This study aims to examine whether CEFR-based CELA can be presented as a placement test for TOEIC. Data collected from 1,142 college freshmen who participated in both tests were analyzed to determine: 1) how hypothetical levels of a CELA score differed from existing TOEIC levels; 2) if there was any significant correlation between test scores and final grades; and 3) how native English professors viewed CELA as a placement test. The analysis revealed that CELA did not perform better a placement test than TOEIC. It did not have a higher correlation with the final grade either. However, the fact that CELA is more aligned with the content and objective of the English course and that most native English professors consider CELA more suitable as a placement test can be seen as positive factors supporting it to replace the existing placement test. Results of this study if curriculum and student levels are different.

This study aims at investigating how the international students' attitudes towards English have changed over th last 3 years in Korea. Forty international students participated in the questionnaire survey three times in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The results were shown as follows: Overall, the mean score of attitudes towards English decreased proportionally over time. English use has also decreased over time. When analyzing these attitudes towards English by the degree of English proficiency, the group with higher English proficiency at the time of admission had a more higher score of attitude to English in three year questionnaire surveys. In addition, these attitudes towards English have changed in small in the group of higher English proficiency over time, while the big change appeared to the group of lower English proficiency. The results of this study imply that English-based international students' attitudes towards English are likely to change over time in Korea, and that groups with relatively low English proficiency are more likely to change than groups with higher English proficiency.

For nearly two years, virtual learning has been employed by most Korean university instructors and students in online teaching environment. A major negative result of prior research on this issue has been a feeling of isolation and desire for more interactions by students. Therefore, this study was conducted to elicit student insights and feelings related to their satisfaction, self-ratings, and advantages and disadvantages of online Teacher-led (TL) versus Student-led (SL) team activities in their online learning environment. A total of 53 freshman students in two general English classes took part in four Zoom group meetings. The surveys and reflection essay were analyzed through qualitative methods. Major findings included: students from both the TL and SL groups reported relatively higher satisfaction and self-ratings of English skills through the four team activities. However, the TL group indicated that there was a lack of emphasis on reading skills, and an overreliance on teacher interventions led to a lack of team cooperation. While the SL group reported that a lack of teacher interaction led to confusion, poor time management, increased Korean use, and fewer listening comprehension opportunities. Implications and a discussion of team activity use in general English programs are included.

This study aims to analyze the types of cognitive process required to perform vocabulary learning activities in Middle School English textbooks. For this purpose, 26 middle school English textbooks were examined, including 13 for the first year and another 13 for the second year of middle school. The results indicated that vocabulary learning activities emerged in the phase of reading, and then were categorized into pre-reading vocabulary activities and post-reading ones. Eight types of cognitive process emerged in the pre-reading phase and three types in the post-reading phase. That is, the number of vocabulary activities in pre-reading phase was larger than that in the post-reading phase. In addition, the diversity of vocabulary activities in the pre-reading phase was higher than that in the post-reading phase. Based on these results, this study suggests a new model of vocabulary learning activity in middle school English textbooks. A few implications on how to teach new words in English classrooms are discussed.

Based on the multilingual perspective that emphasizes that non-native variants of English need to be recognized as having values equivalent to the native speakers’ English, this study aimed at discovering elementary school teachers’ perceptions and beliefs of native-speakerism, multilingualism, and monolingualism in English education, and the contradictions and questions they had as they reflected on the language ideologies. Nine elementary teachers participated in the study, and two written reflections on language ideologies and two follow-up group interviews were used as the data source. The findings were as follows. First, the teachers confirmed, consolidated, or realized how native speakerism and monolingualism were deeply rooted in English teaching and learning. However, they showed that they had agency in their own teaching, and also showed changes in their perception through reflecting on their experiences. Last, the teachers had questions and contradictions about implementing a multilingual approach in teaching English, which provides the issues and challenges to be solved for the transformation of English education in the multilingual world. This study has implications for primary English education.

The Chinese and English Instructor, compiled by T‘ong Ting-kü and published in Canton in 1862, is an English teaching material that utilized many newly-created Chinese characters to phonetically express the pronunciations of English words which were difficult to express with pre-existing Cantonese sounds. These characters featured an existing glyph and a pseudo radical ‘mouth’ 口, such as, 呷, composed of 甲 and 口. The explanatory notes at the beginning of this book listed many such characters. This study investigates the phonological effects of the addition of this component, focusing on the newly-created characters with the mid front unrounded vowel /e/ as their main vowel. The results showed that the values of certain parts of the syllable changed by regularly adding the pseudo radical ‘mouth’ to the existing glyph. It was observed that besides the vowel shift occurring in the main vowel in almost all groups, tone alternation occurred in most groups as well.

본 연구는 조기영어교육기관에서 근무하고 있는 원어민 강사를 대상으로 조기영어교육기관의 특성과 근무환경, 직무 만족 및 직무몰입에 대한 인식과 차이를 조사하고, 원어민 강사의 직무만족 및 직무몰입에 영향을 미치는 요인을 알아보는 것을 목적으로 하였다. 이를 통해 원어민 강사의 업무성과를 개선할 수 있는 방향을 모색하고, 원어민 강사가 제공하는 교육서비스의 수준을 향상시킴으로써 조기영어교육의 효과성과 효율성을 높이는 방안을 모색하였다. 연구목적을 달성하기 위해 조기영어교육기관에서 근무하는 원어민 강사 262명을 대상으로 설문조사하고 15명에게 인터뷰를 실시하여 자료를 수집하였다. 본 연구의 주요 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 조기영어교육기관 특성에 대한 원어민 강사의 인식은 아동의 애착과 존경이 가장 높고 협력수업에 대한 인식이 뒤를 이은 반면, 의사결정형태 및 직무연수가 상대적으로 낮은 것으로 나타났다. 또한 원어민 강사의 직무만족과 직무몰입은 보통 수준으로 나타났다. 둘째, 원어민 강사의 근무환경과 개인배경에 따른 직무만족 및 직무몰입은 조기영어교육기관의 근로자 수와 원어민 강사의 한국어 수준에서 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 원어민 강사의 직무만족에는 조직공정성, 상사의 직무역량, 상사의 의사결정형태, 동료지원, 아동의 애착과 존경이 영향을 미치고, 직무몰입에는 상사의 의사결정형태, 아동의 애착과 존경, 직무만족이 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 원어민 강사의 직무만족 및 직무몰입 수준을 높이고, 이를 통해 조기영어교육기관의 교육서비스 수준을 제고시키기 위해서는 조기영어교육기관, 기관 내 상사 및 협력강사, 원어민 강사의 노력이 요구된다.

This study investigates some of the implications for developing Achievement Standards (ASs) in 2022 national English curriculum by analyzing the perception of elementary and middle school teachers on the role of ASs in the 2015 national English curriculum. The major research areas were categorized into clarity, practical usability, and AS level and amount in the national English curriculum. Based on a survey of both descriptive and inferential statistics, the results of the current study demonstrated group differences in specific subtopic questions. Teachers did not have positive perceptions regarding practical application and clarity, while they exhibited positive perceptions regarding the level and the amount of ASs. The survey also suggested alternative ways to improve clarity and practical application of ASs by strengthening the linkage between elements in the curriculum such as assessment methods and instructions and supplementary comments of Ass beyond clear presentation of the ASs.

The use of humor has been a controversial research topic in language classrooms. Humor is pervasive; however, the functions of humor in primary English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classrooms is under-investigated. To analyze the distinct features of humor, this study explores the specific functions of humor in primary English teaching classrooms in South Korea. The data set included thirty 40-minute English lessons videotaped in 2019 and semi-structured interviews with three teachers. Data were analyzed by identifying humor sequences, transcribing these classroom sessions and interviews, coding recurrent themes, and sorting representative excerpts. As a result, psychological, social, and behavioral functions of humor were conceptualized. The findings showed that humor (i) mitigated learners’ anxiety and aroused interest in language learning, (ii) reinforced constructive teacher-learner relationships and enabled camaraderie between learners, and (iii) regulated student behavior or rationalized learners’ listening incomprehension. Pedagogical implications are also discussed regarding ways to use and respond to humor in language classrooms.

The English language textbook for classes XI-XII, currently in use nationwide in Bangladesh, has drawn numerous reactions from multiple corners of the country. Bangladeshi teachers, major stakeholders, have been noticeably concerned about the effectiveness of the design of the textbook based on their teaching experiences (Hani & Siddika, 2018). It is important to know their perceptions of the textbook, since their perceptions have a significant influence on students’ learning English through the textbook. The current study, therefore, seeks to provide information about the participant teachers and their teaching contexts in order to judge the value of the textbook design in terms of contents selection and organization. For that research purpose, interviews were conducted with 10 teachers who were, at the time of research, teaching the textbook at different colleges in a district of the country. Based on the data, the study discusses the teachers’ first-hand experience with the textbook, providing a revealing insight into how well it facilitates students’ learning in the classroom. Finally, implications are suggested that are expected to guide the design of the next applicable version of the textbook.

There is a growing research interest in language teachers’ professional identity. Nevertheless, unlike studies involving the identity of native and non-native English-speaking teachers, few studies analyzed Gyopo English teachers’ identity despite a sizeable body of Gyopo teachers in the Korean educational context. Using post-structural perspectives of identity, this case study analyzed the identities of a Gyopo instructor as an English teacher and how such identities were reflected in classroom practice. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations, and self-reflective reports written by the participant. Findings reveal that the participant constructed multiple professional identities as a teacher with previous language learning experiences, a bridge-builder, a multitasker, and a teacher who is not a native English speaker but an American, and a replaceable person. While experiencing identity conflicts, she constantly negotiated and renegotiated her multiple, contradictory identities to position herself more favorably. Based on these findings, the present study offers pedagogical suggestions.

The purpose of the study is two-fold: (a) to investigate L2 learners’ receptive and productive collocational knowledge concerning the learners’ lexical proficiency levels, and (b) to explore the degree of their productive collocational knowledge. A total of 358 Korean university students participated in this study and completed a Vocabulary Size Test, two receptive collocation tests, and one productive collocation test. The results revealed that there was significance among the scores of three collocation tests. It is also observed that receptive and productive collocational competence tends to increase as L2 learners’ vocabulary size develops. Regarding productive collocational knowledge gains, significant differences were found among collocation combinations but no interaction effect was found between combination types and vocabulary levels. The findings indicated that L2 learners need to be aware of the importance of learning collocational knowledge while teachers need to attempt to help them notice high-frequency collocations that regularly occur in various contexts.

With the wide availability of mobile devices, efforts to accommodate these technological devices have been made in pronunciation training. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of mobile apps in improving the perception and production of the English vowels, /o/ and /ɔ/, which are difficult to discriminate and produce for Korean learners of English. The participants were 24 college freshmen enrolled in a general English course. They shadowed the model pronunciation from the application and corrected their production after instant feedback from the automatic speech recognition application. Their perception was evaluated in the preand post-tests, and the production was visually examined on the formant chart. The training was held for 5 minutes each day, for a month. The results showed that the training made positive effects on improving students’ perception of the target vowels. There was also some progress in their production although the improvement was not as noticeable as in perception. A discrepancy in the production was discovered between male and female participants with the latter performing better.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the mediating effects of mentoring functions in college students and motivation levels in virtual, web-based, constructivist English classes. It is also intended to analyze the effects of web-based interactions on constructivist learning. For this, a survey was conducted on 210 college students all of who participated in a ‘Media English’ class. Correlation analysis, simple regression analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were conducted to verify three research hypotheses. This statistical analyses showed the results that 1) the mentoring function turned out to influence interactions in the virtual constructivism learning framework; 2) the mentoring function turned out to influence learning motivation in the virtual web-based constructivism learning framework; 3) mentoring function as an independent variable in the virtual web-based constructivism learning turned out to influence learning motivation as a dependent variable of college students through the media of interaction as a parameter. Therefore, the results indicated that the mentoring function influenced learning motivation levels of college students through interaction in the virtual web-based constructivist English learning framework.

본 연구는 삼국연의 영어 번역사에서 중요한 위상을 지니는 번역가 브레위트-타 일러의 번역 성취에 대한 고찰이다. 영국인 브레위트-타일러는 1880년 중국으로 건 너가서 40년 동안 중국의 주요 도시에 머무르며 인재 양성과 해관 및 우정 업무에 종사했다. 그는 푸저우선정학당에서 후학을 양성하면서 틈틈이 삼국연의를 번역하 여 홍콩의 영문월간지 차이나 리뷰에 발표했다. 1888년부터 손책의 사망 고사, 좌 자 고사, 초선 고사 등 삼국연의 일부를 번역했으며, 삼국연의에 관한 평론도 썼 다. 그는 영국문화와의 유사성 속에서 삼국연의를 이해하고 받아들였으며, 서양인 의 독서 수월성을 위해 의역과 축약의 번역방법을 동원하여 가독성 높은 완역본을 만들어내었고, 1925년 양장본 형식으로 캘리앤웰시출판사에서 출판하였다.

This study aims to investigate how multicultural aspects are dealt with in current elementary English textbooks. The cover pages, dialogues, main readings, and culture sections of a total of 10 elementary English textbooks for 5th and 6th graders were closely examined in terms of (1) the races and genders of the characters, (2) the cultural backgrounds of the contents, and (3) Bennett’s (2010) core values of multicultural education. The results revealed that each gender was equally represented and the textbooks present diverse cultural backgrounds in a balanced way. It was found, however, that there was an imbalance in terms of racial backgrounds. With respect to the core values of multicultural education, acceptance and appreciation of cultural diversity, and respect for human dignity and universal human rights were the top two values that appeared most frequently throughout the textbooks. Responsibility to a world community was the value that was comparatively hard to find in them. Detailed findings are discussed in greater depth, along with implications for elementary English education in Korea.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of English learning through social media on the perception and affective factors of college students. To this end, researchers examined whether the educational use of YouTube and KakaoTalk, popular among college students in Korea, differs according to English improvement, affective factors, and English level. The subjects of this study were 63 freshmen majoring in Medical Convergence, who were taking college English at C University located in Gangwon-do. An online questionnaire was used for data collection. The collected data were analyzed using Jamovi, a statistical program. The results are as follows. First, the participants positively changed the perception that the use of social media had on the overall improvement of English. Second, the affective domains such as self-confidence, attitudes, values, beliefs, and interests of the participants also changed positively. Finally, it was confirmed that social media has educational value regardless of English level.