Literacy learning in different writing systems involves both universal and unique features, even in bilinguals. The present study investigated whether the role of pure copying differs in Chinese and English literacy acquisition by following a group of early Chinese-English bilinguals from kindergarten to grade two across three time points. Age, nonverbal IQ, three cognitive-linguistic skills administered in Chinese (i.e., phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and RAN) and pure copying of unfamiliar scripts (Korean and Hebrew) were tested in 188 children (mean age = 5.54 years) when they were in their final year of kindergarten. Both Chinese and English word reading and spelling performance were measured when they were in first and second grades, respectively. Results showed that pure copying skill was a critical predictor of Chinese reading and spelling, whereas it was not a significant longitudinal correlate of English reading and spelling. In addition, Chinese phonological awareness was a unique correlate of subsequent English, but not Chinese, word reading and spelling. This finding highlights the unique features of literacy learning in two different writing systems and suggests the importance of using somewhat different strategies according to the unique features of different writing systems during literacy learning and teaching.

即使在双语中，不同写作系统中的识字学习也具有普遍性和独特性。本研究通过追踪一组从幼儿园到二年级的三个早期汉英双语者，研究了纯复制在汉英识字习得中的作用是否不同。年龄，非语言智商，中文管理的三种认知语言技能（即语音意识，形态意识和RAN）以及不熟悉的文字（韩语和希伯来语）的纯副本在188名儿童（平均年龄= 5.54岁）中进行了测试在幼儿园的最后一年。分别测量一年级和二年级的中文和英文单词阅读和拼写表现。结果表明，单纯的抄写能力是汉语阅读和拼写的重要预测指标，而并不是英语阅读和拼写的显着纵向关联。此外，汉语语音意识是随后英语（而非汉语）单词阅读和拼写的独特关联。这一发现突出了两种不同写作系统中的识字学习的独特特征，并提出了在识字学习和教学过程中根据不同写作系统的独特特征使用略有不同的策略的重要性。