TY - JOUR
T1 - Learning Chinese characters with animated etymology
AU - He, Jian
AU - Huang, Hui
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - The study was an attempt to investigate the effect of animated etymology on English speakers learning of Chinese characters. Twenty-one Chinese language beginners at an Australian university were randomly assigned into three groups using three different types of instructional materials to learn Chinese characters: a) paper-based plain text material with only English meanings; b) paper-based material with English meanings, pictures and static etymological information; and c) CALL material with English meanings, pictures and animated etymological information. The effects of three materials were tested under two task conditions: a) picture-enhanced tasks and b) non-picture-enhanced tasks. Through both within-group and cross-group comparisons, the statistical results indicate that the group using computer-based materials involving animated etymology significantly outperformed those using the paper-based materials with and without illustrated etymological information in both tasks and the advantages of paper-based illustrated etymological information over the paper-based group without such information are limited to the tasks involving pictures.
AB - The study was an attempt to investigate the effect of animated etymology on English speakers learning of Chinese characters. Twenty-one Chinese language beginners at an Australian university were randomly assigned into three groups using three different types of instructional materials to learn Chinese characters: a) paper-based plain text material with only English meanings; b) paper-based material with English meanings, pictures and static etymological information; and c) CALL material with English meanings, pictures and animated etymological information. The effects of three materials were tested under two task conditions: a) picture-enhanced tasks and b) non-picture-enhanced tasks. Through both within-group and cross-group comparisons, the statistical results indicate that the group using computer-based materials involving animated etymology significantly outperformed those using the paper-based materials with and without illustrated etymological information in both tasks and the advantages of paper-based illustrated etymological information over the paper-based group without such information are limited to the tasks involving pictures.
UR - http://www.igi-global.com/gateway/article/full-text-html/114196
U2 - 10.4018/ijcallt.2014040105
DO - 10.4018/ijcallt.2014040105
M3 - Article
VL - 4
SP - 64
EP - 82
JO - Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal
JF - Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal
SN - 1877-7031
IS - 2
ER -