The impact of the integrative perceptual approach on the teaching of Chinese characters in a Hong Kong kindergarten

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of the integrative perceptual approach (IPA) to enhancing Hong Kong kindergarten children’s Chinese character learning. The study applied the IPA to an experimental group of 29 lower form (K2) children. A group of 30 upper form children taught via traditional methods the year before, served as the control group. Quantitative data consisted of pre‐ and post‐test scores, analysed using dependent and independent t‐testing. It was found that the pupils in the experimental group had significantly improved their ability between pre‐ and post‐testing in three aspects of Chinese character mastery: shape, sound and meaning recognition. The progress made was significantly superior to that made by control group counterparts. Qualitative data gathered through teacher and parent interviews indicated that the pupils in the experimental group displayed increased awareness of the composition of several components and structures of Chinese characters.

Keywords:

• Hong Kong
• Chinese characters
• teaching method
• spoken language
• nursery rhymes
• mental lexicon
• word clusters
• language context
• life experience

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Dr Terry Dolan for his input to this article. We would also like to thank the principal and the teachers of the kindergarten for their contribution to this research.

Notes

1. The calculation of effect sizes of different parts of the test employed in the experiment is based on the following formula: