The purpose of this study was to analyze writing activities of 1st grade middle school English textbooks based on the achievement standards of the 2009 revised National Curriculum and provide suggestions for improvements of textbooks. In this study, seven textbooks out of twelve were selected and their writing activities were analyzed as to whether they stick to the guidelines of the 2009 revised National Curriculum. For this purpose, specific focuses of the current study were 1) to look into writing activities based on achievement standards stipulated in the 2009 revised National Curriculum, and 2) to investigate the ratio of integrated writing activities to separate writing activities ones. The results of the analysis revealed that most of the writing activities seemed suitable based on learners’ real-life situations for achievements standards; however, the types of writing activities were rather simple, mainly focusing on given words. Next, there were not only separate writing activities but also a variety of integrated activities such as listening-writing, speaking-writing, and reading-writing activities. At the end of the paper, a few suggestions were provided to improve the qualities of writing activities in the textbooks.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of information transferring activity on listening comprehension and the affective domains of high school students. A total of 140 students participated in this study, and they were divided into two groups: The control group taught to follow traditional listening instruction, and the experimental group taught to transfer information in listening text to visual materials. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference in understanding aural texts between the two groups, indicating the positive effects of the use of information transfer technique on listening comprehension. In addition, short-answer and multiple choice techniques produced different results, suggesting a significant test method effect on test results. Lastly, the participants provided generally positive responses to the usefulness of information transfer technique.

The purpose of this study is to examine effective ways to introduce creative thinking skills development in the English learning classroom, specifically, focusing on questioning techniques and creative thinking techniques. The study explores selected creative-thinking techniques which are in accordance with English teaching methods and goals in the Korean context. The techniques highlighted were deemed adequate for enhancing creative and analytical thinking skills of English language learners and include the following: Brainwriting, SCAMPER, Lotus Blossom Technique, Forced Relationships/Analogy, Wishful Thinking Technique, Six Thinking Hats, SWOT, PMI technique, Flat Stanley Project. The study attempts to outline examples of and procedures for implementing such techniques in English education. The study is intended to provide insights for both researchers and practitioners alike and shall thus contribute to the ongoing discussion of integrating creativity education with English learning and teaching.

This study aims to examine the relationships between the learners' task preferences (input vs. output, deductive vs. inductive, individual vs. group work) and task performances (noticing, successful uptake, and achievement in grammar instructions). The findings showed that task performances were influenced by L2 learners’ instructional preferences. The input or inductive preferences were negatively correlated with the performance in input-oriented instruction, while they performed well when the task type matched their preference, for example, output preference with output instruction. In addition, the low levels preferred the input or deductive styles while the high levels preferred the output-based instruction. Therefore, we should take into account L2 learners’ learning preferences or styles when deciding the types of instructions in grammar teaching.

This study investigates how input modes and text types influence Korean college learners’ CALL listening and their perception of their concentration, comprehension and anxiety. The current study employed three input modes (listening-only, listening-with-subtitles, and listening-with-transcripts) and two text types (lectures and dialogues). The major findings are as follows: 1) subtitles or a transcript enhanced learner’s listening comprehension; 2) subtitles were the most helpful input mode whereas transcripts may have imposed more cognitive load to decode the reading; 3) the text types influenced CALL listening comprehension, but the familiarity effect may have been more dominant for more literate text types such as lectures; 4) apart from the higher English proficiency student’s perceived concentration, the two written input modes were perceived as beneficial tools for their concentration, comprehension, and reduced anxiety; 5) in particular, the lower English proficiency students tended to perceive the transcript as advantageous although they did not actually benefit from the transcript for their listening comprehension as much as they perceived. The pedagogical implications of the present study is subtitles and transcripts can be efficient pedagogical tools to draw learners’ attention to linguistic features or organization of the content to foster language ability. When designing CALL listening classes or applications, individual learners’ differences should be taken into account as well.

This study explores a group of 26 Korean EFL secondary teachers' experience with process drama during an intensive teacher training program conducted in the spring of 2013. The drama session consisted of five two-hour classes which introduced the main features of process drama by implementing it with the participants. Questionnaires, trainees' reflections, trainee's adaptation materials and researcher's teaching log were used to find out how the teachers perceived process drama and in what ways they wanted to adapt it in their teaching context. The result of the study shows that all of the teachers want to use process drama techniques in their classroom since it offers meaningful context as well as engaging atmosphere for the students to communicate spontaneously. The combination of tableau and thought-tracking is regarded as the most useful technique to adapt their classroom materials because it would provide opportunities not only to practice productive skills but also to develop creativity. More teacher training program and teaching materials about process drama were suggested to be developed for the convenient use of teachers.

As a replication study of Hanaoka and Izumi (2012), the present research investigated the process of learners’ noticing of problems in their interlanguage (IL) while they were producing the second language (L2) and their process of relevant input provided in the form of two types of feedback (i.e., reformulation and a model text) in L2 writing. The data were collected from twenty-five university students in Korea, and they engaged in a four-staged picture description task consisting of the writing stage (Stage 1), the comparison stage (Stage 2), the immediate revision stage (Stage 3), and the delayed revision stage (Stage 4). It was found that output triggered learners’ noticing of problems; however, the problems did not always show up overtly in their writing. Some problems were manifested in writing (i.e., overt problems), while some were hidden (i.e., covert problems). A model text and reformulation played somewhat different roles in offering the solutions to the problems: a model text provided more solutions to covert problems while reformulation provided more solutions to overt problems. And, the extent of learners’ noticing was associated with the types of problems (overt vs. covert problems) and feedback (i.e., models vs. reformulation). However, the types of problems and feedback were not related to the rate of incorporation of feedback into subsequent writing.

Little research exists on expatriate language teachers’ experiences and attitudes toward their students and teaching contexts, particularly venues with younger learners, in an L2 setting. Thus, this study investigated native English-speaking teachers’ (NESTs) experiences of and attitudes toward teaching and interacting with Korean elementary school children in the Korean elementary school context. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with five NESTs who have worked, and are still working, in various areas of Korea. Findings indicated that the NESTs of the current study were holding relatively positive attitudes toward Korean children as well as teaching them English. The NESTs viewed Korean children as engaging and responsive learners, but stressed the importance of their own roles in creating an environment for the children’s better engagement. The NESTs’ experiences varied whether they had upper and lower grade elementary school children and whether they taught main classes or after-school classes, etc. Finally, the NESTs experienced challenges when dealing with children with extremely different levels of English in one classroom and with managing disorderly behaviors of after-school classes. Based on the findings of the study, practical implications for both NESTs and Korean teachers are provided.

Based on the data from a two-year-long virtual ethnographic study, this article examines literate and social practices of a female adolescent English language learner (ELL) who is participating in a Korean popular culture (K-Pop) online fan site called Soompi.com. Drawing upon the concepts of ‘affinity space’ (Gee, 2004) and ‘participatory culture’ (Jenkins, Clinton, Purushotma, Robison, & Weigel, 2006), this article describes (1) how she participates and engages in multiple literacy practices in the site; (2) what resources she draws on for literacy development and content creations; and (3) what kinds of social relationships and identities she constructs in the site. Analysis reveals that she is able to access to distributed knowledge through peer-to-peer learning and teaching, and collaborative support, which help her develop not only language and composition related metacognitive skills, but also, positive social identities as a valued member of the site. Based on the aspects of the youth’s digital literacy practices, this study suggests some ways that language and literacy teachers can use to better meet ELLs' needs and to make their classrooms motivating and interactive learning communities.