Teaching and Learning Chinese Characters

Author: Chief Editor: Dai Rujian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-05-01
Features:
Fragment: In the field of Chinese character research, Just and Carpenter (1983) discovered, using eye movement as an indicator, that Chinese character recognition is processed unit by stroke. As the number of strokes increases, fixation time also lengthens. According to the unitization perspective, high-frequency Chinese character words should be easier to unitize (or chunk) than low-frequency words. Zhang Wutián et al. (1990) found in their experimental study on the relationship between reading and short-term memory capacity that the number of strokes is positively correlated with naming reaction time. Compared to characters with fewer strokes and those that are monosyllabic, high-frequency, stroke-rich, and component-rich characters take significantly longer to identify, indicating that Chinese character recognition is at least processed unit by stroke and component. In high-frequency characters, as long as there is a difference in the quantity of either stroke or component, it can cause significant differences in recognition reaction time, whereas low-frequency characters require differences in both components to show significant differences in naming reaction time; thus, Chinese character recognition is a result of the integration of multiple components (Zhang Wutián, Feng Ling, 1992). Peng Dangling and Wang Chunmào (1997) believed that Chinese character recognition involves three stages: stroke, component, and whole character. Components play a crucial role in Chinese character recognition, and characters with high component frequency are easier to recognize than those with low component frequency. The more components a character has, the longer the processing time required in the brain (Han Buxin, 1994; Taft)