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Rote Learning in Chinese Culture: Reflecting Active Confucian-Based Memory Strategies

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Researching Chinese Learners

Abstract

In studies of the language-learning strategies used by Chinese learners, rote learning (RL) is often the main subject, linked to the legacy of Confucianism, which has been influential for 2500 years. In both Western and Eastern cultures RL is seen as mechanical repetition (Biggs, 1997; Parry & Su, 1998):

(usually disapproving) memory or habit, rather than understanding. To learn something by rote, or rote learning, means learning something in order to be able to repeat it from memory rather than learning it in order to understand it. (Cambridge International Dictionary of English, 1995: 1235)

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© 2011 Lixian Jin and Martin Cortazzi

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Li, X., Cutting, J. (2011). Rote Learning in Chinese Culture: Reflecting Active Confucian-Based Memory Strategies. In: Jin, L., Cortazzi, M. (eds) Researching Chinese Learners. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230299481_2

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