Structural awareness, variation theory and ICT support.

dc.creator	Ki, W-W.
dc.creator	Lam, H-C.
dc.creator	Chung, A. L-S.
dc.creator	Tse, S-K.
dc.creator	Ko, P-Y.
dc.creator	Lau, E. C-C.
dc.creator	Chou, P. W-Y
dc.creator	Lai, A. C-Y.
dc.creator	Lai., S. M-S.
dc.date	2003-01-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-07-20T22:10:47Z
dc.date.available	2015-07-20T22:10:47Z
dc.identifier	1567-6617
dc.identifier	1573-1731
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/e3172a9fb3984f8da2bec9d9c188ebb4
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/13902
dc.description	To be literate in Chinese, one needs to learn over a thousand Chinese characters. This is obviously a challenging task for young learners. Psychological and developmental studies have provided evidence that awareness of structural regularities among the characters is important for its learning. Yet how this structural awareness can be enhanced in instruction is still not clear. Some worry that any explicit instruction about structures might actually increase the cognitive burden of the young learners, as they might be asked to think analytically about the characters, or to learn a meta-language that describes the structural principles underlying Chinese character composition. This paper discusses the nature of structural awareness in light of Gurtwitsch’s general theory of awareness [Gurwitsch, A. (1964). The Field of consciousness. Pittsburgh: Duguesne University Press] and the theory of variation by Marton and S. Booth [(1997) Learning and awareness. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum] and F. Marton and A. Tsui [(in press) Classroom discourse and the spacing of learning. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum], and proposes how the awareness of Chinese character structures can be developed through experiencing systemic variations among related instances. It discusses how information and communication technologies can be used to provide useful support for this purpose. These ideas are implemented in a school–university collaboration project in Hong Kong and anecdotal evidence supports the conjecture of the authors. The structural awareness instruction can also be embedded naturally into meaningful language learning contexts to form an integrative model of teaching that is well received by teachers and students. The instruction does not appear to impose any additional cognitive load on the students. On the contrary, learners’ interest and sensitivity in picking up the structural features of Chinese characters increases.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	Springer
dc.relation	http://l1.publication-archive.com/next?cont=vZPJ3KWiU4c=
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1567-6617
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1573-1731
dc.rights	CC BY-NC-ND
dc.source	L1 Educational Studies in Language and Literature, Vol 3, Iss 1-2, Pp 53-78 (2003)
dc.subject	Chinese character learning
dc.subject	computer-assisted language learning
dc.subject	meta-linguistic awareness
dc.subject	structural awareness
dc.subject	variation theory of learning
dc.subject	Philology. Linguistics
dc.subject	P1-1091
dc.subject	Language and Literature
dc.subject	P
dc.subject	DOAJ:Linguistics
dc.subject	DOAJ:Languages and Literatures
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Philology. Linguistics
dc.subject	P1-1091
dc.subject	Language and Literature
dc.subject	P
dc.subject	DOAJ:Linguistics
dc.subject	DOAJ:Languages and Literatures
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Philology. Linguistics
dc.subject	P1-1091
dc.subject	Language and Literature
dc.subject	P
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Philology. Linguistics
dc.subject	P1-1091
dc.subject	Language and Literature
dc.subject	P
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Philology. Linguistics
dc.subject	P1-1091
dc.subject	Language and Literature
dc.subject	P
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.title	Structural awareness, variation theory and ICT support.
dc.type	article