LEARNING TO READ KANJI IS EASIER THAN LEARNING INDIVIDUAL KANA

要旨

This experiment evaluates the relative difficulty of learning to read kanji and kana moji. Forty-two children, three and four years of age, were each presented four items to learn: One kanji noun, one kanji verb or adjective, one individual hiragana moji, and One individual katakana moji. One hundred and eight different kanji and 42 different syllables for kana were used as items. It was found that the kanji were much more easily learned. 37% of the kanji were learned within three trials while 15% were learned on the first trial. Most kana were not learned at all. Meaningfulness is interpreted as being vastly more important in learning moji than length or perceptual complexity. The teaching of reading by whole words is regarded as superior to teaching by syllables or individual sounds.

主題