Effectiveness of a Romanised Mandarin Web-based Instruction in Teaching Writing and Reading Skills at Word Level for Non-native Learners

Abstract

The time allocated to teach the sound system of Hanyu Pinyin in Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) is insufficient for learners. Hence, it is suggested a web-based instruction incorporate into the curriculum as a self-learning material for learners to enable them to manage their learning process in the absence of instructor.The objective of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of utilizing Guru Hanyu Pinyin web based instruction as a teaching tool for non-native speakers in improving the writing and reading skills at disyllabic word level in Hanyu Pinyin. The study compares the academic achievements for Hanyu Pinyin of two different groups of students whereby the experimental group adopts the webbased instruction and the control group adopts the traditional approach as the mode of learning. This research is targeted on first year elementary level Mandarin students at UiTM Penang campus. The research sample has been selected through stratified random sampling. The findings for writing of disyllabic words showed that the mean score of the experimental group is better than the control group but there is no significant statistical difference between them. At the same time, the findings also indicate that the experimental group, which was using this Guru Hanyu Pinyin web-based instruction, is performing better than control group in term of reading skill. As the result, the students from experimental group can read the pronunciation of initials and finals better. This paper also discusses some limitations that were discovered during the research and proposes some recommendations for future research.