The present study aims to design a web-based syllabus for teaching college English. The theoretical premises underlying the study are drawn from recent developments in relevant fields including web-based instruction, classroom observation and supervision, in-service teacher development, and program evaluation. The model is characterized by its learner-centeredness, teacher observation and supervision for professional development, and process-oriented program evaluation. Data for the program evaluation are gathered from various sources such as questionnaire responses, observation records, supervisory notes, teacher diary entries, and assessment. The information from the evaluation is then fed back to improve the course in a cyclical process. Through a small-scale application of the model some suggestions for its effective implementation are made in terms of institutional support, copyright, student autonomy, teacher roles, and e-learning course evaluation.
Motivation is one of the main determinants in the success of attaining a foreign language. Accordingly, there has been a considerable amount of research on L2 motivation in the last three decades. These studies on L2 motivation, however, tend to depend heavily on quantitative approach rather than qualitative approach regardless of educational context. Although we have gained our knowledge on relationships among motivational factors, we do not have enough evidence to understand Korean learners’ L2 motivational ups and downs in a classroom foreign language learning. Suspending our current beliefs about L2 motivation, and investigating what facilitate, debilitate, and sustain learners’ motivation in a Korean classroom will provide us invaluable insights to understand the nature of L2 motivation. The purpose of this paper is to find out factors that is facilitating, debilitating, and maintaining learners’ motivation in an ESP classroom in a university. The participants were 115 university students enrolled in a business English class. The participants’ responses on the open-ended questionnaire were analyzed by the NUD*IST program (V.4.0). There seem to be some difference in facilitating, debilitating, sustaining motivations in learning English in classroom. Classroom implications are discussed in light of these findings.
Frequent interactions between teachers and learners take place in cyber education. It was found that tutors in cyber education play important roles in interactions. This is to acknowledge the characteristics of cyber education by watching and analyzing the interactions between learners and tutors that performed in the course of “cyber English writing class” of a cyber university. The main tools of interactions, e-bulletin board and e-writing assignment board have been quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. In order to learn whether the degree of the learners’ participation influences the degree of the learners’ achievement, a correlation analysis between the two variables was conducted. A questionnaire was also conducted to learn how the learners respond to tutors’ feedback in their interactions. This study also investigated any differences of the attitude and satisfaction degree in a cyber writing class according to the learners’ participation degree. It was found that the degree of the learners’ achievement and the learners’ participation are most correlated especially when the learners are in the medium level of the academic ability. Also, the learners generally think the tutors’ feedback gives to them positive influences.
This paper presents the rationale behind a newly-developed and implemented college freshman program designed to improve writing skills and the outcomes after one year running. In line with the current teaching trend of colleges in Korea, this program has several features such as placing the freshmen into different levels based on their writing skills, running class focusing on writing skills and giving a S/U grade. Comparisons between a pre-writing test and two post-writing tests show that this program has contributed to increasing the students’ writing skills. The students’ responses to the questionnaire of the program also endorse the test results. A couple of pedagogical implications concerning EFL writing education are suggested.
The goal of this study was to explore foreign language learner anxiety and strategy use associated with English listening and reading. For the purpose of the study, 98 high school freshmen took the test designed to measure their listening and reading comprehension. The participants were also asked to respond to the questionnaire items constructed to measure their anxiety and strategy use in English listening and reading. For data analysis, correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed. The study found that the students’ listening and reading anxiety showed strong, inverse correlations with their listening and reading proficiency. The students’ listening and reading skills were found to be more influenced by anxiety than by strategy use. The findings of the study are presented and discussed in more detail. The pedagogical implications of the findings are also discussed, along with some suggestions for future research.
Motivated by the fact that English spelling c has two different pronunciations [k] and [s], this study investigates the relationship between English orthography c and its pronunciations as reflected in the c-spelled word production by Korean secondary school students. A total of 15 secondary school students produced the stimulus words designed for this study. The study revealed that the students had difficulties in associating the spelling c with the target-appropriate pronunciations because the overall inaccuracy rate amounted to 14.9% in the pretest. Further, the error rates in the pretest were different depending on the word groups; 33.3% for the c+i words, 20.2% for the c+e words, and 14.4% for the final c words. The most predominant error type was the replacement of the target sound [s] with [k], which occurred in the word groups of c+e and c+i. After two sessions of pronunciation training on the c-spelled words, the students showed a significant improvement in producing target words, and thus the overall inaccuracy rates were reduced to 5.5%. Likewise, the error rates for the word groups of c+i, c+e, and final c were significantly decreased to 12.7%, 7.6%, and 6.2%, respectively in the posttest 2. The results were further analyzed in terms of individual lexical items and individual participants and showed different learning processes depending on the lexical items and participants. Based on the findings of the study, implications for pronunciation teaching were drawn.
A foreign accent in a second language (L2) may be caused by nonnative-like pronunciation of suprasegmental elements such as stress as well as segmental elements of the L2 phonological system. In the literature of L2 phonological acquisition, however, most studies have focused on the segmental features and only a few studies have investigated the L2 acquisition of suprasegmental elements. This study examines the acquisition of English word stress by adult speakers of Korean in an attempt to see how they learn English stress patterns, particularly if they treat nouns and verbs differently and show sensitivity to the internal syllable structure with respect to stress assignment or if they treat English word stress entirely as a lexical phenomenon. For this, 51 Korean university students were assigned the production and perception tasks in which they were instructed to produce 35 monomorphemic nouns and verbs classified into 7 classes according to stress patterns and listen to them to mark on which syllable they perceived stress to be. It was revealed in this study that although they had no knowledge of stress placement associated with lexical category, vowel weight and the extramatricality of word-final consonants in English, they showed sensitivity to the effect of coda consonants, treating open and closed syllables differently. Based on the results of this research, pedagogical implications are suggested for the teaching of English word stress.
Drawing upon Schmidt’s (1990, 1993, 1995) claim that attention to form is necessary for acquisition, this study examines how NS-initiated negotiation draws attention to and facilitates acquisition effectively. The study compares two types of negotiation indicators (i.e., clarification requests and recasts) in terms of their effects on attention and acquisition of English question forms in connection with NNSs’ proficiency level. Data from an experiment where 31 Korean college NNSs engaged in information-gap tasks with NSs were analyzed. Results revealed that clarification requests were more effective in drawing attention while recasts were more beneficial in acquisition. This is ascribed to different characteristics of the indicator types and shows that the provision of correctly reformulated form is a key condition for enhancing negotiation’s effects. It was also found that clarification requests’ effects were not related to NNSs’ proficiency level while recasts induced more attention with high level NNSs and facilitated acquisition better with low level ones. It is suggested that indicator type and NNSs’ level be considered in utilizing NS-initiated negotiation as an effective acquisition device. This study implies that the workings of NS-initiated negotiation may be constrained by various factors connected with both learners and interaction they are involved in.
This qualitative study was designed to understand a role of culture on the experiences of Korean study abroad graduate students who tried to adjust to the U.S. academic and social life. Data was collected by semi-structured interviews and analyzed by the inductive process to identify analytical categories that emerged from the data. Three participants decided to go to a U.S. college in order to have an efficient learning environment, financial support, and career after schooling. They were satisfied with the factors that motivated them to study abroad as well as the American’s attitudes and observance of the rules. However, they experienced frustrations and difficulties in classrooms and in social settings due to limited English proficiency, the lack of familiarity with the American learning environment, and certain American’s unfair treatment. They developed strategies to cope with the difficulties and succeed at the university. The present study also revealed that the participants’experiential backgrounds played a crucial role in their perceptions of their own experiences in the U.S. The students acknowledged that there are cultural differences between two countries that were grounded in all findings of the research and those differences affected their attitudes and behaviors throughout the study and their stay in the U.S.
The purpose of this paper is to present a potentially useful interview template for longitudinal, qualitative ESL motivation research. For this purpose, I recruited 10 Korean ESL learners in Toronto, Canada to investigate the differential effects of three types of interviews (i.e., open-ended, semi-structured, and structured interviews) for eliciting learners’ comments on ESL learning motivation. Each participant was interviewed two or three times over four months. The interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. Thematic analyses based on Ratner’s (2002) meaning unit indicated that for initial exploratory purposes, open-ended formats are the most appropriate; whereas for subsequent investigations, semi-structured formats are the most effective. The beneficial washback experienced as a result of the interviews strongly supports the use of these methods, not only as research tools but as learning tools for enhancing learners’ metacognitive awareness of their own ESL learning and for their emotional stabilization.
With the emergence of sociolinguistic approach in second language learning, instructors have begun to acknowledge the native language (L1) as a legitimate tool with the potential to facilitate second language (L2) learning mainly in output-based tasks. This study focuses on how the use of L1 by L2 learners affects their task achievement. Two communicative tasks were used, and tasks were carried out by 32 high school students in L2 only, or in L1 and L2 during group test sessions held on different days. Tape-recorded transcripts of learners when performing the tasks, interviews, and questionnaires were collected and analysed to investigate effect on the use of L1. The findings suggest that during performing the tasks, learners used their L1 to complete their tasks for a variety of functions. Through the L1, they explained and negotiated the task each other, or checked their understanding or compared answers to the task against their peers. To allow the learners to use of their L1 was even more effective than to urge them to use L2 only in a foreign language class using task. Further investigation indicates that, if one of goals of output-based introduction is considered as the successful completion of the task, the learners’ use of L1 may be beneficial to attain the goal when performing completely in L2 is impossible or beyond the learners’ linguistic ability.
This study examines ESL learners’ satisfaction levels in two types of ESL writing courses at a Midwest American university. Approximately 100 students in an English-for-General Purposes (EGP) writing classes and 27 students in an English-for-Business Purposes (EBP) writing classes were surveyed. Responses to survey items were then analyzed using factor analysis. The two primary satisfaction factors identified from the response patterns were social atmosphere of the classes, and the effectiveness of ESL instruction. The degree of students’ satisfaction with the ESL instruction efficiency was not much different between the two groups of students, whereas the level of satisfaction with social atmosphere was significantly higher among the EGP students than the other group. Furthermore, in general, students’ perceived improvement on some writing skills after taking their ESL class was significantly higher than before taking the class, and particularly the perception level of improvement of organizational writing skill was significantly different among the two ESL groups, the EGP students reporting more improvement than the students. These results were discussed for further implications for development of ESL curriculum in the context under study in specific, and in Korean English education context in general.
The purposes of this study are to explore firstly two teachers’ EFL writing classrooms at a university in Korea and secondly students’ perceptions on their teachers’ classroom-based teaching for EFL writing in the same social and institutional context. The classroom interactions focus on rules of processes and teaching and learning of writing. The data comprise classroom observations of two EFL writing classrooms and interviews with both teachers and students. The findings indicate that the two teachers show a big contrast in terms of their writing practices. One teacher embodied the textbook with traditional approach and adopted translation activity whereas the other teacher tried to have creative self-expression approach with the textbook and workshop activity. The students tended to adopt classroom-based writing practices that might suit their purposes or goals in learning of writing in English. The findings provide an in depth understanding of the teaching and learning of writing, the role of teachers, and students’ purposes in EFL writing classrooms. It also suggests that the teacher needs to consider students perceptions by actively talking about relevant issues.
The present study investigated the relationships between acculturation and English learning among Korean students at an American university. A survey was conducted with 115 students whose first language is Korean. Data was collected through an acculturation questionnaire, self perceived Korean and English proficiency questionnaire and background questionnaire. ANOVA, Post Hoc Tests, Group comparison and multiple regression were used to analyze the data. The majority of students in the survey chose bicultural adaptation as their strategy for acculturation and did not lose Korean cultural identity although some of them exhibited linguistic assimilation. In the four group comparisons based on acculturation types, students in a high bicultural tendency group reported the greater level of English proficiency. The results of multiple regression showed that students’ age of arrival in the U.S, their level of American acculturation, and gender (male), were important predictors of their English proficiency. Different from the assimilation theory in second language acquisition both integration into American society and positive acceptance of Korean culture and identity seemed to be important processes for their achievement of successful English learning as well as for their successful acculturation. In conclusion, the pedagogical implication of the finding and future research were suggested.
This study explores whether there are any differences between monolingual Korean and bilingual Korean-Chinese university students in terms of their beliefs about language learning. The Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI, Horwitz, 1987) was distributed to university students in Korea and China to identify learners’ beliefs about language learning. Monolingual Korean and bilingual Korean-Chinese students reported similar opinions about foreign language aptitude and difficulty of language learning. The study also found that Korean-Chinese students were more confident than Korean students about their special ability for learning a new language. In addition, more Korean students than Korean-Chinese students reported that they felt timid in speaking English with native speakers or with other people. Because this study is the first research attempt to compare the differences in beliefs about language learning between monolingual and bilingual EFL learners, the results of this study should provide significant information about and implications for teaching and learning a foreign language by comparing the behaviors and thoughts of Korean and Korean-Chinese university students.
This qualitative study explores how a holistic approach to writing across language skills can promote EFL student writing in terms of linguistic, cognitive, metacognitive, and affective factors. As an alternative to current writing methods that narrowly focus on the surface structure of language, this study shows how a technology-incorporated EFL writing project, conducted by Korean college students, integrated various activities across different language skills to support student writing globally and holistically. Beyond the traditional view of writing as a product and the current view of writing as a process, activities presented in this paper also embraced social factors of writing. This paper investigates the following three research questions: 1) how can an integrated curriculum facilitate student writing? 2) How can L1 writing assist L2 writing? 3) How can technology promote student view of writing as a social act? The result of this study indicated that the students’ writings greatly improved in both form and content during this project. The successful outcome of the Dokdo project will provide a new insight on EFL writing to writing teachers.
In this paper, we discussed a methodology for education of German as a foreign language. In order to see how grammar and a function of communication should be linked, we investigated the way how grammar is dealt with in a chapter teaching “showing the way” as a communicational situation in 8 different highschool textbooks. To maximize the efficiency of teaching a specific grammar factor, we tried to establish which one should be linked to this communicational situation. Two conditions are necessary for this. Firstly, typical sentences for “showing the way” should be expressed by the grammar factor. Secondly, the grammar part associated with the expressions used for the communication situation should be more closely related to this one than any other communication situation. We concluded that the most efficient grammar factors that can be associated with the communication situation, “showing the way” are dative preposition and imperative, and that imperative can also be effectively associated with other communication situations such as “birthday and invitation”, and “health and treatment”.
In this paper we attempt to introduce a new teaching method for Spanish grammar education, based on the Movement theory of the Generative Grammar and we want to show that this new method can explain Spanish grammar phenomenon more easily and effectively than the existing school grammar. For this purpose, we start with some nominal phrases and simple sentences of the Korean and Spanish languages. We find out the basic difference of the two languages by comparing their nominal phrases and simple sentences from the point of view of Movement theory. The difference is that the Korean language does not have movement phenomenon but the Spanish language does. This difference is consistent in all of complex clauses with relative pronouns. We show that with this theory we can teach Spanish nominal phrases, simple clauses, exclamative clauses and relative clauses in a unitary and effective method of explication without a supposition ad hoc.
Seven foreign languages can be offered in the middle schools since 2001, based on the 7th National Curriculum of Korea. However, in reality, only five languages have been taken as elective subjects in these institutions. The purpose of this study is to present some basic directions for choosing elective subjects and its implication, by using statistic analysis about different motives in choosing Spanish. The first chapter begins mentioning some evaluations about Korean foreign language education policy on choosing foreign languages in the middle schools, the previous studies, and the purpose of this study. In the second chapter, statistic research method and data collection information are presented. In the third chapter, statistically meaningful results are described with SPSS cross tab tables. As a conclusion, the fourth chapter summarizes this study and recommends that elective courses should be chosen by students themselves, neither by school nor by others.
This paper is about the classification and systematization of Japanese spatial nouns. The three types of frame of reference proposed by Levinson (1996), classifies whole static spatial arrays in the following way: (i) Intrinsic frames of reference (not discussed here), (ii) Absolute frames of reference (not discussed here), and (iii) Relative frames of reference (discussed here). We could classify spatial nouns into two major classes; territory (dimension 2, 3)-oriented and direction (dimension 1)-oriented nouns. The territory-oriented nouns concern a territory of the reference object. The direction-oriented nouns concern the direction of a location with respect to the reference object, such as “X no migi (the right of X)”, “X no temae (in front of X)” and so on. And territoryoriented spatial nouns are further classified into three subclasses: designating internal location of the reference object (internal), designating a location apart from the reference object (external), and designating a location on shape of the reference object (boundary).