A Study of the Effects of an Instructional Model Based on Cognitive Theory and a Task-Based Learning Approach on Enhancing Chinese Character Writing Skills of Primary School Students

Abstract

This research consists purposes were 1. to compare the Chinese character writing skills between an experimental group taught using an instructional model based on cognitive theory and task-based learning and a control group taught using traditional methods and 2. to compare the pretest and posttest results within both groups. This study was a quasi-experimental design.  The participants were 100 fifth-grade students from a school in Xinle City during the second semester of 2023, cluster random sampling assigned them to experimental and control groups (50 students each). The research instruments included (1) eight cognitive and task-based lesson plans (16 hours) (2) eight traditional lesson plans (16 hours) and (3) a Chinese character writing test administered before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage, the Shapiro-Wilk test, the paired-sample t-test, independent-sample t-test and Cohen’s d. The findings revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group on the posttest (t = 7.732, p < .001, d = 1.56). Both groups showed improvement after the intervention, but the experimental group demonstrated a greater effect size (d = 2.95) compared to the control group (d = 0.97). The instructional model not only improved students’ fluency and accuracy in writing Chinese characters but also enhanced their understanding of stroke order and structure. These results affirm the effectiveness of cognitive and task-based strategies in promoting meaningful, skill-based learning.