Abstract:

Zimmerman and Risemberg (1997) integrated the existing research results and concluded that self-regulated learning (SRL) should be examined in a comprehensive way in terms of six aspects: motivation, method, time, outcome, environment, and sociality of learning. It is an ideal model of SRL, and most learning is between self-regulated and passive learning.

The ability to learn independently plays a significant role in the development of individuals throughout their lives, and children between the ages of 4 and 6 are in a critical period of SRL development (Buchbinder, 2009). However, the current research has tended to focus on the SRL abilities of students in primary and secondary school, e.g. (Guo & Bai, 2019; Qi, 2021; Raaijmakers et al., 2018; Yoon, Hill, & Kim, 2021), rather than the levels and strategies of SRL abilities of 3-6 year olds. At the same time, few studies have explored how to use various approaches to foster young children's motivation and strategies for SRL on Chinese characters as a special learning content for Chinese children's groups. There have been experiments in the early 21st century with "SRL on Chinese characters" for lower elementary school students (Liao, 2016), but information technology has been neither used effectively nor extended further down to the preschool level.
Because of its ability to visualize abstract learning content, support contextual learning, and enhance learners' concentration (Cai, Wang, Yang, & Liu), Augmented Reality (AR) is compatible with the teaching of Chinese characters by linking symbolic characters to physical objects. Therefore, this study developed a Chinese character learning application for children aged 3-7 years old using 3D modeling and AR technologies to address the problems of inefficiency, mechanical homogeneity, and fragmentation of sound, form, and meaning in the current Chinese character education and learning process. To investigate how AR supported Chinese character learning effects on children's Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), we designed and developed an AR interactive application in an empirical experiment, in which a non-parametric test (Mann-Whitney U) statistical method was adopted through comparing AR-supported Chinese character learning with traditional Chinese character learning. It is found that AR-supported Chinese character instruction can effectively promote the occurrence of young children's SRL behaviors and promoting children's subjectivity in the process of learning Chinese characters.

Keywords:

Preschool children, Augmented Reality, Chinese character learning, Self-Regulated Learning.