ABSTRACT

This study explores the relationship between the experience of confusion and the outcomes of Chinese character learning by learners of Chinese as a heritage language (CHL). Based on the claim that impasses triggering confusion can lead to deeper learning of conceptually difficult material, the study employed three impasse-driven tasks. The tasks were designed to trigger a state of cognitive disequilibrium in the participants. After first encountering the tasks in Session 1, the 117 CHL learners were given 1 week to resolve their impasse-driven tasks in their own time for 30 min (limited by the computer system). Afterwards, we announced the correct answer for them to look at for 3 days, and then Session 2 was administered 1 week after the feedback. The results of this study showed considerable improvement in differentiating near-homographs and homophones presented in a sentence, and correcting wrong Chinese characters. The study’s results suggest that incorporating well-designed confusing content into Chinese learning may help CHL learners deepen their learning of Chinese characters.

摘要

本研究探讨了汉语作为传承语言 (CHL) 学习者的混淆体验与汉字学习结果之间的关系。基于引发混乱的僵局可以导致对概念上困难的材料进行更深入的学习，该研究采用了三项僵局驱动的任务。这些任务旨在引发参与者的认知失衡状态。在第一次遇到第 1 节中的任务后，117 名 CHL 学习者有 1 周的时间在自己的时间内解决他们的僵局驱动任务，时间为 30 分钟（受计算机系统限制）。之后我们公布正确答案让他们看3天，反馈1周后进行Session 2。这项研究的结果表明，在区分句子中出现的近同形异义词和同音异义词以及纠正错误的汉字方面有了很大的改进。研究结果表明，将精心设计的易混淆内容融入中文学习中，可能有助于 CHL 学习者加深对汉字的学习。