2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
To Speak Chinese: Do Kanji Help or Hurt?
| Project/Area Number |
19K00828
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| Research Institution | Komatsu University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
岩田 礼 公立小松大学, 国際文化交流学部, 教授 (10142358)
劉 乃華 公立小松大学, 国際文化交流学部, 教授 (40836590)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | Chinese Learning / Hanyu Pinyin / Chinese characters / Japanese lerners / textbook |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Based on the pilot study of the previous year, in 2020 we conducted a formal year-long study following the same procedures, but using slightly revised examination question types. The results of this second study proved consistent with the results observed in the pilot study, in that no statistical correlation was found that differentiated the Control Group from the Experimental Group, either in terms of their respective performances in Chinese, their respective non-Chinese GPA scores or their respective English listening and English reading abilities as measured by TOEIC . This confirmed our observation in the previous year that our method for sorting students into the two groups effectively ensured that both groups shared a similar range and distribution of academic and English language abilities. It also supported our finding from the pilot study that the presence or absence of Chinese characters in the textbook did not statistically influence student level of achievement in Chinese. And as was true for the pilot study, the only factor observed to have a statistically significant correlation with student performance in Chinese was their academic performance in all of their other non-Chinese classes as measured by GPA.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
We managed to do what we had planned for the year in spite of partial online teaching.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
We are carrying out the same project on a third cohort of first year students in order to accumulate a robust quantity of data from nearly 250 students. With a sample size this large we will then be much better able to ensure that the statistical analysis has not been compromised by the undue effects of small outliers. In 2021 we will also be writing up the results of the first two years of our experiment for journal publication.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Due to the cancellation of various conferences that we originally targeted for presentation of our research as a consequence of the worldwide pandemic, it proved difficult to spend all of the funds. We plan to use the rolled over funds for photocopying, software and student assistance to complete the project this year.
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