Chinese Characters Reimagined: A Key Image Strategy with Hanzi

Professor Chen has successively served as the director of the Department of Education Psychology and Counseling, the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Development, the Dean of the Extension School of Continuing Education, and the Dean of the College of Education. In terms of off-campus services, he served as the chairman of the Taiwan Psychological Association, the chairman of the Chinese Association of Psychological Testing, the chairman of Chinese Creativity Association, Chairman of the Taiwan Education Alliance, and Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Association for Teacher Education.

Professor Chen has published more than 220 domestic and foreign journal papers, 42 monographs or book papers, and more than 300 seminar papers. Professor Chen was awarded the Outstanding Research Award of the National Science and Technology Council(2014, 2023) and the National Excellent Teacher Award of MOE (2023), which affirmed his essential educational contribution.

Professor Chen's research interests include Chinese character reading and teaching, creativity theory and teaching, cognition and emotion, humor psychology, positive psychology, and other interdisciplinary topics.

In the field of humor research, Professor Chen possesses a profound understanding, leading globally in the in-depth exploration of the distinct processes of humor comprehension. He constructs a three-stage model and the Humor Confluence Theory based on the commonality in brain functions(Nature). Additionally, he explores individual differences in humor and the mechanisms behind it through the lens of cognition and culture(Nurture).

Also, Professor Chen has been involved in the COOL Chinese program since 2008, co-founding Competence-Oriented Omniform Learning for Chinese as a Foreign Language, and over the past 15 years of his involvement in Chinese character learning, Professor Chen has established the world's most complete Chinese Orthography Database and built an online query platform for Chinese character components, pseudo-characters, and non-characters. characters, and non-characters. He Design the "Chinese Character Key-image Pictures teaching method" which is unique, innovative, and easy to learn, and published six teaching materials, digital learning platforms, and teaching aids related to the "Key image strategy teaching method" for simplified and traditional characters.

This teaching method has undergone rigorous teaching experiments to test its effectiveness. Professor Chen was invited to introduce this method at an international seminar in 2023, which has been internationally recognized.

“Learning Chinese Characters with Drawings” Series Textbook Introduction

For those who learn Chinese, because the structure of Chinese characters is more complex, it takes more effort to learn reading and writing than listening and speaking. Therefore, the “Learning Chinese Characters with Drawings” Series Textbook takes the "Chinese Key image strategy teaching method" as the core, aiming to reduce the learning difficulties of Chinese learners.

The “Learning Chinese Characters with Drawings” Series Textbook integrate character-based and word-based teaching modes. We sorted characters with the same components. Furthermore, we used these characters to compose words, expanding the scope to sentences and context, supporting reading and communication. The first step of using characters to compose words was to use the Chinese Key image strategy teaching method to learn the components and terms of Chinese characters.

The Key image strategy teaching method provides Chinese character learners images based on keyword mnemonics, double coding theory, and refinement theory. The meaning of Chinese characters, in other words, through this image, learners can connect the shape and substance of Chinese characters simultaneously. In addition, the Key image strategy can assist in learning both traditional and simplified Chinese characters, offering learners the option to choose their preferred learning type.

The “Learning Chinese Characters with Drawings” Series Textbook combined with the Chinese Orthography Database has published six teaching materials, mobile learning APPs, and teaching aids. Learning Chinese Characters with Drawings (Traditional / Simplified version), three volumes have been published, including 445 Chinese Character Key-image Pictures and 550 words.

Chinese Characters: Building Blocks Character-based Learning Method

Based on the "character-based teaching method," two volumes have been published, containing 33 component characters and 469 derivative characters.

In terms of the effectiveness of the teaching application, in addition to improving the learning effect of foreigners learning Chinese, it has also successfully integrated into learning new characters in the first grade of primary school in Taiwan. Primary students who adopted the Key image strategy teaching method performed significantly better than the traditional teaching in learning new characters. In addition, it was also found that after using this set of textbooks, students with dyslexia significantly improved their recognition of Chinese characters and dictation tests.

9th International Workshop on Advanced Learning Sciences (IWALS)

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The International Workshop on Advanced Learning Sciences (IWALS) is an international conference organized annually by an International Program Committee. It attracts a diverse group of multi-disciplinary researchers and practitioners involved in the fields of psychology, linguistics, cognitive neuroscience, psychometrics, science education, digital learning, and learning sciences. In the past, IWALS had been held in Finland, the USA, China, Japan, and Taiwan. This year, it will be held in Malaysia.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we invite you to the 9th International Workshop on Advanced Learning Sciences, held physically in Malaysia.