggests that radical knowledge facilitates character learning. In this project, we selected 48 compound characters in eight radical groups and examined how grouping...

Lexical tones – pitches differentiating between word meanings in tonal languages – are particularly difficult for atonal language speakers to learn. To test the hypotheses of embodied cognition and spoken word recognition, we examined whether – and how – gesture could facilitate English speakers’ discrimination between Mandarin words differing in l...

We examined the hypothesis that encoding Chinese characters through stroke-by-stroke animation produces orthographic learning that is different from conventional static displays. We used behavioral responses and ERPs to index the incremental learning that occurs of character forms, and the attention allocation to dynamic vs. static encodings. Adult...

Previous studies suggest that writing helps reading development in Chinese in both first and second language settings by enabling higher‐quality orthographic representation of the characters. This study investigated the comparative effectiveness of reading, animation, and writing in developing foreign language learners' orthographic knowledge of Ch...

The present study is aimed at investigating the effect of a radical-derived Chinese character teaching strategy on enhancing Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) learners' Chinese orthographic awareness. An e-learning teaching platform, based on statistical data from the Chinese Orthography Database Explorer (., 2011), was established and used as an...

The present study is aimed at investigating the effect of a radical-derived Chinese character teaching strategy on enhancing Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) learners' Chinese orthographic awareness. An e-learning teaching platform, based on statistical data from the Chinese Orthography Database Explorer (Chen, Chang, Chou, Sung, & Chang, 2011),...

Radicals, as components of Chinese characters, and configurations are integral parts of Chinese orthography. Current studies have proven the psychological entity as well as the pedagogical meaning of radicals; however, little research has been done on the properties of radicals. The present study aims to develop a data-driven and exhaustive searchi...