Acquisition of Chinese characters: the effects of character properties and individual differences among learners Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Drawing upon research on the visual complexity effect and Dual Coding Theory, this study investigated a) the effects of character properties on, and b) the contribution of individual learner differences to Chinese character acquisition. Participants included 325 Chinese-speaking children in grades 1 through 3 in China. Using a novel character acquisition task, the study extended the scope of previous research by investigating the process of acquiring the meaning of new characters. Results showed that for all three grade-groups, a) characters with radicals and with less visual complexity were easier to acquire than characters without radicals and with greater visual complexity; and b) the effect of radical presence was more pronounced with characters with greater visual complexity. Visual analogical skill made a significant contribution to the acquisition of characters varying in properties, regardless of age. The contribution of radical awareness, however, varied with character properties and age. 2014 Elsevier Inc.

published proceedings

  • CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

altmetric score

  • 1.5

author list (cited authors)

  • Kuo, L., Li, Y., Sadoski, M., & Kim, T.

citation count

  • 13

complete list of authors

  • Kuo, Li-Jen||Li, Ying||Sadoski, Mark||Kim, Tae-Jin

publication date

  • October 2014