Oakland University Ph.D. graduate Ledong Li recently received the International Reading Association's 2002 Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award.

"Dr. Li's findings, The Role of Phonology in Reading Chinese Single Characters and Two-Character Words with High, Medium and Low Phonological Regularities by Chinese Grade Two and Grade Five Students, support the claim that the Chinese writing system is closely related to Chinese oral language, and that Chinese children learn to read unknown characters with their speech experience," said Ron Cramer, co-chair of Li's committee and professor of education at Oakland University.

"This finding is quite astonishing since it has long been held that phonology is not a critical constituent of Chinese characters and word recognition."

The award, which includes a $1,000 prize, will be presented this spring at the International Reading Association Convention in San Francisco.