Character Recognition Growth in College L2 Chinese: A Four‐Level Trajectory at a United States Liberal Arts Institution

ABSTRACT This study investigates character recognition development among 60 L2 Chinese learners enrolled across four collegiate course levels at a liberal arts college in the United States. Using a Standards‐based character recognition test drawn from the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards, we estimated each student's character recognition size and examined differences across course levels and learner‐related predictors. The results showed mean recognition sizes were 284, 516, 761, and 966 characters for first‐, second‐, third‐, and fourth‐year Chinese courses, respectively. ANCOVA revealed a strong effect of course level, and pairwise comparisons indicated significant gains between adjacent levels. Substantial within‐course variability was observed at all course levels, and age showed a marginal negative association with recognition size. These findings document a clear pattern of growth in character acquisition in a United States college context and provide empirical evidence relevant to both theory and pedagogy. They also highlight pronounced individual differences and underscore the need for broader, multi‐institutional data to establish practical benchmarks for L2 character recognition development.