Action Research: Teaching Chinese Characters Dr Qian Kan (The Open University) Dr Nathaniel Owen (The Open University) Katharine Carruthers OBE (UCL IoE) Jane Woo (Christ’s College Finchley) Victor Wu (Highdown School) Jolanta Vanate (Lambeth Academy) Liwei Chen (UCL IoE PGCE) Kay McLeod (UCL IoE) #MandarinExcellence
Classroom context: #MandarinExcellence
Introduction - Kay McLeod (UCL IoE) Previous reseach and the action research ‘cycle’ - Dr Qian Kan (OU) and Dr Nathaniel Owen (OU) INTERVENTIONS: De-composing and composing characters - Li-wei Chen (UCL IoE) Teaching characters in ‘chunks’ - Jolanta Vanate (Lambeth Academy) Emphasising the eight basic strokes - Victor Wu (Highdown School) Emphasising radicals - Jane Woo (Christ’s College Finchley ) Looking to the next stage - Katharine Carruthers (UCL IoE) #MandarinExcellence
Some fin indings from previous research about character le learning/teaching strategies
Learning strategies (by learners) Kan et al (2017) N: 11 adult Shen’s top 30 commonly used distance learners strategies (2005) N:95 university • More metacognitive strategies students (e.g. I test myself to check if I have learnt the character) • Cognitive strategies (e.g. I try to 25 of 30 are cognitive visualise the character and strategies (memorise, compare it with a familiar shape) • Memory/social/compensatory comprehend, enhance strategies : (e.g I repeat the sound attention, etc) ; and 5 when the character is first introduced (M); /I listen to are metacognitive conversation by native speakers (S); I focus on how the character is strategies (monitor, used in context (C) plan, evaluate, assess)
Teaching strategies (by y teachers) In Instructional l strategies in in UK schools ls – Preston (2 (2018) ) ( N : : 12) Procedure related: • Most teachers introduce characters and pinyin at the same time, but some teachers choose textbooks that do not print pinyin over characters. • When teaching characters, majority teach stroke -> radical -> whole; but four think stroke order unnecessary; 80% think teaching radicals are vital. • Re how to teach radicals, some do it systematically (raise their orthographic awareness), whilst others do it when they appear in the course.
Chan Lü’s research (2019) One of the findings/recommendations is the importance of print input , which is implemented in Kensington Wade school in London. Book: Chinese Literacy Learning in an Immersion Program
Most popular teaching strategies by MEP Teachers - Recent survey ( N = 36) Code Item Mean SD Median Mode I give examples of learnt characters that share the same radical 3.39 0.49 3 3 Q9 used in the new character. I ask pupils to make up an expression or simple sentence with the 3.33 0.63 3 3 Q15 new character(s). 3.28 0.78 3 4 Q2 I show and teach the character, pinyin and tone at the same time. I ask pupils to write each new character stroke by stroke (on paper 3.25 0.73 3 4 Q8 or on a digital device) many times. I focus first on the radical (the part that indicates the associated 3.22 0.68 3 3 Q5 meaning). 3.18 1.19 4 4 Q21 I read aloud and ask the class to repeat after me. The questionnaire contained 34 strategies based on previous research (Shen 2005; Kan et al 2017; Preston, E. 2018)
Next step: Action research … • Which methods are more effective (in both short and long-term? • How do we find out?
Action research ‘cycle’ • Plan • Teacher ‘notices’ or identifies an issue/problem • Looks for solutions (literature/colleagues) • ‘Research as practice’ rather than ‘research on practice’ (McAteer, 2013). • Devise intervention to implement in own context (can be qualitative/quantitative/mixed-methods). • Action • Deliberate/carefully-planned/Observation/Documentation (context – who, where, when/actions – what/implementation – how/opinions of participants) • Reflection • What have you learned that you previously did not know? • Was the experience positive/negative/mixed? • How do your findings relate to others’ findings? • What are the participants’ perceptions? How do they relate to yours?
De-composing and Composing Chinese Characters: Impact on Students ’ Chinese Character Writing - A Case Study in a South London Secondary School Li-wei Chen (UCL IOE)
Outline of Presentation - Summary of Intervention - Data - Findings - Summary
Summary of Intervention Who ? Mixed ability MEP year8 aged 13-14 (22 pupils: 9 girls and 13 boys) When ? 12 th of March – 23 rd of May (8 weeks) Why ? Students were struggling with recognising and writing characters What ? Topics: Me, hobbies, school, food, and my area How ? 1. breaking down a character into two components and putting them back to a characters 2. giving each component meaning (mnemonics)
bearing fruit
Data 1. Pre-test 2. Post-test 3. Survey 4. Informal interview
Pre-test Post-test
Findings 1 - Post-test mark increased significantly . 2 - Intervention seemed to benefit the higher ability the most and the middle ability second. 3 - Students wrote new words covered during the intervention.
Findings 4- The majority found ‘breaking down’ and ‘putting together’ helpful. • 6 out of 7 higher ability students found it helpful. 1 out of 7 not sure. • 7 out of 8 middle ability students found it helpful. 1 out of 8 found it not helpful at all. • 2 out of 4 lower ability students found it helpful. The other 2 out of 4 found it neither helpful nor unhelpful.
Findings 5- Most of the students found giving meanings (mnemonics) to the broken components helpful. Yet, some students found it complex or confusing.
Findings 6- Students found rote-learning helpful.
Conclusion 1- Awareness- raising of character’s components is crucial. a) Breaking down and putting together b) Explanation for each component must be succinct and easy to understand. 2- Awareness-raising must be complemented by repetitive practice in order for students to write more in quantity and quality. !!!
CHARACTER WRITING ACTION RESEARCH JOLANTA VANATE
PROBLEMS PUPILS FACED WITH CHARACTER WRITING • REMEMBERING HOW TO WRITE MORE COMPLICATED CHARACTERS/PHRASES • PUTTING NEW CHARACTERS INTO CONTEXT • USING NEW SENTENCE STRUCTURES TO WRITE LONG SENTENCES
INTERVENTION • RESEARCH FOCUSED ON IMPROVING STUDENTS’ WRITING BY TEACHING CHARACTERS IN CHUNKS • NEW CHARACTERS WERE INTRODUCED IN CHUNKS RATHER THAN SINGLE CHARACTERS • PUPILS PRACTICED CHARACTERS BY WRITING THEM OUT IN PHRASES AND CHUNKS • ACTIVITIES USED IN CLASS - DICTATIONS WITH PHRASES/SENTENCES, DESCRIBE THE PICTURE TASKS, TRANSCRIBING PINYIN PHRASES INTO CHINESE CHARACTERS • HOMEWORK – STUDENTS FOLLOWED ON FROM THIS BY MAKING UP OWN SENTENCES WITH GIVEN COMPONENTS/PHRASES AND PRACTICING WRITING OUT LONGER PHRASES
INTERVENTION • OVER A 4 WEEK PERIOD • STUDENT PROFILE – 16 PUPILS – MIXED ABILITY; 6 BOYS AND 10 GIRLS 11-12 YEARS OLD LEARNING MANDARIN SINCE SEPTEMBER 2018 • ALL FINDINGS COME FROM TESTS TAKEN BEFORE AND AFTER THE INTERVENTION
FINDINGS - DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS • THE PRE-TEST • WRITING SINGLE CHARACTERS • CREATIVITY • CHUNKING ACTIVITIES • PAIR AND GROUP ACTIVITIES
FINDINGS - DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS • CONFIDENCE/LONGER SENTENCES • THE POST-TEST • PROGRESS BETWEEN PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST
FINDINGS – SENTENCE DICTATIONS • SENTENCE DICTATIONS • LONGER PHRASES VS. SINGLE CHARACTERS • ADAPTING SENTENCE STRUCTURES • COPYING LONGER PHRASES
FINDINGS – PICTURE DESCRIPTION TASK • SENTENCE DICTATIONS • CREATIVE PICTURE WRITING • CONFIDENCE IN GROUPS • STUDENTS CHOSE TO WRITE LONGER PHRASES IN THE POST-TEST • THE SUCCESS OF ‘CHUNKS ’
Intervention 26th March – 25th April 2019 “8 basic strokes” introduced via an interlude during 3 continuous lessons and with colloquial names Repeat with body gestures > Handwrite down with the names in pinyin Character Analysis Sheet during the Easter holidays and right before the post-test
Data Participants: 27 students (10 male; 17 female) on Year 7 MEP – officially learning Chinese since January 2019 Pre-test (Tuesday 26th March) & Post-test (Thursday 25th April) 1. Recognition of the spoken form 2. Recognition of the written form / production of spoken form 3. Production of written form At the end of lessons: Writing previously learnt words with the correct stroke order > Learning new words through questioning/guessing > Pronunciation practice > Listen and understand key words > Analyse new/key characters into components Pre-test: 红色的、黄色的、绿色的、黑色的、白色的 Post-test: 吃猪肉、吃鸡肉、吃牛肉、吃羊肉、吃鸭肉 Two set of 22 valid samples (EAL factor controlled)
Recommend
More recommend
