The characteristics of the use of Chinese characters and words in writing by primary school pupils in Zhejiang of China

Abstract

276 research subjects from Primary 1 to Primary 6 were invited to write in Chinese. 828 written samples were collected. Whole language approach was used in teaching writing. Students can write without too much guidance and can express their own idea freely. Researchers tried to find out the total number of Chinese characters and words, the number of types of characters and words, and the type-token ratio of words of the samples in different grade levels. The developmental characteristics were also investigated. The research findings were compared with similar studies in China and Taiwan district. It is found that there was correlation between the language performance, writing performance and the number of vocabulary used by the research subjects. Researchers also examined the developmental characteristics of errors of vocabulary. Research results indicated that the present teaching materials for vocabulary learning are not effective. Pupils have learnt vocabulary, which they do not have experienced. On the hand, they do not have the vocabulary to express themselves. There is a need to bridge the gap. The findings are useful for curriculum development and teaching.

本研究採用全語文寫作教學策略，使學生在自由的環境下表現寫作水平。本研究採用 276 名一至六年級的小學生作文樣本共 828 篇，分析後得出小學各年級學生寫作中所用漢字的總字數、字種數、字種率，各年級所用總詞數、詞總數、詞種率及其年級的發展特點。比較內地學生的常用字與臺灣相關研究的異同，得出學生寫作中的超用字、滯用字的發展特點，語文成績、作文成績與作文字詞量相關，各年級錯別字出現率的發展特點。研究發現現行教材的識字對學生的寫作存在「要學的沒用，要用的沒學」的問題。研究結果可以作為日後編寫教材及寫作教學改革的參考。