Learning Chinese characters: A comparative study of the learning strategies of students whose native language is alphabet-based and students whose native language is character-based.

摘要

The number of university students studying the Chinese-language in the United States has been increasing in recent years. But despite the growing number research studies regarding learning strategies, and language-learning strategies, little research has been conducted on the most effective methods of learning Chinese characters. A review of the literature has revealed no study that addresses this issue with an eye to the question whether students whose first language is alphabet-based use character-learning strategies in a manner that differ from the use of such strategies by students whose first language is character-based. This case study examines that question.; Two groups of students enrolled in a third-semester Chinese-language course participated in this study. The "alphabet-based" group consisted of American students whose native language was English, and the "character-based" group consist of native-Japanese students whose native language was Japanese. Interviews were conducted with all participants in the study. The participants' "study logs" were examined, and the researcher observed each participant's progress throughout the relevant semester to provide corroborative and evaluative data. Analysis of data showed that all participants from both groups viewed the task of Chinese-character learning as a difficult one, and consequently all employed learning strategies of various types, both direct and indirect, throughout the studied semester.; The study revealed that both groups used memory and cognitive strategies approximately equally, but that the groups emphasized different subcomponents of those strategies. Both groups reported usage of metacognitive strategies an equal amount, but the American group was more capable of describing how, exactly, such strategies were employed; and the Japanese group used compensation and social strategies to a greater extent.