Children's Chinese Character Literacy Detection

Problem

Parents often estimate a child’s literacy by asking a few characters or running a long test. The first sample is too small; the second can feel tiring and discouraging. chinese-literacy-detection turns this into a lightweight conversational workflow for ages 3-12, sampling from 2500 high-frequency Chinese characters and estimating literacy from at most 175 tested characters.

How It Works

The skill relies on small-sample estimation with a dynamic cutoff.

• Stratified sampling: characters are drawn by difficulty level, with fixed test counts for L1 through L6.
• Word-pair cues: each batch is shown as a Markdown table with “No. | Character | Words”, making it easier for children to recognize and answer by number.
• State tracking: responses are processed in order, updating consecutiveUnknown for known and unknown characters.
• Dynamic cutoff: five consecutive unknown characters, or a “none known” response, stops the test to reduce pressure.
• Report: the estimate is calculated using W = N1×1 + N2×3 + N3×10 + N4×20 + N5×50 + N6×100, with age reference and optional review of missed characters.

Boundaries

This is a quick formative check, not a standardized assessment. Results depend on the child’s mood, adult assistance, and input accuracy. For educational decisions, combine it with repeated observation over time. It can also serve as a milestone observation tool.