Learning Chinese characters is challenging for many people, especially for those who were not born in Chinese-speaking countries. Applying the theory of chunking, constructing stories containing compound characters as mnemonic techniques to form associations within the learners, this study examines if this method can facilitate immediate learning and retention of Chinese characters. A case study strategy is adopted and a native language teaching class of Chinese in Sweden with six pupils is chosen as the case. Six participants were divided into an experimental group and a control group. The participants in the experimental group learned Chinese characters with the method of chunking and association, while the control group learned characters with the stroke order. The tests results indicated that the experimental group received better results than the control group, especially in the character tests. The experimental group used chunking, radicals and associative interpretations as strategies in the character and meaning tests. The control group on the other hand passed the meaning tests very well. Surprisingly, the control group also used associative interpretation and only scored lower than the experimental group by a small margin in the meaning tests. The experimental group experienced that chunking a character into its corresponding chunks and radicals facilitates the memorization of characters. Consequently, this case study concludes that the method of chunking and association is beneficial for the understanding and learning of Chinese characters. This case study also concludes that the knowledge of the method of chunking and association can improve the learning of the meaning of characters.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:du-28453 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Holmberg, Lina |
| Publisher | Högskolan Dalarna, Pedagogiskt arbete |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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