Effective teaching instructions for Hangul learning among Korean kindergartners

This study assessed the effects of four types of teaching instruction for Hangul learning in Korean kindergartners. Forty-five four-year-old children participated in a Hangul learning experiment where they were taught 6 new Korean Guljas (Korean written syllable) in each of four conditions –whole Gulja, alphabet letter, CV (consonant + vowel) body and coda subsyllabic units, and copying. Participants were separated across three reading levels, namely, emergent readers, novice readers who could read regular Hangul words, and good readers who could read regular and irregular words . Effective training methods were different depending on children’s reading level. Holistic whole Gulja instructions were effective for Hangul Gulja learning in emergent readers, whereas copying and analytic CV-coda instructions facilitated Hangul learning in novices. However, there were no differ ences among the four types of instructions among good readers. Copying apparently facilitates learning to read Hangul, but the effect of letter instruction is limited to the beginning level of Hangul learning. These results highlight the effectiveness of teaching instructions depending on children’ s reading level and the characteristics of Hangul.
Source: Reading and Writing - Category: Child Development Source Type: research