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From Form to Meaning: The Effects of Chinese Characters' Iconicity on Children's Perceptual and Semantic Processing Across 3.5 to 6.5 Years.

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Title: From Form to Meaning: The Effects of Chinese Characters' Iconicity on Children's Perceptual and Semantic Processing Across 3.5 to 6.5 Years.
Authors: Jia, Chenglong1,2 (AUTHOR), Lin, Qianqian1 (AUTHOR), Yang, Keyi1 (AUTHOR), Gao, Randi1 (AUTHOR), Chen, Jiayi1 (AUTHOR), Ruan, Sijia1 (AUTHOR), Wang, Jingmei1,2 (AUTHOR), Qin, Jinliang1,2 (AUTHOR) qjl@zjnu.edu.cn
Source: Early Education & Development. Oct2025, Vol. 36 Issue 7, p1586-1598. 13p.
Subject Terms: *Learning strategies, *Perceptual learning, *Child development, Chinese characters, Iconicity (Linguistics), Interpretation (Philosophy)
Abstract: Research Findings: While Pictographic characters are often used to support Chinese children's character learning, little is known about how this facilitates learning. Following the integrated model of symbol semantic categorization, this study examined the effects of Chinese characters' iconicity on perceptual similarity and semantic consistency judgments among children aged 3.5–6.5 (N = 126, 64 boys). Results showed that perceptual similarity was highest for characters of Dongba script (DBS), followed by characters of Oracle bone script (OBS), and lowest for characters of simplified Chinese (SC). Semantic consistency accuracy was highest for DBS. Meanwhile, children under 58.57 months showed similar accuracy of OBS and SC, while older children performed better with SC. Semantic consistency speed was comparable across all character types for children under 55 months but faster for DBS and SC in older children. These findings suggest that higher iconicity facilitates perceptual similarity and semantic judgments, making characters of SC easier to judge as children age. Practices and Policy: These results indicate that Chinese characters with high iconicity can scaffold young children's character learning. Educators should introduce characters with varying levels of iconicity based on children's ages, starting with highly iconic characters and gradually transitioning to less iconic ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Early Education & Development is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: From Form to Meaning: The Effects of Chinese Characters' Iconicity on Children's Perceptual and Semantic Processing Across 3.5 to 6.5 Years.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Jia%2C+Chenglong%22">Jia, Chenglong</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lin%2C+Qianqian%22">Lin, Qianqian</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Yang%2C+Keyi%22">Yang, Keyi</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Gao%2C+Randi%22">Gao, Randi</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Chen%2C+Jiayi%22">Chen, Jiayi</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ruan%2C+Sijia%22">Ruan, Sijia</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wang%2C+Jingmei%22">Wang, Jingmei</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Qin%2C+Jinliang%22">Qin, Jinliang</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> qjl@zjnu.edu.cn</i>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Early+Education+%26+Development%22">Early Education & Development</searchLink>. Oct2025, Vol. 36 Issue 7, p1586-1598. 13p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Learning+strategies%22">Learning strategies</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Perceptual+learning%22">Perceptual learning</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Child+development%22">Child development</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Chinese+characters%22">Chinese characters</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Iconicity+%28Linguistics%29%22">Iconicity (Linguistics)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Interpretation+%28Philosophy%29%22">Interpretation (Philosophy)</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Research Findings: While Pictographic characters are often used to support Chinese children's character learning, little is known about how this facilitates learning. Following the integrated model of symbol semantic categorization, this study examined the effects of Chinese characters' iconicity on perceptual similarity and semantic consistency judgments among children aged 3.5–6.5 (N = 126, 64 boys). Results showed that perceptual similarity was highest for characters of Dongba script (DBS), followed by characters of Oracle bone script (OBS), and lowest for characters of simplified Chinese (SC). Semantic consistency accuracy was highest for DBS. Meanwhile, children under 58.57 months showed similar accuracy of OBS and SC, while older children performed better with SC. Semantic consistency speed was comparable across all character types for children under 55 months but faster for DBS and SC in older children. These findings suggest that higher iconicity facilitates perceptual similarity and semantic judgments, making characters of SC easier to judge as children age. Practices and Policy: These results indicate that Chinese characters with high iconicity can scaffold young children's character learning. Educators should introduce characters with varying levels of iconicity based on children's ages, starting with highly iconic characters and gradually transitioning to less iconic ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Early Education & Development is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1080/10409289.2025.2454049
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      – SubjectFull: Learning strategies
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Perceptual learning
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      – SubjectFull: Child development
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Chinese characters
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      – SubjectFull: Iconicity (Linguistics)
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      – SubjectFull: Interpretation (Philosophy)
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      – TitleFull: From Form to Meaning: The Effects of Chinese Characters' Iconicity on Children's Perceptual and Semantic Processing Across 3.5 to 6.5 Years.
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              M: 10
              Text: Oct2025
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              Y: 2025
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