The Role of Phonology and Phonetics in L2 Kanji Learning

This study explores whether emphasizing the phonetic components of kanji, Chinese characters used in Japanese, facilitates second language (L2) learners' novel character learning. Previous L2 studies on Chinese characters indicate that phonology plays a major part in word identification. However, this view remains controversial, because the role of phonetic radicals has not been closely examined. In this study, 70 learners of Japanese, whose first language (L1) is alphabetic, were divided into 3 learning condition groups: pronunciation-hearing and read aloud, pronunciation-hearing, and no pronunciation-hearing. All learners were repeatedly exposed to unfamiliar kanji, some of which included visually emphasized phonetic radicals to help the learners identify characters. Learning was measured by the ability to select the target kanji from visually similar alternatives and to write their meanings in English. The results revealed no significant difference in learning kanji, either in terms of meaning production or selection of the correct orthographic representation across groups. The pronunciation-hearing group successfully related phonetic radicals with the sounds represented by the radical, but this skill did not contribute to better learning of novel kanji. The results support the direct route view, suggesting that logography is learned by extracting meaning directly from orthography regardless of phonological mediation.