Learning to Read Kanji : Facilitating Effect of Prior Pairing of the Pronunciation of Kanji With Visual Stimuli for Children With Learning Disabilities (LD)

Abstract

The present study investigated effects of prior presentation of paired associates comprised of the pronunciation of kanji (Chinese characters in Japanese) and visual stimuli on the results of later training sessions on learning to read those kanji in children with learning disabilities (LD). In the paired associate training, the kanji used as stimuli were fish names that are not taught in the standard elementary school curriculum. The visual stimuli were color photographs of those fish. Elementary and middle school children with learning disabilities (N=20) were divided into 2 groups: those whose performance on learning to read kanji was below children without learning disabilities, and those whose performance was at the level of children without disabilities. The effect of the prior presentation of the pronunciation of the kanji paired with the visual stimuli was distinctively observed in the former group. The ratio of children with problems in reading hiragana sentences in the former group showed a significantly higher tendency than in the latter group. Discriminant analysis showed that the children's standardized scores on a number recall test were significant different in the 2 groups. These results suggest that associating the pronunciation of the kanji with the visual stimuli had a facilitating effect on learning the pronunciation of those kanji.