The present study investigated the effect of animations on Chinese character learning in multimedia presentations. In particular, we examined whether animations focusing on different knowledge of characters would yield different performance among students learning Chinese characters. The role of the animations which focused on the etymology of Chinese characters was tested in Experiment 1 with twelve English secondary school students. The results found that etymological animations were superior to flashcards for learners in recognizing forms of Chinese characters but not for understanding their meanings. In Experiment 2, the effect of animations which focused on demonstrating stroke order along with the audio explanations and on-screen written texts was addressed with 60 Thai secondary school students. The results revealed that animations demonstrating stroke order did not provide learners with advantages in orthographic learning. However, the findings support the redundant principle that static imagery and spoken and written text together facilitated character learning. In addition, the study showed that the students’ pace and flexibility of learning, the level of character difficulty, and students’ active processing have significant roles in character learning performance in a multimedia settings. This study provides implications for the design of multimedia instruction in foreign language acquisition and sheds light on the theoretical assumptions of dual-coding theory regarding learners’ cognitive loads in multimedia processing.
{"title":"Is animation always better for learning Chinese characters?","authors":"Juan Yang, Rui Peng","doi":"10.1075/csl.22005.yan","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.22005.yan","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The present study investigated the effect of animations on Chinese character learning in multimedia presentations. In particular, we examined whether animations focusing on different knowledge of characters would yield different performance among students learning Chinese characters. The role of the animations which focused on the etymology of Chinese characters was tested in Experiment 1 with twelve English secondary school students. The results found that etymological animations were superior to flashcards for learners in recognizing forms of Chinese characters but not for understanding their meanings. In Experiment 2, the effect of animations which focused on demonstrating stroke order along with the audio explanations and on-screen written texts was addressed with 60 Thai secondary school students. The results revealed that animations demonstrating stroke order did not provide learners with advantages in orthographic learning. However, the findings support the redundant principle that static imagery and spoken and written text together facilitated character learning. In addition, the study showed that the students’ pace and flexibility of learning, the level of character difficulty, and students’ active processing have significant roles in character learning performance in a multimedia settings. This study provides implications for the design of multimedia instruction in foreign language acquisition and sheds light on the theoretical assumptions of dual-coding theory regarding learners’ cognitive loads in multimedia processing.","PeriodicalId":517052,"journal":{"name":"Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報). The journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140378746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACTFL Language Proficiency Guidelines (hereinafter called Guidelines) are a multi-lingual framework mainly based on the language proficiency development of several European languages. Little consideration is given to the peculiarity of Chinese. Efforts are made to assess the validity of the descriptors in Guidelines in comparison with Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education (hereinafter called Standards). A total of five parameters from Guidelines that are not compatible with Standards have been selected and two questionnaires compiled by the authors are answered by local American Chinese language teachers to evaluate the validity of these descriptors. The study shows that the descriptors in Standards are more valid in differentiating language proficiency levels of Chinese. In accordance with this study, some revisions and amendments should be made to Guidelines.
{"title":"On the validity of descriptors in ACTFL Language Proficiency Guidelines","authors":"Qijie Li, Hao Feng, Yiping Cui","doi":"10.1075/csl.00032.qij","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.00032.qij","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 \u0000 ACTFL Language Proficiency Guidelines (hereinafter called Guidelines) are a\u0000 multi-lingual framework mainly based on the language proficiency development of several European languages. Little consideration\u0000 is given to the peculiarity of Chinese. Efforts are made to assess the validity of the descriptors in Guidelines\u0000 in comparison with Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education\u0000 (hereinafter called Standards). A total of five parameters from Guidelines that are not\u0000 compatible with Standards have been selected and two questionnaires compiled by the authors are answered by local\u0000 American Chinese language teachers to evaluate the validity of these descriptors. The study shows that the descriptors in\u0000 Standards are more valid in differentiating language proficiency levels of Chinese. In accordance with this\u0000 study, some revisions and amendments should be made to Guidelines.","PeriodicalId":517052,"journal":{"name":"Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報). The journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140443735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chinese character instruction has been one of the most challenging aspects in teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL). CFL teachers need access to a pool of effective character teaching methods to practice evidence-based and research-informed teaching. This synthesis study comprises an exhaustive search of literature published from 1952 to the present on character instruction for L1 English CFL learners and a systematic review of 22 articles identified through that search. The articles were cross analyzed in terms of research methods, learners’ proficiency levels, learning settings, methodological approaches, and theoretical bases. The analysis found an increasing number of studies on character teaching methods in the past ten years and that technology plays an important role in the design of these methods. Six categories of character instructional methods were identified out of the 39 methods examined in the literature. Within five of the categories, effective methods were identified, described, and discussed. Analysis of the data points out the strengths and weaknesses of the current research on character teaching and highlights the need for more research on character learning with younger learners and on using different approaches at the curriculum level. This article concludes by identifying the next steps to take and calling for more action research to examine the application cycle of these effective methods in classroom teaching.
{"title":"Effective character teaching methods for L1 English Chinese-as-a-foreign-language learners","authors":"Shenglan Zhang","doi":"10.1075/csl.00033.zha","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.00033.zha","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Chinese character instruction has been one of the most challenging aspects in teaching Chinese as a Foreign\u0000 Language (CFL). CFL teachers need access to a pool of effective character teaching methods to practice evidence-based and\u0000 research-informed teaching. This synthesis study comprises an exhaustive search of literature published from 1952 to the present\u0000 on character instruction for L1 English CFL learners and a systematic review of 22 articles identified through that search. The\u0000 articles were cross analyzed in terms of research methods, learners’ proficiency levels, learning settings, methodological\u0000 approaches, and theoretical bases. The analysis found an increasing number of studies on character teaching methods in the past\u0000 ten years and that technology plays an important role in the design of these methods. Six categories of character instructional\u0000 methods were identified out of the 39 methods examined in the literature. Within five of the categories, effective methods were\u0000 identified, described, and discussed. Analysis of the data points out the strengths and weaknesses of the current research on\u0000 character teaching and highlights the need for more research on character learning with younger learners and on using different\u0000 approaches at the curriculum level. This article concludes by identifying the next steps to take and calling for more action\u0000 research to examine the application cycle of these effective methods in classroom teaching.","PeriodicalId":517052,"journal":{"name":"Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報). The journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139894732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}