published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

Currently, the pre-primary education curriculum in Hong Kong is using an Integrated Thematic Approach. In language learning, teaching activities are random and there is a lack of systematic teaching of Chinese characters. The aim of this study is to construct a theory in the teaching and learning of Chinese characters for preschoolers and to investigate the effectiveness of the “Young Children Integrative and Effective Approach” (IEA). The theoretical framework of this research is based on the Integrative and Effective Approach and includes other word recognition theory, young children vocabulary acquisition and metalinguistic awareness research to further construct the IEA. The researcher has used multiple-case study method, including teaching experiments, classroom observations, interviews of teachers and young children, and analysis of young children’s work samples, in the collection of data. The samples of this research come from two individual schools. The first case study isthe lower class of School A (n=30); and the second case study is the upper class of School B (n=26).Each case is divided into the experimental group and control group. The researcher conducted the research in the two schools, and invited the young children to attend the word recognition pre-test and post-test. For in-depth investigation, the researcher followed up on the learning of three children of different abilities of the experimental group in School A in the second year. The research results were divided into two parts. In the first part, findings from the paired-samples t-test analysis showed that the young children in the experimental group using the IEA had significant improvement in word recognition. The data collected through classroom observations, teacher interviews and young children’s work sample analysis illustrated that the effectiveness of IEA lies in enhancing the young children’s learning of the meaning, sound and shape of Chinese characters. As for the second part, findings from Two-way ANCOVA (teaching method x ability group) showed that young children of the middle and lower ability from the experimental group had significant improvement in the word recognition test compared with the control group. Moreover the data collected through the sample works of the three young children of different abilities from the experimental group and interviews indicated that IEA could continuously improve preschoolers of different abilities in their learning of Chinese characters throughout the two years. The contributions of this study include filling the research gap, and developing a theoretical framework. The findings of the study could serve as a reference for early childhood teacher training, and for the development of curriculum and teaching materials. 香港的學前教育，主要採用「主題教學」的綜合課程模式，其中語文範疇變成隨機的教學活動，缺乏識字教學的系統。本研究的目的是建構幼兒識字學與教的理論及探討實踐「幼兒綜合高效識字法(高效法)」的效果。 本研究的理論，建基於「綜合高效識字法」，包括其他的識字理論、幼兒的詞彙習得及元語言意識的研究，進一步發展「高效法」的理論框架。 研究者採用多重個案設計，包括教學實驗、課堂觀察、教師及幼兒訪談、幼兒作品分析，從多渠道搜集資料。研究對象以兩所學校為整體單位。第一個案是學校甲的低班,共30人﹔第二個案是學校乙的高班，共26人。各個個案再分為實驗組和控制組。研究員在兩所學校進行教學實驗，並邀請幼兒參與識字的前後測試。為了增強研究的深度，第二年跟進學校甲實驗組3位不同能力幼兒的學習。 研究結果分為兩部分，第一部分，從配對T檢驗的分析，結果顯示「高效法」能全面提升幼兒的識字能力。其次，從實驗組的課堂觀察、教師訪談及幼兒作品的資料分析，結果深入了解「高效法」有效的特點，在於能促進幼兒的形音義發展。 第二部分，從二因子共變數(教學法x能力組別)的分析，結果顯示相對於控制組別，「高效法」能提升中能力或低能力幼兒的識字能力。其次，從實驗組3位不同能力幼兒的作品及訪談資料的分析，結果顯示「高效法」能持續於兩年增進不同能力幼兒的識字學習。 本研究的貢獻包括填補了幼兒識字教學法的研究缺口，並且發展幼兒識字學與教的理論框架。而研究所得，可應用於幼兒教育的教師培訓，以及發展識字課程及教材。 / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

陳世樂. / "2009年6月". / "2009 nian 6 yue". / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Chen Shile. / Chapter 一、 --- 本論文之源起、目的及方法 --- p.1 / Chapter 二、 --- 作家與藝術家的文字與視覺藝術跨媒介合作 --- p.5 / Chapter 1、 --- 「一對一」式圖文並置形式 --- p.5 / Chapter 2、 --- 游移焦點、重組形式及重建意義與秩序 --- p.9 / Chapter 三、 --- 觀念藝術與香港藝術家作品 --- p.13 / Chapter 1、 --- 把文字放到最前線的「觀念藝術」 --- p.13 / Chapter 2、 --- 香港藝術家作品舉隅 --- p.17 / Chapter 四、 --- 小結一向外的臆測與內省的反思 --- p.21 / 圖錄 / 參考資料

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong.

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-146).

Hand-printed Chinese character recognition presents an interesting problem for Artificial Intelligence research. Input data in the form of arrays of pixel values cannot be directly mapped to unique character identifications because of the complexity of the characters. Thus, intermediate data structures are necessary, which in turn lead to a need to represent knowledge of the characters' composition. Building the intermediate constructs for these hand-printed characters necessarily involves choices among ambiguities, the set of which is so large that an efficient search algorithm becomes central to the recognition process. Schema labelling is a theory of how knowledge should be organized for recognition tasks in which composition structure is inherent in the domain, the composition entails ambiguity, and the ambiguity generates large search spaces. This thesis describes an implementation of an enhanced version of schema labelling for Chinese characters. The specific problems addressed by the enhancements, with some success, are (i) the segmentation of real images into objects usable by the schema system, (ii) the definition of schemas which adequately describe the generic composition of hand-printed Chinese characters, as well as common variations or vagaries, and (iii) the inclusion of sufficient "control knowledge" to prevent combinatorial explosion of the backtracking recognition process. Test characters for recognition systems can be classified along several dimensions. On the spectrum from type-set, through hand-printed, to hand-written forms, our system was tested on restricted hand-print, at a level somewhat more difficult than is normally attempted. On the spectrum of input types, from grey-scale pixel input through on-line stroke representations, our system was fully tested only at the high end, with complete synthetic strokes. We obtained a success rate of 57%, 12 out of the 21 characters tested. The principal success of the work is that characters of the complexity tested could be recognized at all, and in the impact schema labelling techniques had on that recognition. / Science, Faculty of / Computer Science, Department of / Graduate

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts