Assessing the effectiveness of phenomenography in facilitating Chinese as a second language beginners' Chinese character learning at a Hong Kong University = 現象圖析學對促進香港外籍大生漢字習成效的研究

Abstract

In the area of Chinese as a second language (CSL), characters have been traditionally considered as the most difficult part for non-Chinese speaking students. As a complicated language system, there are often no direct linkage between Chinese characters and their pronunciations, as well as the phenomenon of “a character with a variety of pronunciations” and “a pronunciation refers to a variety of characters”. Furthermore, the complex components and structures of characters makes learning Chinese even more difficult, specific training and practice on writing characters were not general applied to Chinese classes. In the past, most of the CSL teachers and students rely heavily on Pinyin, characters have long been ignored and taught in unorganized ways. However, Chinese characters are crucial in daily life. Thus, to help non-Chinese speaking students learn characters better, it is necessary to find an effective learning method. The experiences on teaching native Chinese children could be learnt, especially the ways that have been applied in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for many decades, for example, children’s acquisition of components and structures in the very early stages can make contribution to Chinese characters’ learning, especially when integrated with Phenomenographic theory. However, they haven’t been investigated and applied in universities’ beginner level before. To fill the research gap, this dissertation will build a framework based on the Phenomenographic theory, including discern critical features, and the four ways of variation: contrast, generalization, separation, and fusion. It will also review the literature on non-Chinese speaking students’ Chinese characters acquisition, including the importance of orthographic awareness, for example, learning components and structures, and the necessity of developing writing ability to perceive patterns in characters better. The two research questions are listed as follows: 1, Can Phenomenographic learning methods enhance the effectiveness of discernment of critical features (components and structures), and therefore help students identify Chinese characters better? 2, Can Phenomenographic writing tasks (components and structures) increase students’ abilities on using Chinese characters? To address the two research questions mentioned above, this paper focuses on foreign students from around the world with no prior knowledge of Chinese, studying at a university in Hong Kong. The students are divided into two groups: a control group and an experimental group. The control group is taught using traditional methods, which include learning Chinese characters in context, random learning, and copying. The experimental group, on the other hand, is taught based on orthographic awareness, emphasizing the composition and spelling rules of characters, and using corresponding teaching methods such as focused character recognition, component-based character learning, and basic character extension. On this basis, the theory of phenomenography provides specific teaching experiment strategies, focusing on the critical features of Chinese character components and structures. The aim is to promote accurate recognition and use of Chinese characters through repeated contrast, separation, generalization, and fusion. The 8 week quasi-experimental research revealed that the experimental group which used Phenomenographic methods to learn Chinese characters have received better quantitative and qualitative results than control group, the main findings are: (1) Students in the experimental group outperformed those in the control group in terms of orthographic awareness, which includes knowledge of the components and rules of Chinese characters, as well as the ability to recognize components and structures. They also excelled in using strategies such as contrast, separation, generalization, and fusion to ultimately achieve literacy and whole character recognition. Therefore, the literacy method based on phenomenography theory can enhance students' ability to accurately recognize Chinese characters. (2) Students in the experimental group were able to grasp the critical features of phenomenography, including contrast, analogy, differentiation, and fusion. Their accuracy in writing Chinese characters (including components, structures, and whole characters), as well as their understanding of the meanings represented by these characters, and their ability to correctly use them in phrases and sentences, were significantly higher than those in the control group, who only used traditional methods of learning characters in context and random copying. Thus, writing exercises based on phenomenography theory can improve students' ability to use Chinese characters. Basing on the research findings, this study makes both theoretical and pedagogical contributions to Chinese characters’ learning at beginner’s level. Therefore, this study suggests using the phenomenography method during the literacy stage for second language beginners to enhance Chinese character learning. This includes basing the approach on orthographic awareness and integrating phenomenography theory to encourage students to focus on discerning the critical features of Chinese characters, particularly in terms of components and structure. The teaching and practice activities should employ the four core strategies of contrast, analogy, differentiation, and fusion, allowing students to repeatedly experience the variations of Chinese characters, thereby promoting accurate recognition and use. Due to research limitations, this study could only focus on a small number of components and configurations, without covering a broader range of Chinese characters. It is recommended to further apply phenomenography to include more components and configurations, extend the learning period, and expand literacy learning to more diverse levels of second language learners, in order to efficiently enhance overall literacy. 對中文作為第二語言的學生，尤其是初學者而言，漢字是最難掌握的部分，因為「字多難記」、「形多難寫」、「音多難讀」，加上「一字多音」、「一音多字」、「形近字」的情況，使二語生容易在學習過程中出現種種偏誤，造成認讀、書寫和使用困難。由於漢字學習難，許多外國學生過度依賴拼音，迴避漢字。然而，要全面學好中文，應對日常生活和交流，漢字是不可或缺的一環。 為解決外國學生學習漢字的困難，本研究擬先回顧各識字法理論，包括正字法意識（orthographic awareness）、部件和構形識字、集中識字、基本字帶字、漢字認知心理學的心理詞彙（mental lexicon）等，並在此基礎上構建理論框架，提出能夠匯總和結合各教學法優勢的現象圖析學（Phenomenographic Studies of Learning），通過審辨（discern）關鍵特徵（critical features）、對比（contrast）、模擬（generalization）、區分（seperation）、融合（fusion）四個方式，遵循「同時審辨」、「先對比，後類比」、「先區分，後融合」的原則，挑選出12個構字能力強的部件和5種最常見的結構形體，組合成33個繁簡體寫法一致的初學階段漢字，通過反覆審辨、對比、類比、融合部件和結構知識，從而探討該理論對提升漢字認讀、使用的效率和作用。現象圖析學已在多個有關香港學童的漢字教學研究中證明成效，但該理論從未被應用於大學階段的初級二語生身上，因此本研究亦將以此為基礎，填補研究空缺。本研究設置的兩個研究問題如下： 1. 運用現象圖析學理論的識字策略能否幫助外籍大學生審辨漢字的關鍵特徵（部件、結構），從而能準確認讀漢字？ 2. 運用現象圖析學理論設計的書寫練習（部件、結構）能否提升外籍大學生準確認讀和使用漢字的能力？

為回答以上兩個研究問題，本論文以香港一所大學零中文基礎、來自世界各地的外籍學生為對象，一共分為兩個組別：控制組與實驗組。控制組施以傳統教學法，即隨文識字、隨機學習和抄寫漢字；實驗組則以正字法意識為本，著重文字的組合、拼寫規則，並使用相應的教學法，包括集中識字、部件識字、基本字帶字，在此基礎上，現象圖析學理論提供具體的教學實驗策略，著重審辨漢字部件、結構的關鍵特徵，並透過反覆的對比、類比、區分、融合，目的是促進漢字的準確認讀和使用。 經八個星期、分為三個階段的漢字學習準實驗研究發現，無論從量化數據還是質性數據分析結果而言，採用現象圖析學方法進行有系統的漢字學習的實驗組學生，在認讀和使用漢字的能力上都比控制組更佳，主要的發現有：（1）、實驗組的學生無論在正字法意識上，即對漢字的組成部分和法則、辨識部件和結構的知識，還是利用對比、類比、區分、融合策略來最終達致識字，乃至整字的認讀表現皆較控制組出色，所以，現象圖析學理論的識字方法能提升學生準確認讀漢字的能力；（2）實驗組學生對現象圖析學的審辨關鍵特徵、對比、類比、區分、融合皆能掌握，其漢字的書寫準確度（包括部件、結構、整字），及對其所代表的字義的掌握、從而拓展到在詞組、句子中所使用的漢字的正確率皆明顯高於只使用傳統方法隨文識字、隨機抄寫漢字的控制組。因此，以現象圖析學理論為本而設計的書寫練習能提升學生使用漢字的能力 因此，本研究建議在二語初學者的識字階段使用現象圖析學方法來促進漢字學習，包括：以正字法意識為基礎，配合現象圖析學理論，讓學生注重對漢字關鍵特徵的審辨，尤其是部件和結構方面，然後以對比、類比、區分、融合為策略，透過這四個核心策略展開教學和練習活動，使學生反覆體驗漢字的變易，從而促進漢字的準確認讀和使用。由於研究限制，本研究只能集中於少量的部件和構形，未及涵蓋更大範圍的漢字；建議進一步應用現象圖析學，涵蓋更多部件和構形，並延長學習時間、擴展到更多不同級別的二語生識字學習上，以有效率地提升總體識字量。