| Nowadays the amount of time spent online by an individual is increasing,with an increase in the usage of digital tools for entertainment,learning,and self-development.Many researchers have studied the influence of digital tools on the educational process of learning foreign languages such as Chinese.In recent years,Chinese character learning has become a hotly debated topic,since recognizing and remembering characters stays the biggest challenge for beginner foreign learners.Despite many resources available online,there is no single standard formulated regarding the best choice of digital tool that can help educators in enhancing the learning experience of students by using proper technological tools.This dissertation will investigate different mobile applications and their impact on improving students’ recognition and retention abilities in comparison to traditional textbook learning.The efficiency of three alternative strategies in teaching Chinese characters using mobile applications is investigated in this research.The two key variables which define the success of the strategy are the students‘ achievements in recognizing Chinese characters and students‘ satisfaction with the learning strategy.The general design of the research is quantitative.It begins with a true experiment that includes content-related retention pre-test,four content-related immediate post-tests,and content-related retention post-test,which was conducted 2-weeks after.Following the experiment,a Likert-type questionnaire is conducted.The purpose of this study is to 1)investigate the effectiveness of integrating mobile applications with writing,visual,and gaming approach for improving Chinese characters‘ recognition ability;2)explore learners‘ satisfaction with all three treatments;3)let teachers and students experience new lesson format and have a better understanding about educational technology;4)help Chinese teachers to facilitate foreign students‘ learning process.The subject of this study is the application of various mobile apps to learners‘ recognition of Chinese characters.The research questions that guide this investigation are:1.Is there any statistically significant difference in effect on college students‘ recognition of Chinese characters from the four different treatments they received for learning Chinese characters?2.Which treatment specifically resulted in the best outcome if the four different treatments have significant effects on students?3.Which mobile application approach satisfied students the most?The quantitative research results showed: 1)Four different approaches had significantly different effects on college students‘ recognition of Chinese characters and the integration of mobile applications did best in facilitating learning,especially the integration of the mobile application with the visual approach,considering the means score,was the most effective in helping students recognize Chinese characters.2)In the case of immediate recognition,visual and gaming approaches had the most significantly high effects on college students‘ recognition of Chinese characters;in the case of retention recognition,despite means score,all three treatments,excluding textual,have equal effect on students‘ recognition of Chinese characters,and teachers can effectively use all of them.3)With regards to students‘ satisfaction with mobile application treatments,students who learned with the assistance of a gaming approach app were the most satisfied,and students who learned with a writing app were satisfied the least.The outcomes of the study imply that integrating mobile applications into the learning process improves students’ motivation by drawing their attention,improving the learning process,and boosting their desire to learn.The research weaknesses were also examined.Future studies should look at the influence of mobile applications on Chinese character learning in a larger sample of students so that it can be predicted for the entire population. |
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