Application of Auditory Method for Kanji Writing to a Child with Severe Hearing Impairment and Difficulties in Kanji Writing

Abstract

This article reported the application of the auditory method to a child with severe hearing impairment who complained of difficulties in Kanji writing. The child showed poor phonological abilities and poor visual memory, although her verbal long-term memory was good. We compared the efficacy of two types of learning methods for Kanji writing. One method called for the subject to memorize Kanji characters by writing them many times (visual method), and with the other method she memorized the construction of Kanji characters orally (auditory method). With both methods, compared to before the practice sessions she was able to write many more Kanji characters both immediately and again two weeks after the practice session. Significant effect was also shown four months after the practice session for the auditory method as compared to that with the visual method, indicating significant long-term outcome with the auditory method. These results suggest that the auditory method for Kanji writing is efficient for children with hearing impairment and difficulties in Kanji writing when they have good verbal long-term memory.