Singapore Chinese pre-schoolers’ early writing development of Han characters : a multiple-case study = 新加坡華族幼兒早期漢字書寫發展 的多重個案研究

Abstract

Singapore is a society with prominent language diversity. There is a divided view on pre-schoolers’ writing of Han characters and also a lack of evidence-based research in the field. Based on the theories of emergent literacy and early Chinese literacy development, the researcher conducted a study on the free writing of Han characters with 9 Chinese pre-schoolers of different home language backgrounds. This study aimed to discern the pre-schoolers’ writing developmental patterns in grasping of the Han character forms and understanding of its functions. At the same time, it looked at the impact of home language environment and kindergarten curriculum on such developments. The researcher adopted the multiple-case study method in 2 phases, namely a 4-year longitudinal case study and a 1-year short-term case study. In the first phase, the researcher observed a Chinese pre-schooler from the age of 31 to 78 months on her free writing of Han characters in the home context. The classification of her Han character writing forms and her developmental patterns served as a reference for the short-term case study. In the second phase, 8 pre-schoolers with different home language backgrounds were selected. They were categorised into 4 subgroups with English or Chinese dominantly used at home and with two variations of English and Chinese mixture used at the middle of the spectrum. These pre-schoolers were also further categorised into lower and upper age-groups respectively. The lower age-group was between 45 and 56-month-old and the upper age-group was between 63 and 69-month-old at the beginning of the 1-year study. Findings unveiled the following patterns of pre-schoolers’ grasping of Han character forms. 1. The pre-schoolers initially grasped the forms of drawing and scribbling, and they are able to discern these forms from Han characters. 2. The Han character forms grasped by them comprise of immature, semi-mature and mature forms. 3. A progression of disparity between the forms’ mastery and a certain monthly age from a nonlinear development to mature stage was ultimately found. 4. A mixture of various other forms was deployed frequently by the pre-schoolers whose family speaks English more. Findings revealed the following patterns of pre-schoolers’ understanding of Han character’s functions. 1. The age factor played a role in the consistency of understanding Han characters’ functions where the pre-schoolers from upper age-group performed better than the lower age-group. 2. There was no significant difference in the consistency of understanding its function from different home language backgrounds. 3. ‘Reduction Principle’ was applied frequently by the pre-schoolers from English-dominant family. Findings also revealed that the frequency of Chinese language used at home, the parents’ value the importance of Chinese language and parental’s guidance in writing had impact on the pre-schoolers’ early Han characters writing developments. There is a need to build in free expression of pre-schoolers’ ideas in the kindergarten curriculum of writing Han characters. The research findings could serve as evidence to parents, educators and policy makers in ironing out the issues related to early writing development of Han characters in Singapore pre-school education. 新加坡的語言環境具有多元化特色。長期以來，新加坡學前教育領域中有關幼兒早期漢字書寫的爭議不斷，然而學界一直缺乏新加坡多語環境下的相關實證研究，無法借助研究成果平息爭議。鑒於此，本研究立足於讀寫萌發、幼兒漢字書寫發展等相關理論，深入描述九個不同家庭語言背景的新加坡華族幼兒自由書寫漢字的情境，旨在探究幼兒早期漢字書寫發展中掌握文字形式和理解文字功能的特徵，與此同時，探究家庭語言習得環境和幼稚園語言學習課程對幼兒早期漢字書寫發展的影響。 本研究採用多重個案研究法，分為兩個研究階段。研究者於第一研究階段進行了為期四年的長期追蹤個案研究，以一個華語作為主要家庭用語、月齡31至78個月的華族幼兒為個案研究對象，歸納該個案四年里自由書寫漢字過程中產出的文字形式類別，探究其在漢字書寫發展中掌握文字形式和理解文字功能的特徵，為後繼短期追蹤個案研究提供比對參照。研究者於第二研究階段進行了為期一年的短期追蹤個案研究，選擇八個不同家庭用語背景的華族幼兒為個案研究對象，個案的家庭用語背景分為四類：1.主要使用華語；2.華語較多、英語較少；3.英語較多、華語較少；4.主要使用英語。八個個案分屬於兩個年齡組：低年齡組和高年齡組。研究開始時，低年齡組個案的月齡介於45至56個月之間，高年齡組個案的月齡介於63至69個月之間。 研究結果顯示個案早期漢字書寫發展中掌握文字形式的特徵：1.非字形式有圖畫、塗寫，且能與漢字字形加以區分；2.漢字字形包括非成熟漢字字形（指表意線條符號和類漢字符號）、較成熟漢字字形（指接近字）、成熟漢字字形（指初學者漢字）；3.掌握各種漢字字形的月齡並不與某個特定的年齡段一一對應，掌握各種漢字字形的順序不是直線式向前發展的，所有個案在稍後階段均掌握了成熟漢字字形；4.在掌握文字形式的過程中，個案混用了其它多種形式，包括英文字母/單詞/短語/句子、拼音、具象圖形、抽象符號、筆畫或部件等。家庭用語為英語較多、華語較少的個案混用其它多種形式的頻次最高。 研究結果也顯示個案早期漢字書寫發展中理解文字功能的特徵：1.年齡影響個案漢字書寫發展中理解文字功能的穩定程度，高年齡組比低年齡組個案理解文字功能的穩定程度高；2.不同家庭用語個案在理解文字功能的穩定程度方面無顯著差異；3.家庭用語為主要使用英語的個案運用「縮減原則」的頻次最高，他們儘量縮減漢字的書寫數量來表達想法。 研究結果還顯示，家中華語使用的頻率、家長對華語的重視程度和家長引導孩子漢字書寫的方法影響個案的早期漢字書寫發展。個案的幼稚園語言學習課程方面，教師亟需加強引導幼兒以漢字書寫自由表達想法。 本研究旨在填補相關實證研究的不足，為新加坡學前教師、幼兒家長、教育決策者提供有關幼兒早期漢字書寫發展的實證研究支持。