Teaching Non-Chinese Students The Phonogram Based On Dual-route Model

Dual-route model is a model explaining the way readers produce pronunciationsof words from their forms. The dual route model proposes that normal readers makeuse of two procedures in converting orthographical representations into phonologicalrepresentations, and these two procedures are lexical route and sub-lexical route.Native speakers of the alphabetic languages are accustomed to the use ofphoneme-grapheme rule system （i.e. the sub-lexical route）to acquire words in thoselanguages. When they learned another language system, they have the tendency toacquire words through this route. However, the Chinese characters are logographicsystem, which consists of three parts, including pronunciation, ideograms andmeaning, so the Chinese characters are not transparent in pronunciation. Chinesecharacters can reflect the pronunciation and meaning of words to some extent, andthey are often acquired through the lexical route. Based on the characteristics of theChinese characters, the learners from alphabetic languages can make use ofdual-route model for learning Chinese characters.It is assumed that this dual-routemodel can provide a more effective acquisition method for foreigners to acquireChinese characters.Based on the theory of dual-route model, this study aims to explore thefeasibility of teaching Chinese characters through both sub-lexical route and lexicalroute. The subjects in this study were32undergraduate students in Madagascar, andtheir average age are19years old. They had a strong interest and some foundation oflearning Chinese. They were divided into experimental group and control group, n=16， respectively, and taught by two experienced teachers. The experimental groupwere instructed to adopt the two-route model to acquire Chinese characters, while thecontrol group were instructed through their traditional sub-lexical route to acquireChinese characters. The experiment lasted for three weeks of teaching. SPSS softwarewas used to compare the results of the experimental group and control group. Theresults show that, compared with the traditional mode, dual-route model indeedfacilitates students to acquire Chinese characters more efficiently, and can helpstudents achieve better long-term memory in the acquisition of Chinese characters.In summary, the dual-route model provides a new idea and a new path for theteaching of Chinese characters, and is suitable for the acquisition of Chinesecharacters. This study also has some implications for both Chinese teachers andstudents learning Chinese characters.