The effectiveness of guided inductive instruction and deductive instruction on semantic radical development in Chinese character processing

Abstract

This study compared the effectiveness of deductive instruction and guided inductive instruction for developing semantic radical knowledge of Chinese characters. The evaluation was conducted through a quasi-experimental 3-week intervention involving 46 intermediate learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). The results indicated that guided inductive instruction generated significantly greater gains in learners’ use of radical information for radical form-meaning mapping and for Chinese character recognition and inferencing. This study further found that the effectiveness of inductive instruction in strengthening radical form-meaning mapping varied for semantic radicals of different complexity levels. These findings suggest that instructors should apply guided induction in teaching semantic radicals, but also be flexible in varying instruction in response to the complexity of semantic radicals. The findings suggest that the inductive-deductive nature of instruction and the complexity of semantic radicals are important variables to consider in future research on the learning and instruction of Chinese characters.

Context and Generalizability in Multisite L2 Classroom Research: The Impact of Deductive Versus Guided Inductive Instruction

“…Despite the superior affordances often associated with guided induction, relatively few empirical studies have been conducted thus far to examine its differential impact on L2 grammar development as compared to deductive instruction. Although prior studies have identified advantages for guided inductive instruction (e.g., Cerezo et al, 2016;Herron & Tomasello, 1992;Lai, Qi, Lü, & Lyu, 2020;Smart, 2014), recent evidence indicates that deductive instruction can be similarly effective in certain contexts (Leow, Cerezo, Caras, & Cruz, 2019). As noted earlier, however, existing studies differ widely in their approaches to implementing guided induction and are limited in scale, thus making any synthesis of results challenging.…”

“…Lai et al. 's (2020) recent study on developing knowledge of Chinese characters among intermediate L2 learners suggests that target structure characteristics are an important consideration when comparing deductive and guided inductive instruction. In the deductive instruction condition, participants received the instructor's metalinguistic explanation about 18 semantic radicals of differing functional salience and completed reading comprehension activities featuring the target forms.…”

Modeling the relationships among teacher instruction, learner belief, and learning strategies in Chinese character learning by alphabetic learners

“…Firstly, teachers provided explicit instructions to learners by explaining the characteristics of Chinese characters, enabling them to learn the characters based on the understanding of the characters' composition (Lai et al, 2018;Li, 2014;Shen, 2004;Xu et al, 2014). For instance, Shen (2004) compared learners' Chinese character learning achievements under three scenarios involving explicit and detailed instructions, simple rehearsal without detailed instructions, and no teacher instruction.…”

Introduction: Investigating Explicit L2 Grammar Instruction Through Multiple Theoretical and Methodological Lenses

“…Educational researchers and practitioners of both social and cognitive persuasions have long explored the possibilities for developing conceptual thinking through various strategies of top‐down, deductive reasoning, which presents generalizations followed by particular examples, and bottom‐up inductive reasoning, where a presentation of particulars leads to broader generalizations (DeKeyser, 2003; Ellis & Shintani, 2014). L2 research in this area has shown results that differ widely according to the complexity of instructional objectives, the quantity and quality of materials and support, and the consistency of their implementation (e.g., Cerezo, Caras, & Leow, 2016; Erlam, 2005; Jean & Simard, 2013; Lai, Qi, Lü, & Lyu, 2020; Vogel, Herron, Cole, & York, 2011). Whereas the enhanced teacher control over conceptual generalizations within deductive approaches may support work with complex, unfamiliar instructional targets, the enhanced learner control over formulating generalizations in inductive approaches has been argued to foster a greater depth of processing in relating exemplars to meaningful concepts (Craik & Lockhart, 1972; Leow, 2015).…”