L2 learners tend to encounter and use morphological derivatives more frequently as their L2 skills develop. To pronounce the morphological derivatives correctly, L2 learners have to be aware of the phonological changes occurring in the derivatives with affixation. The four phonological rules (stress shift, vowel laxing, consonant coalescence, and vowel reduction) in English, applying to morphological derivatives, are examined with respect to the entities that the rules affect (stress, vowels, and consonants); the number of rules (only one and more than one rule); and rule interaction (interacting and non-interacting) in L2 phonological acquisition. This study reveals that 1) the accuracy of consonant coalescence is highest although its significance with respect to the accuracy of stress shift and vowel laxing varies according to the number of rules; 2) stress shift and vowel laxing show different order in accuracy depending on the number of rules; 3) the three rules (stress shift, vowel laxing, and consonant coalescence) exhibit distinct behaviors with respect to the number of rules; 4) in the interacting rules, the accuracy of the fed rule (vowel reduction) is significantly lower than the feeding rule (stress shift) while in the non-interacting rules, the accuracy of one rule appears to have no influence on that of the other rule. Based on the results, implications for teaching pronunciation of the derivatives are suggested.
The present study explored the effects of different task types on the autonomous vocabulary learning of EFL learners. To this end, two types of tasks with similar but slightly different levels of involvement loads were developed: a corpus-based task and a word map task. The participants of the study were 41 EFL students from a university in Seoul, Korea. They were divided into two groups: a corpus group (n=20) and a word map group (n=21). A total of 33 target words were selected and the experiment was administered during a period of five weeks. Major findings from the study were as follows: First, the corpus task proved to be more effective than the word map task in productive vocabulary learning, whereas the two tasks showed similar effectiveness in receptive vocabulary learning. Second, the two tasks varied in the effectiveness of vocabulary learning depending on the learners' vocabulary proficiency levels and the specific domains of vocabulary knowledge (receptive and productive). Lastly, the corpus group responded more positively than the word map group to their task and to the vocabulary learning. The findings indicate that the corpus task has advantages over the word map task and provide ‘residual’ empirical support for Hulstijn and Laufer’s (2001) involvement load hypothesis. Based on the findings, some pedagogical implications were made for the effective teaching and the autonomous learning of vocabulary.
The purpose of this study is to explore one bilingual person’s language development in relation to the changing environments in which she has lived. Bronfenbrenner's (1977, 1979, 1992) bioecological model provided insight as a theoretical framework in that the model emphasizes active interactions and strong interconnectedness between the individual and her surrounding environments, as well as interactions among environments (micro, meso, exo, and macrosystem). As a main data source, a two and half hour semi-structured interview was conducted with the participant, who is a Korean-English bilingual pursuing a graduate degree at an American university. The analysis of the interview data revealed that 1) the participant's developing characteristics (e.g., outgoing personality, age of language learning), 2) the changing environments (e.g., parents’ belief and philosophy, home residential location), and 3) the interactions between the participant and her environments (e.g., the participant’s intrinsic motivation and the mother’s philosophy) and interactions between inner and outer environments (e.g., school system and national educational policy) played out for the participant's reach on the current language development in Korean and English.
With an effort to verify the involvement load hypothesis, this study investigates the effects of three different vocabulary learning tasks - reading, filling in blanks, and sentence writing - on learners' short and long term memory when they are provided with the theoretically identical level of involvement tasks. It is also to examine whether there are any differences of learning effects between input and output vocabulary learning tasks. The experiments were conducted with 86 Korean middle school students grouped by three different task types. Pre-/post-tests and delayed tests were administered and analyzed. It was found that three vocabulary tasks with theoretically identical levels of involvement do not have the same learning effects: the involvement load hypothesis was not completely proved in the case of Korean students' vocabulary learning. The findings implied that (i) the difference of vocabulary learning tasks should be considered even though they have the same involvement load; (ii) given that EFL students learn new words in a limited amount of time in class, the reading task using a dictionary is found to be very helpful; and (iii) it is important to study target vocabulary repeatedly during class and to expose the vocabulary with different tasks to enhance students' retention of the newly learned vocabulary.
This study examined how smart device applications affected elementary school students who have learning difficulties in English. Five 6th grade students who needed remedial instruction were selected and given 50 hours of instruction using English vocabulary flash cards in a smartphone application. one hundred vocabulary words were chosen and developed for flash cards for the students to examine their intellectual and emotional changes in English learning. The research results showed that the students' vocabulary improved in listening, reading and speaking. It also revealed that the students gained confidence and interest in English learning, and their anxiety decreased. In addition, the application was easy and convenient for the students to use, especially in recognizing the pronunciation and the meaning of the vocabulary words. This study recommends further development and use of smart device applications for elementary school English instruction.
This paper investigates whether a secondary teacher trainee improved pair/group work management skills in a short-term teacher training program focusing on the development of TEE-related skills. One female teacher trainee, students, and a teacher trainer participated in the study. The participant’s teaching performance, conference on her teaching performance, lesson plans, and the teacher trainer’s feedback on the teaching performances were collected. The data on teaching performance and conferencing were transcribed and analyzed in terms of a moving-in phase, a monitoring phase, and a moving-out phase. The participant showed improvement in changing seating arrangement, selecting students in modeling, increasing various kinds of comprehension check up questions, changing her voice during monitoring, and drawing students’ attention and signaling a new phase of lesson to the students in a moving-out of the activity. This study suggests how to improve management skills in pair/group work in TEE classes.
This paper examines the effects of a story-writing class and a digital story-game class for primary school students at an after-school English program. To compare the effectiveness of a story-game p(23 students) and a story-writing class (22 students), this study used preand post- English achievement tests. This study also administrated a survey on students’ attitude towards their learning, and interviewed students as well as teachers. The results showed the two classes improved the students’ English ability in terms of reading, listening, writing and vocabulary over the 16 weeks. However, there were big differences between listening skills and writing skills between the two classes. The students in the story-game class showed a big improvement in listening skills. The students in the story-writing class were highly motivated by writing English stories in a group. Based on the results of the two classes, this paper discusses the factors that lead to an effective class with English story-based language learning. By exploring these elements, this paper suggests the educational implications for those who want to develop and implement a digital story-based language learning program for primary school students.
This study investigates faculty and students’ perceptions of English conversation courses in the General English Program (GEP) at a university. A total of 437 students completed the survey and interviews were conducted with 8 of them. Three Native English Speaker (NS) instructors participated in the study by submitting reflective journals and being interviewed. Qualitative as well as quantitative data collection methods were employed to offer a better understanding of the current status of English conversation courses taught by NS instructors. Results about the five research questions are as follows. First, students were satisfied with the courses overall, although it varied across classes taught by each NS instructor. Second, students’ satisfaction with the courses also varied depending on their self-assessment of English proficiency. Third, the results of the stepwise regression analysis showed that NS instructors’ qualifications and attitude were the best predictor of students’ satisfaction with the courses. Fourth, NS instructors expressed dissatisfaction with the current textbooks and administrative support from the university. Fifth, the lack of understanding of both students and Korean culture caused critical classroom management issues, which, in turn, led to students’ negative perceptions of the courses. The findings provide practical implications of this GEP curriculum at the university.
There has been an increasing demand for effective on-line English teacher education programs due to the advantages including cost efficiency and easy access. Despite the provision of a variety of on-line English teacher education programs, only a small number of studies on on-line in-service education program for English teachers have been carried out. This study aims to provide a basic model of on-line in-service English language teacher education based on the critical awareness. To do this, previous studies on on-line in-service English language teacher education in Korea and abroad were critically reviewed and key issues were derived. They are top-down approach to on-line teacher education curriculum development, unsustainability of teacher education, disconnection of teacher education to practice, insufficient establishment of community of practice, and deficiency of reflection on teaching practice. Three on-line English teacher education programs were selected and evaluated by using these key issues. It is suggested that bottom-up approach to curriculum development, establishment of community of practice for the sustainability of teacher education, and reflective learning for connecting teacher education to real classroom practice be included as key components for effective on-line teacher education.
Since Japanese was taught in secondary schools as a second language, the Korean educational system has faced the decrease in the number of students who take Japanese classes. In such a situation, we need to break out of traditional teaching methods and seek new directions. This research focuses particularly on the assessment and analyzes the items of the regular tests in Korean secondary schools, checking out whether those items are in accordance with the national curriculum and learning objectives. In addition, it is examined whether the intention of evaluators is appropriately tested and whether those items follow the evaluation guides. The results showed that regular assessments were far from enhancing communication proficiency when they were compared with the proportion of language contents for communication proficiency in the Korean SAT. Furthermore, as regards to validity, it was found that many items did not observe the evaluation guidelines of national curriculum and did not fulfill evaluators’ intention. Pedagogical implications will be discussed.
This study aims to analyze the aspect of coherence realization of narrative discourse of female marriage immigrants. Considering that discourse structure and cohesive devices are engaged in the coherence of discourse, this study attempts to examine the aspect of structure development of narrative discourse and the utilization of reference and conjunction. The participants in the study are intermediate and advanced-level female marriage immigrants. The analysis results of this study can be summarized as follows: (1) the female marriage immigrants selectively contained [abstract] and [evaluation] while essentially containing [setting], [complicating action], [resolution] when comprising narratives; the coherence of discourse was found to be disrupted due to insertion of extraneous contents, lack of information, excess of information, or delaying of the introduction utterances; (2) the use of cohesive devices was concentrated in a particular expression. Suggestions based on the findings of the study are provided.
This study examined whether learning context and language aptitude affected the use of pronunciation learning strategies and pronunciation proficiency. One hundred thirty-eight Chinese learners (88 KFL Ss & 50 KSL Ss) learners were investigated for the correlation between learning context(KSL, KFL), language aptitude (high/low), pronunciation learning strategy and pronunciation proficiency. Participants' sound discrimination ability was measured by PLAB and then they were divided into high group (upper 30%) and low group (lower 30%) by scores. SPLS and personal information survey were also conducted. The results showed that (i) a significant difference was found in pronunciation proficiency pursuant to learning context and language aptitude, (ii) use of pronunciation learning strategy differed significantly pursuant to learning context and language aptitude, and (ⅲ) use of pronunciation learning strategy could predict pronunciation proficiency. The findings suggest that effective pronunciation learning strategy should be investigated and taught in L2 Korean classroom.
The purpose of this study is to examine if Japanese and Chinese language learners of Korean, whose native language has a CV syllable structure, can apply the liaison rule when C2 of Korean the CVC syllable structure is followed by a vowel, where the application of liaison rule is necessary. For this purpose, Japanese and Chinese learners of Korean were divided into two groups by their Korean proficiency levels: beginner and advanced learners. Then the study examined if these learners can apply the Korean liaison rule in the sentence reading task. The result showed that learners in their higher proficiency level were able to apply the liaison rule better. The degree of increased application was more drastic, especially in the cases of Japanese learners. The performance varied by their native languages, it appears that Japanese learners better apply the liaison rule than Chinese learners. In addition, the result also differed by the familarity of the vocabularies used in the reading task. The liaison rule was used more accurately in more familiar vocabularies than less familiar vocabularies.