An investigation of a pedagogical framework of Chinese character teaching for beginning learners in Australian schools : an action research

Abstract

This research is an investigation of a pedagogical framework of Chinese character teaching for beginning learners in Australian schools. Through an action research carried out in Rainbow Public School among stage three students, this research aims to develop a new framework for teaching Chinese characters at the basis of Chinese traditional Liu-shu theory, combining western L1/L2 transfer theory as well as dual-coding theory. This research helps new Mandarin teachers familiarise with Australian students' thinking mode, and offers teachers important reference in Chinese character teaching. Through the research, it is found that the principles in Liu-shu theory are suitable in teaching Chinese characters with high iconicity. The characters with low iconicity are taught with the newly developed character-teaching framework, which includes modernised pictographic principle and modernised associative principle. Modernised pictographic principle is analysed from two aspects: teacher-supplied mnemonics and student-self-generated mnemonics. Modernised associative principle is divided into two steps: deconstructing characters into simple Chinese characters or English letter and numbers, and reconstructing them with story-telling.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English