Exploring Chinese through learning objects and interactive interface on mobile devices

Abstract

With its unprecedented economic growth, China has gradually developed its significant influence on the global stage in recent years. As a result, there are increasing interests to learn Chinese all over the world. Intrinsically, learning Chinese is challenging to most foreigners and Chinese students as well due to the complex structures of Chinese Characters, the writing of characters in correct stroke sequences, and their appropriate usage and pronunciation, etc. Even with the guidance of an experienced Chinese teacher, there is often insufficient time to practise the writing or pronunciation during classes. However, mobile devices such as the iPads or iPhones may open up numerous opportunities facilitated by the latest interface and sensing technologies for students to learn anytime and anywhere. Therefore in this project, we propose an extendible application based on learning objects which can fully utilized these features including the GPS, touch screen and camera of mobile devices to facilitate foreigners or Chinese students to learn Chinese more effectively. More importantly, we have designed an intelligent algorithm to help students in writing Chinese characters with correct stroke sequences. To demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal, a prototype of our proposed e-learning software is built on the iOS platform, and will be evaluated with a thorough plan. Furthermore, there are many interesting directions for further investigation of our proposal. © 2012 IEEE.