The application of radical-based approach in writing Chinese characters of grade 7 Thai students

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to (1) compare grade 7 Thai students’ Chinese characters writing skills before and after the use of Radical-Based Approach and (2) investigate grade 7 Thai students’ satisfaction in using Radical-Based Approach to enhance Chinese characters writing skills. Mixed methods were employed and 1 section of 13 of grade 7 Thai students was involved in the study using a purposive sampling method. Each of three lesson plans of 100 minutes was administered for two sessions with the time limit of 50 minutes per session. The participants attended 6 sessions; one session per week to learn how to use Radical-Based Approach for Chinese characters writing. The researcher collected the quantitative data through pre-test and post-test and the qualitative data through classroom observation (CO) and semi-structured interview. Mean, standard deviation and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test were applied for quantitative data analysis. The mean scores of pre-test and post-test were 7.31 and 14.15 respectively, resulting in the mean difference of 6.84. The significant value was .001 which indicated that the result was statistically significant. The qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The result showed that the application of Radical-Based Approach helped enhance grade 7 Thai students writing Chinese characters skills as well as their satisfaction in learning.