„Schriftzeichen lernt man am besten Strich für Strich“? Aspekte der Schriftzeichendidaktik

Abstract

Recognising that the teaching of Chinese characters is a specific area of responsibility of and within Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL) as a discipline, this paper differentiates six aspects which are touched upon when teaching writing. These are (1) motorics, (2) character recognition, (3) information retrieval, (4) character analysis, (5) phonemics, and (6) metalinguistic knowledge. Each aspect is briefly discussed, some teaching methods catering to them described, and interfaces with other areas of TCFL, like vocabulary teaching and learning, reading comprehension, and text production, are identified. It becomes clear that in order to teach Chinese characters, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the components of Chinese characters and their respective roles and functions, especially of the phonetic and signific components. Four approaches to the problem of when to best start teaching Chinese characters in the entire process of beginners’ instruction in Chinese as a foreign language are sketched. Finally, the article takes a look at a recently published innovative textbook which can be used for conventional teaching but which might also enable teachers and researchers to develop new and more effective approaches and methods for the teaching Chinese characters in CFL.