Learning the role of radicals in reading Chinese

Node Title: Semantic Radicals Study

Researchers: Susan Dunlap, Ying Liu, Charles Perfetti, Sue-mei Wu

An abstract that briefly describes the research encompassed by the node

Does providing reliable semantic information help second language learners acquire new words? Two experiments investigated whether adult learners of Chinese benefited from explicit instruction of semantic information when learning new characters. We manipulated whether semantic information was a reliable cue to word meaning and whether predictability was taught explicitly. We measured learning outcomes with translation and semantic judgment tasks.

A glossary that defines terms used elsewhere in this node but not defined in the nodes that are parents, grandparents, etc. of this node

Semantic radical; explicit; implicit; cue reliability

The research question stated as concisely as possible, usually in a single sentence

Does providing reliable semantic information help second language learners acquire new words?