學前兒童對中文字形結構的認識

一般家長知道抄寫有助兒童掌握中文字，但不了解在抄寫過程兒童學習的是對字形結構的認識，而不是把中文字逐一強記。字形結構對學習認讀中文非常重要，而兒童在最早接觸中文字時已主動學習字形結構。是次研究對135位三至六歲幼稚園兒童進行測試。結果發現三歲兒童仍未能按字辨識中文字形結構，而四、五歲兒童已開始能按中文字結構，不接受圖形錯字、位置錯字。高班兒童較接受合乎字形結構的字作為正確中文字，並利用對中文字的已有知識經驗判斷其對錯。
Many parents require young children to copy Chinese characters in order to memorize them. Evidence has been found that the ideographic structure of written Chinese is crucial in learning the characters, and young children are actively engaged in analyzing the ideographic structure in order to learn to read and write. A total of 135 preschool children, aged 3–6 years, were invited to participate in a Chinese character ideographic structure test. They were required to differentiate three types of made-up characters (pictorial pseudo-characters, pseudo-characters with inappropriate positioning of radicals, and pseudo-characters with correct positioning of radicals). It was found that 3-year-old children could not differentiate the three types of made-up characters, 4-and 5-year-olds began to reject the pictorial pseudo-characters and pseudo-characters with inappropriate positioning of radicals, and accept the pseudo-characters with correct positioning of radicals as real words. Older children relied on their knowledge of the Chinese writing system to make their judgment in the task, and demonstrated that they had already learned that shapes and pictures are non-existent in written Chinese. Copyright © 2004 香港中文大學香港教育研究所.