How Ethnic Minority Students Perceive Patterns in Chinese Characters: Knowledge of Character Components and Structures

Abstract

This chapter assesses ethnic minority (EM) adolescent Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) learners’ perception of visual patterns in Chinese characters and examines the role of component and structural knowledge in CSL beginner and intermediate level curricula. In this exploratory mixed methods study, 213 Grades 7 to 11 EM students of different ethnic origins in Hong Kong and Macau without prior training in components and spatial configurations of Chinese characters completed a set of tests that measured their character component and structural knowledge, including (i) the Separation of Character Components Test; (ii) the Constitution of Character Components Test; and (iii) the Character Structure Test. Five ways of componential analysis of Chinese characters, namely (1) unanalytical agglomeration of strokes; (2) agglomeration of sequenced strokes; (3) arbitrary repetition of (parts of) component; (4) hybrid agglomeration of strokes and components; and (5) agglomeration of components, were identified to be used by the participants. The participants’ television viewing habits had a significant effect on their performance on the test; however, overall, their demographic background and after-school activities had no significant effects on their test performance. With reference to the findings, recommendations on enhancing EM adolescent CSL learners’ orthographic awareness for literacy success are given towards the end of the chapter. In particular, an Integrative Perceptual Approach for Teaching Chinese Characters (Tse, Marton, Ki, & Loh, 2007) is recommended for teaching orthographic knowledge in a way that is beneficial to students’ all-round second language (L2) development.