Learning Chinese Characters' Effects on Verbal Creativity

• In Event: Creativity in Gifted Education

Abstract

The current study investigated the possible effects of learning Chinese characters on creativity and characters’ recall. For this inquiry, Two-Stage Learning Model (TSLM) was proposed by researchers and is based on children’s self-generated story or rhyme of a new character. This study adopted a quasi-experimental design with 54 participants (27 boys and 27 girls) of the 4th grade at an urban elementary school in Taiwan. The experimental group underwent TSLM instruction for 8 weeks and the control group received regular instruction. Participants were asked to draw a character’s origin and to explain their drawings by story writing or rhyme making. Study results are discussed in terms of benefits for designing creativity lessons for primary education.

Authors

• Olha Kulish, National Sun Yat-sen University

• Cheng Ying-Yao, National Sun Yat-sen University