We conducted a one-year longitudinal study of middle school beginner Chinese learners in Australia about how they memorize Chinese characters to figure out the effect of different memorization methods. Based on the test, questionnaire and interview, we found: The effect of memorization method is relatively stable in different memory stages. Form-pronuciation-meaning associative mnemonics, Stroke mnemonics and Characters-associative mnemonics have the better effect of all the memorizing stages. Different memorization methods cause different type of errors. The method of repetitive practice mainly cause stroke missing while Characters-associative mnemonics mainly lead to the confusion in strokes between characters. The main reason for the poor performance of Components-associative mnemonics is the stroke errors in the inner component. Therefore, the teaching suggestion is proposed: Teachers should guide students to make good use of Components-associative mnemonics, pay attention to the effectiveness of Stroke mnemonics and the diversity of memorization methods.

Jia Guo, Tong Lin, Yin Zhang, Liping Feng. Effect of Different Memorization Methods of Chinese Characters among Beginner-level Middle School Students in Australia. Frontiers in Educational Research (2022) Vol. 5, Issue 7: 51-62. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2022.050711.

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