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Exploring the Effectiveness of Different Learning Methods in Young Singaporean Children This document is downloaded from DR‑NTU (https://dr.ntu.edu.sg) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. How to learn Chinese characters? Exploring the effectiveness of different learning methods in young Singaporean children Toh, Wendy Hwee Bin 2019 Toh, W. H. B. (2019). How to learn Chinese characters? Exploring the effectiveness of different learning methods in young Singaporean children. Master's thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137108 https://doi.org/10.32657/10356/137108 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY‑NC 4.0). Downloaded on 06 Oct 2021 17:35:01 SGT HOW TO LEARN CHINESE CHARACTERS? EXPLORING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT LEARNING METHODS IN YOUNG SINGAPOREAN CHILDREN TOH HWEE BIN, WENDY SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES 2019 How to Learn Chinese Characters? Exploring the Effectiveness of Different Learning Methods in Young Singaporean Children TOH HWEE BIN, WENDY School of Humanities A thesis submitted to the Nanyang Technological University in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts 2019 Statement of Originality I certify that all work submitted for this thesis is my original work. I declare that no other person's work has been used without due acknowledgement. Except where it is clearly stated that I have used some of this material elsewhere, this work has not been presented by me for assessment in any other institution or University. I certify that the data collected for this project are authentic and the investigations were conducted in accordance with the ethics policies and integrity standards of Nanyang Technological University and that the research data are presented honestly and without prejudice. 14 August 2019 . Date Toh Hwee Bin, Wendy Supervisor Declaration Statement I have reviewed the content of this thesis and to the best of my knowledge, it does not contain plagiarised materials. The presentation style is also consistent with what is expected of the degree awarded. To the best of my knowledge, the research and writing are those of the candidate except as acknowledged in the Author Attribution Statement. I confirm that the investigations were conducted in accordance with the ethics policies and integrity standards of Nanyang Technological University and that the research data are presented honestly and without prejudice. 15 August 2019 . Date Assoc Prof Alice Chan Hiu Dan Authorship Attribution Statement This thesis does not contain any materials from papers published in peer-reviewed journals or from papers accepted at conferences in which I am listed as an author. 14 August 2019 . Date Toh Hwee Bin, Wendy ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Alice Chan Hiu Dan, whose dedicated guidance has made this thesis possible. I deeply appreciate her close attention and painstaking effort in mentoring me as I explore my topic of interest. Her enlightenment and insight has greatly enriched my learning experience. I am truly grateful for all the learning opportunities that A/P Alice Chan and Dr Francis Wong have given me in the past two years. Special thanks to all the student care centres, parents and children who have participated in this study. This study would not have been possible without their participation. I am indebted to all the centre supervisors for helping me to reach out to their parents and accommodating our visits. To all the participating parents and children, thank you so much for your support and the efforts put in during the experiments. I am also very privileged to have the support of members from the Neurolinguistics and Cognitive Science Lab, NTU. Their advice, input and feedback have been most valuable in shaping the study. I have learnt a lot and got a lot of help from everyone. I am indeed thankful to be part of this team. To my family, research mentors and all my friends who have supported and readily helped me in whatever way they could, I am most grateful and fortunate to have this wonderful network to back me up. Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks to Reginald for being with me and helping me throughout this journey, just like the way it was before. i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... i TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................... ii SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................. iv CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Learning to Read Chinese in the Singapore Context ............................................. 2 1.1.2 Explanation of Relevant Concepts ......................................................................... 4 1.1.3 Study Aims ............................................................................................................. 5 1.2 Literature Review .......................................................................................................... 5 1.2.1 Visual Word (Character) Recognition Models ...................................................... 5 1.2.2 Key Processes in Single Character Reading .......................................................... 7 1.2.3 The Role of Handwriting & Phonological Encoding in Chinese Word (Character) Learning .............................................................................................. 17 1.2.4 Biscriptal Literacy Development ........................................................................... 21 CHAPTER TWO METHODS ................................................................................................. 25 2.1 Research Questions ....................................................................................................... 25 2.2 Participants .................................................................................................................... 26 2.3 Design ............................................................................................................................ 27 2.4 Training Stimuli & Learning Materials ......................................................................... 28 2.5 Procedure ....................................................................................................................... 29 2.6 Measures ........................................................................................................................ 30 2.6.1 Pre-Test: Assessing Level of Radical Awareness (RA) ........................................ 30 2.6.2 Immediate & Delayed Evaluation: Assessing Learning Outcomes ...................... 32 2.6.3 Post-Test: Assessing Visual Analysis Skills & Orthographic Awareness ............ 33 2.7 Method of Analysis ....................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER THREE RESULTS ............................................................................................... 35 3.1 Post-Training Evaluation of Experiment 1 .................................................................... 35 3.1.1 Immediate Evaluation ............................................................................................ 36 3.1.2 Delayed Evaluation ................................................................................................ 37 3.1.3 Comparison between the Low RA & High RA Groups ......................................... 37 3.2 Post-Training Evaluation of Experiment 2 .................................................................... 40 3.2.1 Immediate Evaluation ............................................................................................ 40 3.2.2 Delayed Evaluation ................................................................................................ 42 ii 3.2.3 Comparison between the Low RA & High RA Groups ......................................... 42 3.3 Post-Training Evaluation of Experiment 3 .................................................................... 44 3.3.1 Immediate Evaluation ............................................................................................ 45 3.3.2 Delayed Evaluation ................................................................................................ 46 3.3.3 Comparison between the Low RA & High RA Groups ......................................... 47 3.4 Post-Test Results of Experiments 1, 2 & 3: Transfer Effect Across Learning Modalities ..................................................................................................................... 49 3.5.1 The Effects of Learning Modalities on Visual Analysis Skills .............................. 49 3.5.2 The Effects of Learning Modalities on Orthographic Awareness.......................... 56 CHAPTER FOUR DISCUSSION ........................................................................................... 59 4.1 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 59 4.1.1 Effectiveness of Writing Modalities ...................................................................... 61 4.1.2 The Role of Pinyin
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