Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Computer Science and Information Systems / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005.

Un bâtiment ne parle pas, mais il communique d’une autre manière des messages qui sont le reflet des idées des architectes. Si l’architecture est un langage, si elle est une « écriture d’idées », alors comment rendre l’idée visible ? Comment peut-on, dans un sens métaphorique, faire parler un bâtiment ? Nous proposons alors une hypothèse analogique : « Si le bâtiment parlait alors il parlerait chinois ». Cette hypothèse oriente nos recherches vers l’étude des rapports entre langage architectural et langage naturel. À l’intérieur de ce champ interdisciplinaire, l’écriture graphique et idéographique chinoise devient notre objet référentiel. Les caractères chinois unifient la forme et le sens en même temps, ils proposent une figuration des idées fondée sur le système idéographique. De par sa logique combinatoire et ses procédés rhétoriques, le processus de figuration des caractères chinois est un processus de transformation de formes simples vers des formes complexes, passant de significations limitées à des significations riches. Ce processus de conception de caractères montre également une série de schèmes idéographiques qui pourrait constituer un système méthodologique de sémantisation pour la représentation architecturale. Ainsi, l'écriture idéographique et l'écriture architecturale, pris comme deux processus de figuration peuvent parallèlement se comparer, et l’écriture idéographique pourrait proposer un outil conceptuel pour l’écriture architecturale. Il s’agit d’examiner un nouveau modèle linguistique qui pourrait être utile pour la conception de l’architecture contemporaine. / A building does not speak, but communicates messages in a different way which comes from architects’ ideas. If architecture is a language, if it is a way to "write ideas", we would like to ask how can we make ideas visible and, metaphorically, how to make a building speak? So we propose a hypothesis based on analogy: "If the building spoke, it would speak Chinese." This hypothesis has guided our research towards the study of the relationship between architectural language and natural language: inside an interdisciplinary field mixing graphic and ideographic issue Chinese writing becomes our referential object. Chinese characters unify form and meaning at the same time, they are representations of ideas based on the ideographic system - a system "write the idea" - which more or less influenced all other Chinese arts and could represent the the most complex idea in the simplest way. By the combinatory logic and in the rhetorical manner, the process of figurations of Chinese characters was a process from simple forms to complex forms, from the limited significations to the rich significations. This design process also shows a series of ideographic patterns, which could be a methodological system of semantisation for the architectural representation. As a result, ideographic writing and architectural writing, as two processes of representation can be compared in a parallel way: ideographic writing could then provide a conceptual tool for architectural writing, constitute a new linguistic model for the design of contemporary architecture.

Mother tongue teaching (modersmålsundervisning) has started from the 1960s in Sweden and is open to the students with Chinese as mother tongue. Swedish Chinese mother tongue teaching is different from the overseas Chinese education considering of it is offered by the Swedish municipalities, for example, Stockholm municipality, Huddinge municipality and etc. One of the most fundamental aspects in Chinese teaching is Chinese characters teaching. How to teach Chinese characters is discussed heatedly not only in China but also overseas. With the previous research overview, it is found that there are numerous approved ways to teach Chinese characters but with very limited available information on the teaching methods used in mother tongue classes in Sweden and therefore I did the research about several selected methods to see which one is considered as most effective and preferred by both the students and teachers together with collecting brief background information of them.  The research is done among the Chinese mother tongue teachers and the students who take part in the Chinese mother tongue lessons. The teaching methods are specific to teach Chinese characters’ pronunciation, formation, meaning and usage. The main research methods are snowball sampling and questionnaire.  The results indicate that the majority of Chinese mother tongue teacher participants are with no teaching licenses in Sweden and lack of teacher professional education and not all the students use Chinese as the main home language. The language level can be varied. Additionally, although the most of the choices made by the teachers and students on the preferred teaching methods are overlapped but there are also different choices which draw the attention from the mother tongue teachers.

This project report describes the instructional design, development and evaluation of the Chinese Radical and Character Tutorial (CRCT) project. The web-based CRCT project integrated hypermedia resources (audio, video, graphics, animation and hyperlinks) to teach undergraduate and graduate students basic Chinese radical and character recognition and writing. One-to-one test, expert review and small-group test were utilized in the formative evaluation. Statistical significance was found in the small-group test, which suggests that supplemental hypermedia material can effectively facilitate student learning of Chinese reading and writing outside of the classroom. Moreover, the qualitative data indicated that students enjoyed using CRCT's drills, feedback features and video-writing demonstrations to facilitate their learning. The web-based environment provided interaction and allowed them to practice at any time and place.

TEACHING CHARACTER FORMATION RATIONALES WITH A COMPUTER-ASSISTED COURSEWARE FEBRURARY 2010 BO FENG, B.A., GUANGZHOU INSTITUTE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES M.A., EASTERN ILLILOIS UNIVERSITY M.F.A, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Zhongwei Shen This research conducts a literature survey in the areas of Chinese character error analysis; SLA theories in interlanguage and transfer; systemic characteristics of the Chinese writing system; as well as psycholinguist researches in Chinese character acquisition. CFL learners face critical issues in character acquisition, such as confusions caused by the lack of phonetic awareness, semantic awareness, and contextual interferences. In order to assist CFL learners cope with these issues effectively, it is necessary to develop a computer-assisted courseware utilizing multimedia and web technologies to turn character formation rationales into advance organizers which can be used by CFL learners to restructure newly acquired knowledge and skills. The courseware emphasizes enhancing phonetic awareness, while giving sufficient coverage for semantic awareness and preliminary concepts of spatial configuration of character components.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans les domaines de l’acquisition et de la didactique des langues étrangères. Sa nature est quantitative et descriptive. Elle porte sur les stratégies d’apprentissage des sinogrammes par des étudiants francophones dans un environnement instructif. L'objectif, dans un premier temps, est de connaître les stratégies spécifiques employées par les étudiants francophones pour apprendre les sinogrammes et de savoir si les stratégies employées dépendent du niveau de connaissance de la langue, du sexe, de l’âge et du style d'apprentissage.Le questionnaire, nommé SILCC (Strategy Inventory of Learning Chinese Character), que nous avons conçu dans cette étude a pour but d'observer les stratégies utilisées, puis les données sont analysées à l'aide de méthodes statistiques inférentielles. Le deuxième objectif est d’appliquer les résultats à la didactique du chinois langue étrangère. En fonction des résultats obtenus, des modèles de formation aux stratégies d’apprentissage et leur intégration dans les matériaux pédagogiques sont ensuite proposés. / This thesis is in the field of acquisition and teaching foreign language. It covers learning strategies of Chinese characters by French students in an instructional environment. The nature of this study is quantitative and descriptive. The first objective is to know which strategies are used by French students to learn Chinese characters and how those strategies are correlated with the student’s Chinese level, the student’s gender, the age and the learning style. A questionnaire, called SILCC (Strategy Inventory of Learning Chinese Character), has been designed in this study to analyze those strategies. The output data are analyzed using inferential statistical methods. The second objective is to apply the results for teaching activities and to propose a model of training strategies that can be used in academic materials.

本文主要的目的在於發掘運用中國語文特性的文學修辭趣味及其遊戲性質，從而強調 中國語文特性對於文學的影響。 本文一冊，計十五萬字，共分七章二十節。 第一章，中國語文的特性概說。旨在分析中國語文特性的形成及其影響。 第二章，中國語文的特性與中國文學的修辭現象。旨在說明中國語文特性與中國文學 修辭現象之關係。 －－以上一、二章為本文概論部分。 第三章，運用中國字形特質的文學遊戲趣味。 第四章，運用中國字音語音特質的文學遊戲趣味。 第五章，運用中國字序語法特質的文學遊戲趣味。 第六章，運用中國字序語法特質的文學遊戲趣味。 －－以上三、四、五、六章為本文主論部分。旨在探討運用中國字形、字音語音、字 義詞彙、字序語法特質，所造成的文學修辭趣味及其遊戲性質。 第七章，結論。總結本文並提出餘論。