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Guided by the Simple View of Reading (SVR considers reading comprehension as a product of decoding and listening comprehension) and the self-teaching hypothesis applied to Chinese (Li et al. in Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 24(3):252-263), this research examined (1) whether the SVR is applicable to L2 morphosyllabic Chinese; and (2) whether orthographic knowledge is a unique contributor to L2 Chinese reading comprehension; if yes, how orthographic knowledge, word decoding and listening comprehension jointly contribute to L2 Chinese reading comprehension. Fifty-five L1-alphasyllabary high school beginning-level learners of L2 morphosyllabic Chinese participated in the research and completed a set of paper-and-pencil or digital tasks. The finding suggested that the SVR is partially supported in beginning-level L2 Chinese reading comprehension: word decoding had a direct effect on reading comprehension and an indirect effect via the mediation of listening comprehension. In addition, we found that orthographic knowledge contributed indirectly to L2 Chinese reading comprehension via joint serial mediation of word decoding and listening comprehension.

Grammatical and vocabulary knowledge (i.e., breadth and depth) are widely acknowledged as key predictors of reading comprehension in a second language (L2). However, it remains unclear how different aspects of vocabulary depth may independently contribute to L2 reading comprehension and how learners' proficiency may moderate the relative contributions of vocabulary knowledge. Based on the Lexical Quality Hypothesis and the Reading Systems Framework, this study investigated 238 L2 Chinese learners who were college-level students in China, using a set of reading-related tasks. The results showed that (1) vocabulary breadth and grammatical knowledge independently contributed to L2 reading comprehension with grammatical knowledge being a more deciding factor; (2) different aspects of vocabulary depth (i.e., polysemy and synonymy), over and above vocabulary breadth and grammatical knowledge, played an independent role; and (3) more importantly, lower-proficiency learners relied more on vocabulary breadth whereas higher-proficiency learners made more use of vocabulary depth during text-level comprehension.

Radical awareness (i.e. the ability to identify, analyze, and manipulate radicals within compound characters) plays an important role in character reading and learning for first language and second language (L2) learners of Chinese. Previous studies have shown that radical awareness contributes to character recognition, inference, and comprehension. However, it is unclear how elementary-level L2 Chinese learners develop radical awareness over a relatively long period, particularly for the potential differences between stronger and weaker learners of Chinese characters. To fill the gap, this study investigated 45 beginning-level L2 Chinese participants during a 16-week semester at an American university. They completed a radical identification task, a radical analysis task, and a radical manipulation task in Week 4, Week 9, and Week 15; and a character knowledge task and a vocabulary knowledge task in Week 15. The results showed that learners who were stronger and weaker at reading characters had similar developmental patterns of radical identification, but different developmental patterns of radical analysis and manipulation. Furthermore, each sub-ability of radical awareness of the stronger learners improved faster than those of the weaker learners after Week 4.

Word learning in a second language (L2) is a complex process, which is affected by learner-related (e.g., morphological awareness) and language-related (e.g., word semantic transparency) factors. Morphological awareness is learners' sensitivity to the morphological structure of printed words, and semantic transparency is the degree to which word-internal morphemes contribute to the whole words' meanings. However, little is known regarding how these morpheme-related factors jointly function in L2 word learning. Thus, this study focuses on how learners' morphological awareness and word semantic transparency affect word-meaning retention in L2 Chinese, particularly the extent to which semantic transparency shapes the contribution of learners' morphological awareness. Thirty-four L2 Chinese learners from an American university participated in this study. All the participants received a 40-min learning session and five paper--pencil measures. The main findings showed that (1) L2 learners' morphological awareness contributed to their word-meaning retention beyond L2 linguistic knowledge; (2) L2 learners performed better when recalling semantically transparent words than opaque words after learning sessions; and more importantly (3) learners with higher morphological awareness performed better than those with lower morphological awareness when recalling semantically transparent words, but the learners in both groups had similar performances when recalling opaque words.

Recent second language (L2) reading studies have examined how characteristics of an individual learner and word-specific linguistic properties jointly predict successful L2 word-meaning inference, i.e., a learner's ability to guess the meaning of an unknown word. Semantic transparency is one such word-specific property. Each constituent morpheme in a compound word contributes differently to the word's overall meaning. As a result, words vary in the degree to which they are transparent or opaque. The ability to infer the meanings of these compounds is associated with broad linguistic knowledge that varies greatly across learners. This study explores how L2 linguistic knowledge as an individual learner factor and semantic transparency as a word-specific property interact to affect L2 learners' word-meaning inference in Chinese. Two hundred and twelve adult L2 learners of Chinese in China completed six paper-pencil tasks, which measured participants' short-term memory, linguistic knowledge, and meaning inference of compound Chinese words that varied in their semantic transparency. The results showed that linguistic knowledge interacted with semantic transparency in word-meaning inference: morpheme knowledge and grammatical knowledge were significant contributors of word-meaning inference only for transparent words when L2 learners' short-term memory was controlled. These findings underscore how reading in an L2 involves the interplay between the learners' characteristics (e.g., linguistic knowledge) and language-specific properties (e.g., semantic transparency).

Chinese character learning requires various reading subskills, such as radical awareness and character knowledge. Radical awareness refers to learners' ability to identify, analyze, and apply semantic radicals in compound characters. Previous studies have shown that radical awareness and character knowledge facilitate learning semantically transparent characters. Yet, little is known regarding whether radical awareness plays an active role in the meaning retention for nontransparent characters. The meanings of transparent characters, such as "[foreign characters omitted]" (river) containing the radical "[foreign characters omitted]" (water), are related to the semantic category of the radicals within the characters, whereas the meanings of nontransparent characters, such as "[foreign characters omitted]" (kind and gentle) with the same radical "[foreign characters omitted]" are not directly related to the radicals. To fill these gaps, this study included 39 L2 Chinese learners at one American university. They completed one character-learning session, and five radical-related and character-related tasks. The results suggested that radical awareness did not positively affect the meaning retention for nontransparent characters when learners' character knowledge was controlled. In addition, character knowledge was a moderator, which shaped the relationship between radical awareness and character retention. Pedagogical implications for the understanding of L2 Chinese compound character learning are discussed.

Lexical inference refers to the ability to make informed guesses about the meaning of an unknown word. This inferencing ability is affected by learner-related (i.e., morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge) and language-related (i.e., word semantic transparency) factors. Previous studies have shown that these factors play independent roles in lexical inference for second language (L2) learners. However, little is known regarding how language-related factors shape the contributions of learner-related factors to lexical inference. To fill this gap, the present study addressed two research questions. (1) Does morphological awareness, mediated by vocabulary knowledge, contribute to lexical inference when the inferred words have different levels of semantic transparency? (2) If so, how are these contributions of morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge affected by word semantic transparency? Ninety-one intermediate-level L2 Chinese learners participated in this study; they completed two morphological awareness tasks, one vocabulary knowledge task, and one lexical inference task in Chinese. The findings, based on correlational analyses, hierarchical multiple regressions, and mediation analyses, showed the following: (1) vocabulary knowledge and morphological awareness did not affect lexical inference for opaque words. (2) Vocabulary knowledge was a significant and direct predictor of lexical inference for transparent and semi-transparent words. And (3) morphological awareness, when mediated by vocabulary knowledge, indirectly contributed to lexical inference for transparent words, but it directly and indirectly made significant contributions to lexical inference for semi-transparent words.

Character learning is a key issue for second language (L2) Chinese learners. However, our understanding is limited regarding the extent to which the multilevel linguistic knowledge simultaneously works for learning characters, particularly for L2 compound character meaning retention. To fill these gaps, two research questions were addressed. (1) What are the relationships among L2 learners' radical knowledge, character knowledge, and character meaning retention? (2) To what extent do radical knowledge and character knowledge independently and jointly contribute to character meaning retention? Fifty-six English-speaking L2 Chinese collegiate participants in the U.S. completed a character retention scale and four linguistic knowledge tasks (radicals and characters) after two character-learning sessions. The main findings showed that radical knowledge and character knowledge independently accounted for 23% and 34% of the variance of character meaning retention, respectively. Their joint contributions explained 41% of the outcome variance. The results suggest a combinational character-teaching approach when learning new compound characters.

We develop a simple two-sector neoclassical growth model in which the upstream sector produces intermediate goods, and the downstream sector produces final goods with outputs from the upstream. While the downstream sector features perfect competition, firms in the upstream sector engage in Cournot competition and charge a markup. We show that the deregulation and the introduction of competition in the upstream goods sector not only increases the productivity in the sector but also has a substantial spillover effect on the productivity of the downstream sector and factor prices. We calibrate the model to the Chinese economy and use the calibrated model to quantitatively evaluate the extent to which the deregulation in the upstream market in China from 1998 to 2006 can account for the rapid economic growth and the high and rising returns to capital in China over the same period. Our quantitative experiments show that the deregulation in the upstream sector can account for a significant share of economic growth in China during the study period. In addition, our model delivers implications that are consistent with several other relevant observations in China during the same period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learners' ability to infer unknown words' meanings (lexical inferencing) plays a key role in word knowledge development for second language (L2) learners. It has recently been acknowledged that learners' sensitivity to word-internal structures (morphological awareness) makes an important contribution to L2 lexical inferencing. However, it remains unclear whether the contribution of morphological awareness to lexical inferencing is affected by L2 learner-related factors (e.g., language skills). Data obtained from five paper-pencil tasks in Chinese for 73 L2 learners who studied Chinese for two semesters in China showed that (1) for more-skilled learners, morphological awareness significantly contributed to lexical inferencing with and without contextual cues, whereas no significant relationships existed between morphological awareness and lexical inferencing for less-skilled learners; and (2) L2 learners' morphological awareness does not equally facilitate lexical inferencing due to a possible threshold of linguistic knowledge. The findings have implications for learners' success in inferring the meanings of unknown words

Lexical ability, an umbrella term to cover various knowledge and skills pertaining to words in print, is a key component in reading comprehension. Little is known how different facets of lexical ability jointly contribute to L2 reading comprehension and how the contributions may differ between higher- and lower-proficiency L2 learners. This study, based on 201 adults who had studied Chinese in China, explored direct and indirect effects of distinct facets of lexical ability on L2 reading comprehension. The participants completed three paper-pencil tasks that measured three facets of lexical ability, that is, morphological awareness, character knowledge, and vocabulary knowledge. Their short-term memory, grammatical knowledge, and reading comprehension were also measured. Separate sets of path analysis showed that higher- and lower-proficiency learners had distinct patterns of relationships. Whereas higher-proficiency learners relied more on morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge in L2 Chinese reading comprehension, lower-proficiency learners drew largely upon their character knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: This study views corporate venture capital (CVC) investment as a form of inter‐firm rivalry. Adopting a competitive dynamics perspective, we argue that when a focal corporate investor invests in an entrepreneurial venture, that investment sends important competitive signals to its rivals, thereby increasing their likelihood of initiating a matching response. We theorize how three factors characterizing such investment—the amount of funding, industry relatedness between the corporate investor and the entrepreneurial venture, and the reputation of the corporate investor—can influence rivals' awareness of competitive threat, their motivation to respond, and therefore their likelihood of launching a matching counterattack. Our results demonstrate substantial support for our theoretical model. Managerial Summary: This study views CVC investment as a form of competitive interaction, arguing that when a corporate investor participates in an investment round, it sends a competitive signal to its rival, motivating the latter to respond by also investing in CVC. Because of this counteraction, the competitive advantages of firms' CVC strategies may be temporary as rivals catch up and nullify the benefits of a CVC initiative. Thus, when planning strategy, CVC managers need to take potential rival counteractions into account and carefully assess the competitive implications of their CVC strategy, perhaps by avoiding harmful counteractions through initiatives more subtle in execution and orientation, and thus "under the radar" of rivals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has focused predominantly on the influence of the language firms use in their announcements on the reactions of constituents such as shareholders and the media. We extend this research by examining a new form of linguistic construction––temporal framing—in the context of competitive interactions. Building on intertemporal choice theory, we theorized and tested how a focal firm's temporal framing of its competitive action announcements affects rivals' response speed. We examined three dimensions of temporal framing: temporal vagueness (lack of clarity and completeness regarding timelines), temporal distance (length of the action timeline: proximal versus distal), and frequency (repetition of vagueness and distance cues). Based on analysis of 2,130 competitive action press releases of 28 duopoly firms from 14 industries, we found that the temporal framing dimensions, both individually and interactively, were related to the response speed of rivals. Specifically, temporally vague and distally framed timelines in action announcements delayed rivals' response speed, and increased frequency of vagueness and distance cues strengthened these effects. This study explicates the linguistic underpinnings of competitive interactions and highlights the importance of temporal framing in the competitive context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radical awareness (i.e. the ability to identify, analyze, and manipulate radicals within compound characters) plays an important role in character reading and learning for first language and second language (L2) learners of Chinese. Previous studies have shown that radical awareness contributes to character recognition, inference, and comprehension. However, it is unclear how elementary-level L2 Chinese learners develop radical awareness over a relatively long period, particularly for the potential differences between stronger and weaker learners of Chinese characters. To fill the gap, this study investigated 45 beginning-level L2 Chinese participants during a 16-week semester at an American university. They completed a radical identification task, a radical analysis task, and a radical manipulation task in Week 4, Week 9, and Week 15; and a character knowledge task and a vocabulary knowledge task in Week 15. The results showed that learners who were stronger and weaker at reading characters had similar developmental patterns of radical identification, but different developmental patterns of radical analysis and manipulation. Furthermore, each sub-ability of radical awareness of the stronger learners improved faster than those of the weaker learners after Week 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]