This is a module within a larger site, Zhongwe.com, which is devoted to teaching Chinese characters and culture. It consists of a list of twenty-four frequently asked questions and answers about the current usage and the historical development of Chinese characters, including traditional and simplified characters. Answers to the questions are quite detailed with hyperlinks to pertinent dictionary entries. The module also provides information on pronunciations, radicals, Chinese names, and how characters are input in computers.
Type of Material:
Tutorial
Recommended Uses:
Students of Chinese at any proficiency level, or English speakers who are interested in learning about Chinese characters and culture
Technical Requirements:
Web browser
Identify Major Learning Goals:
To increase knowledge of Chinese characters and related issues
Target Student Population:
This module benefits students of Chinese at any level of proficiency, but it is especially useful for students in Chinese culture, civilization, literature, and linguistics courses.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
No pre-requisites are needed for reading the FAQs written in English. In order to understand the Chinese characters, readers should have at least an intermediate level of proficiency.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
This module addresses the most frequently asked questions about the "myth" of Chinese characters, and the realistic and misperceived difficulties in learning them. The prose is written in English for the general readership, while specific characters are printed in traditional Chinese fonts with hyperlinks to further analyses of the characters in great details. The English prose addresses historical, cultural, social, and political issues related to Chinese characters. It helps readers to better understand the evolution and the role of characters in the Chinese writing system, and to increase their knowledge of Chinese character structures.
Concerns:
None
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This module is particularly useful for students in Chinese culture, sociolinguistics, morphology, and other courses that study the etymology, structure, and social functions of Chinese characters. Students in intermediate Chinese or above can read the FAQs without much help from instructors. The English prose is particularly useful for beginners to build up their knowledge of Chinese characters. It can be presented to students in elementary Chinese classes by their instructors.
Concerns:
Enhancing the module with relevant graphics/images and external links would make it more resourceful.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
This mini-site has a simple design and is easy to navigate between questions and answers with the click of a button. Chinese characters with hyperlinks are clearly marked in blue, and the detailed analyses of characters are clearly illustrated in tree structures.
Concerns:
All twenty-four questions should be numbered so that readers can follow more easily. It is also suggested that questions be categorized to facilitate searching. Those that span different categories can be listed more than once. The font size used in the English prose is small; it is recommended that it be about the same size as the Chinese characters to be more reader friendly.
Other Issues and Comments:
N/A
Creative Commons:
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