Analytic character learning in Chinese children: evidence from associative pseudocharacter learning paradigm

Abstract

The present study investigated the children’s capabilities of utilizing analytic strategies in Chinese character learning using an associative pseudocharacter learning paradigm. The participants were 54 Chinese primary school children (26 second graders and 28 fifth graders) who completed a pseudocharacter learning task that was followed by a generalization test. Repeated measures ANOVA results showed a significant main effect of block and grade in pseudocharacter learning. One-sample t-test results indicated that generalization performance was significantly better than chance level in both grade levels. Findings from this study suggested that Chinese primary school children were able to identify print–sound–meaning regularities that were not explicitly taught and apply those rules to learning new pseudocharacters. They contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the character learning processes in Chinese children when encountering new characters.

Keywords:

• Chinese character learning
• primary school children
• analytic strategies
• associative learning

Acknowledgements

We thank the students for their participation in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

The work described in this paper was supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. CityU 11619816).