華語為外語之兒童教材研究-以兒童語言發展及認知發展過程探討

Abstract

對外兒童華語教學是對兒童進行華語作為第二語言的教學，它有別於母語為華語為小學生的母語教學和對成人進行的華語作為第二語言的教學。教學對象是未成年的外國人，教學內容是華語，華語的語音、詞彙、語法和文字系統，使兒童能夠運用華語這一工具進行語言交際活動。 兒童的心理特徵與其認知能力因尚未發展成熟，所以是一動態的過程。在教學歷程中，了解兒童特有的階段性能力為一重點；又學習語言，也是經歷相同的層級式的進程，因而以兒童的認知發展與語言發展的觀點探討華語為外語之兒童教材。 由【漢語樂園】、【美猴王漢語】、【嘻哈說唱學漢語】、【輕鬆學漢語】、【快樂兒童漢語】之對外兒童華語教材的評析獲知在語言知識、言語活動、體裁遵循兒童之語言發展及認知發展。即兒童思維是由具體到抽象發展的，所以根據學生的感知和認知能力安排詞彙和句子出現的順序和展示方式。從詞類來說，就是從事物名詞開始，逐漸引入描寫變化特徵的形容詞和表示具體動作的動詞，並且以實詞為主；由句子而言，就是從簡單句到複雜句。言語活動則是聽說活動先於讀寫活動，並且由對話形式的體裁為主，搭配歌曲、韻文，進而呈現中國文學特色的猜謎、成語、唐詩等編製以華語為外語之兒童教材。總言之，兒童華語教材在編寫的過程中是依循在對話與小短文的體裁中，以聽、說、讀、寫的言語活動順序，體現語音、詞彙、語法的語言知識。充分考慮並依據了兒童語言發展理論，將兒童語言發展理論應用於教材編寫的各個環節，體現出了理論應用於實際的結果。 再以對外兒童華語教材中的評量練習量化研究七歲至十二歲母語為華語與母語為非華語的國小學童之認知能力，研究結果顯示七歲至十二歲的兒童之認知能力與國別、語言、性別無顯著的相關，而低年級的學童在尋找細微差別、種類的延伸與配對、邏輯的推理的能力低於中高年級的學童。

Teaching Chinese for foreign children is a teaching procedure for children and takes Chinese as a second language. Teaching Chinese for foreign children is different from teaching children Chinese as the first language and teaching Chinese for foreign adults as well. Teaching Chinese for foreign children means the teaching object is the foreigners who are under age, the teaching content is Chinese: pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and Chinese characters. The goal of the teaching procedure is to make foreign children be able to communicate in Chinese. For the development of children is still premature, therefore the primary task of teaching Chinese to foreign children is to understand the mental characteristics, cognitive stage development of children. And learning a language is also through several stages of achievement. For these factors of teaching children the second language, this thesis is based on analysis of Chinese textbook for foreign children with the development of language and cognition. Through the textbooks “Chinese Paradise”, “Monkey King Chinese”, “Mandarin Hip-Hop”, “Chinese Made Easy”, and “Fun Chinese for Kids”, this thesis found out the language knowledge, language activities and the language forms follow the language development and cognitive development. In conclusion, the learning procedure of children is from concrete to abstract. Therefore, according to children’s development, the vocabulary amount from high to low is concrete nouns, concrete verbs, and then adjectives. Sentences are from simple sentences to complicated ones. Language activity emphasizes on listening and speaking skills more than reading and writing skills. The language forms base on dialogues, and accompany with songs, chants, rhymes. Moreover, the textbooks present Chinese literature forms, such as riddles, idioms, poems as well. This thesis also uses quantitative research to test the cognitive ability of the Taiwanese and Czech students from 7 to 12 years old with the exercises in the textbooks. The result reveals that the cognition has no significant difference between nationality, first language, and gender. However, the age is the main element that affects the cognitive ability of children. The younger students are worse in finding the differences, matching, and logical reasoning exercises.