Learning Chinese characters of visual similarity: the effects of presentation style and color coding

This study examined how beginners benefit from ‘salience’ in learning two types of visually similar Chinese characters: those with identical strokes (e.g., 人 and 入) and those differing by an additional stroke (e.g., 日 and 白), while identifying the role of color coding and presentation style. A total of 183 non-tonal native speakers with no prior experience of Chinese characters participated in the study. In a 2 × 2 × 2 experimental design, the study assessed the influence of color coding (with vs. without), presentation style (single vs. paired characters), and stroke similarity (identical vs. different) on learning. Results showed (1) Characters with stroke differences were learned more easily than identical-stroke characters; (2) Simultaneous character presentation enhanced discrimination of subtle stroke differences, but (3) Color coding slowed down reaction times, suggesting visual overload. These findings demonstrate that perceptual similarity—not just complexity—impacts character learning difficulty. Pedagogically, the results support using paired character presentation while cautioning against excessive visual enhancements. The study provides empirical evidence for optimizing Chinese character instruction by balancing discriminability and cognitive load in beginning learners.