What makes learning Chinese characters difficult? The voice of students from English secondary schools

Abstract

This study initially investigated the beliefs of beginner learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) about the difficulties of learning Chinese and how they can overcome the difficulties they encounter. Pupils (179) from two state secondary schools in England responded to a Likert scale questionnaire and shared their views in interviews. Surprisingly, pupils think that character recognition is more difficult than their production. They also showed their concern about homophones in Chinese and the lack of links between the sound and logography of characters. In order to make good progress in learning Chinese, students overwhelmingly agreed that they should put effort into it. Some of these findings relate to particular aspects of learning Chinese, such as characters and homophones. Other findings, however, are unrelated to the language demands of Chinese and suggest that the practices of learning Chinese have a particular impact on the views of learners about who can learn Chinese and what it takes to be successful. We suggest that these beliefs may be empowering for language learners in an English context.