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  • Save Your Strokes: Chinese Handwriting Practice Makes for Ineffective Use of Instructional Time in Second Language Classrooms
Title: Save Your Strokes: Chinese Handwriting Practice Makes for Ineffective Use of Instructional Time in Second Language Classrooms
Handwriting practice is the most time-consuming activity for learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). CFL instructors report allocating at least one third of their course time to handwriting practice although it prevents students from engaging in meaningful communication, especially in the earliest stages of learning. Given the amount of time students spend in a college course is relatively fixed, the preregistered study presented herein examines the best use of students’ time when primary goals are word acquisition and communication. This work replicates a pilot study examining CFL word recognition in an online learning environment (ASSISTments) and the effects of supplemental handwriting practice. We examined word acquisition and recognition while manipulating condition (no-handwriting practice and with-handwriting practice), and posttest test point (1 [immediate], 2 [1 day delay], and 3 [1 week delay]). Two-way repeated measures analyses of variance revealed significant main effects for both condition and posttest test point in online and on-paper measures of word recognition and handwriting. Potential implications for CFL instruction and directions for future work are discussed.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1931523 1724889
NSF-PAR ID:
10191076
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
AERA open
Volume:
5
Issue:
4
ISSN:
2332-8584
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1-15
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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