Effective Learning of Chinese Characters through Discerning and Combining Character Components

Abstract

本研究主要探索｢綜合高效識字法｣的｢部件識字｣，研究的主要目的是了解｢部件識字法｣對漢字初學者的識字成效。本文闡述了部件識字的學習理論、教學實驗和教學應用示例。｢部件識字法｣以部件作為主導，讓初學者透過認識常用的漢字部件，更容易地去學習漢字。研究以香港一所小學的一年級學生為對象，屬於漢字初學者。他們需要接受部件識字的學習。研究員利用自行設計的識字卷為研究工具，比較前測及後測的成績，以評估｢部件識字法｣的實踐成效。研究結果顯示，｢部件識字｣教學法能有效地提升學生的識字能力。學生通過部件識字的教學活動，學會利用77個常用部件，互相分拆或整合，從而學會大量新字。學生的識字增值率，反映了｢部件識字法｣能有效地增加學生對漢字的敏感度及識字量。 The basic units of written Chinese are ideographic symbols called characters, made up of components and strokes. Faced with the very large number of Chinese characters, it would seem impossible for learners ever to learn them all. This paper describes a way of helping young children learn Chinese characters through systematically discerning, recognizing and combining the component elements of characters. The theoretical underpinnings of the learning method have been presented in detail. The effectiveness of the approach is examined in an exploratory, but carefully conducted study in a Grade 1 class of students in one Hong Kong primary school. None of the children had received any prior formal tuition in Chinese character learning. A pre-test was carried out to establish the students’ baseline awareness of character components, recognition of common characters and components, and ability to identify real and potentially valid characters from a series of actual and pseudo-real characters. Following a period of instruction using the proposed teaching strategy, the learners were given the test again and the impact of the teaching was assessed. It was found that teaching students how todiscern and recognize characters and the elements and strokes used to make up characters enhanced both an awareness of character components and a way of reading and learning unfamiliar characters.