A qualitative inquiry of character learning strategies by Chinese L2 beginners

Previous research in Chinese character learning strategies has shown that students tend to rely on the mechanical copying and mindless memorization of characters, especially before they acquire enough characters to allow them to use the knowledge of Chinese radicals effectively. The aim of this study is to describe actual mnemonic methods and learning strategies used by first-year Chinese language students. For a period of one semester, 50 Czech university students were asked to keep records of mnemonics used to memorize individual characters. Qualitative data analysis reveals the types of strategies they applied. Strategy content analysis has identified ten frequently-used basic strategies, including Story, Radical, Imagination, Component Comparison, Word, Similarity, Drawing, Emotion, Etymology, and Pronunciation. These strategies are used either independently to elaborate a single piece of information, or in combinations, interweaving two or more pieces of information into one. Strategies show the students’ tendency to analyze characters into components, name individual components, and focus on graphic and semantic information, while omitting the phonological information.