The textbook is the materials of teaching for teachers and students, and is sorted into the unit by the topics. If such units combine with some factors that are involved with the topic organizationally well, the text may be helpful in its own way. Thus, this study is to analyze the textbooks that have been used in Korean language learning context with the regard to both the construction of the unit and organization of such that construction, and to investigate whether the textbook could promote the learner’s communicative ability to express their target language (Korean language) in the real language context or not. For this analysis, this study should follow up on these progresses. First of all, (1) this study attempts to identify some of the basic concept related to the textbook in chapter 2, (2) chapter 3 suggests other studies which have been done previously (3) chapter 4 presents the framework in the design of units, (4) chapter 5 analyzes the textbook with the framework suggested above. Finally, in chapter 6, this study sets up some components of the units making topics by focusing on the notion of organization.

The article proposes some ways for improving students writing skills while teaching Russian in Korean universities. One has to admit that existing textbooks cannot be efficiently used in groups which include students with different level of language competence (such situation is currently common in Korean universities). Hence teachers need methods which, being are used together with textbooks, allow to raise learning efficiency in such non-homogeneous environment. One of the proposed ways is the use of private photos which should be prepared by students in advance. Such photos are necessarily related to individual memories of each student, so during exercises students rely on their own personal experiences evoked by the pictures. To describe a situation depicted by the photos, students are asked to write down some sentences. In her turn, a teacher should also suggest some questions connected with a situation which is reflected by a photo. A usual set consists of six questions (as a rule, with inclusion of the most widespread interrogative words: “when”, “where”, “who”, “what”, “how”, “why”). On each question the student should give a full answer in writing. The questions should be closely connected with the grammar studied by the students. Another proposed method is based on use of the short texts of Russian fiction. Since most Korean students are interested in Russian literature, these materials are quite useful. For exercise I usually chose Pushkin’s poem I loved you. This poem is not only a remarkable literary piece, but also possesses peculiar and representative grammar structure. Teacher asks students to count verbs, adjectives, and nouns which are encountered in the text of the poem. Then they should conjugate the verbs and decline the nouns and adjectives, to demonstrate the forms used in the dictionaries. This helps students to understand peculiar features of cases and conjugations. After they have mastered all words in the text, poem is divided into fragments which should be arranged in correct order. As a result students get acquainted with of Pushkin‘s language, and also learn some features of Russian verses. These methods encourage interest among students and can be successful used while teaching groups of students with different level of language skills.

This study investigates the tendency of the word order of Japanese adjectives. Japanese adjectives are the representative adjectival modifiers and they define the nature, condition and characteristics of the words that are defined. There were not many studies on the word order among Japanese adjectives; however, their natural and general word order exists in case that the plural adjectives are used in the sentence. This study reveals the existence of a tendency in word order such as the adjectives representing the amount, the adjectives representing the old and new and the short- and long-term period and the adjectives representing the evaluation (judgment) by means of focusing on the word order among Japanese adjectives. Meanwhile, the adjectives representing the small and large, color and shape are not likely to have their word order. In short, this study suggests the following word order: amount〉time (old and new, long-term and short-term)〉small and large, color, shape〉evaluation> main noun.

Because of the close ties between Chosun and China, almost Chosun kings set great store by Chinese language teaching and the cultivation of talents in the language. Some of the kings themselves were fluent speakers of Chinese, and tried to make their sons acquire the same ability. A few even took part in the official assessment of their ministers’ abilities in the language. Chinese learning institutes were established; and Chinese learning manuals, complied in large quantity. Yet despite their efforts, the results were sadly disappointing, at least to most of the kings, who lamented constantly of the low language standards. This paper is an exploration of the causes of the failure of the imperial efforts. Based largely on the Chosun Imperial Records, it examines the Chinese language teaching under the imperial auspices (with special focus on speech training), the measures upholding the prestige of Chinese learning, and the ultimate failure. It is hoped that by learning from the past, we can find directions to improve the Chinese teaching of today.

Spanish has been introduced and taught in Korean middle schools since 2001, based on the 7th National Curriculum, The purpose of this study is to present some basic directions of teaching Spanish culture in Korean middle schools by using statistic analysis about students’ perception on Spanish culture. The first chapter describes the current trends of teaching culture in the foreign language classroom, the previous studies on Spanish culture, and purpose of this study. Statistic research method and data collection information are mentioned in the second chapter. In the third chapter, statistically meaningful results are described with SPSS cross tab tables, focusing on school, grade and gender. As a conclusion, the fourth chapter summarizes this study and shows that Korean middle school students’ perception on the importance of Spanish culture and Spanish culture teaching is positively related to Spanish learning interest and elective courses should be chosen by students, not by schools.

The new media are surely not strange to the students. They play computer games together and hear music and lecture in a tape recorder or a CD Player. They use the internet for their personal researches and orders. But in instruction? The technological developments open new perspective for german instruction. The new media offer a multiplicity of possibilities for a modern and effective instruction. Multimedia, television, radio make the entrance to the foreign language german for the learner possible over different channels. “Multimedia German” is an innovative learning offer, which connects different medial components and establishes new ways of media-aided learning. The multimedia teaching program runs with support of CD-ROM, DVD, video tape and grants exciting views of the german everyday life reality. The course offers regional and cultural informations as well as words and idioms, grammar, sentence structure to the learner beside course contents. The learner can learn and use not only simple sentences and everyday expressions, but also understand the german culture. The multimedia language course as blended learning offer is a teaching program with different components: Multimedia. course with CD-ROM, video and DVD, course with various materials, radio course with cassette tapes. With assistance of the learning program we can teach and learn german language and culture. Besides, we can extend and deepen already-existing knowledge about a lot of different subjects.

Since the introduction of teaching English as a regular subject into primary schools in 1997, it has been said that the discrepancy between students who are receiving private instruction at learning institutions and private tutoring and those who are not receiving private English instruction is steadily increasing. The purpose of this study was to investigate what impact private English instruction had on English achievement and attitudes of fifth- and sixth-grade students in primary schools. For this purpose, an English achievement test was developed based on the 7th National Curriculum and administered, along with two attitude questionnaires: One questionnaire was administered to 696 fifth- and sixth-grade primary school students, and the other questionnaire given to 12 primary school teachers of the students. The results showed that students started learning English at the average age 7.9-years-old and about 80% of the students were receiving a variety of private English instruction. In line with expectations, tutored students outperformed non-tutored students on the English achievement test. In addition most of the teachers, as well as students, thought it helpful to learn English through private English instruction. One implication from the results suggests that to ensure quality English language teaching at public schools, the government should put forth efforts to nurture qualified English teachers through intensive teacher training.

This study investigates the nature and the validity of the PhonePass SET-10 test designed to measure test-takers’ English oral proficiency using the automated computer technology. For this study, the data from 84 Korean college students were collected: students’ TEPS scores, PhonePass SET-10 results as well as the results from the survey developed to measure their attitudes toward the new format of English speaking test. Based on the analysis of the study, it is found out that there exists a positive correlation between the TEPS scores and the PhonePass SET-10 results of the participants, indicating that in fact the computer-based automated evaluating system can significantly contribute to assessing students’ English oral proficiency while the items and the purpose of the test administration are relatively limited. It is also reported that the participants of this study showed positive attitudes toward the PhonePass SET-10 with a hope that the newly developed speaking test will help them further their English study.

This study explores the effects of reading material types in sustained silent reading on Korean EFL learners, focusing on their reading speed and comprehension. Reading materials are divided into four types: longer texts with Korean vocabulary glosses, longer texts without the glosses, short texts, and a mixture of the three text types. For this research, an seven-month-long sustained silent reading program was developed for high school students. The participants were divided into four groups according to the types of reading texts they were to read. The reading rates and reading comprehension were measured before and after the program was implemented. The results were as follows: First, the gain in reading rates was most noticeable in the group reading longer texts with the vocabulary glosses. Second, there was a statistically significant difference in reading comprehension before and after the program was implemented. The group which read a mixture of the three reading text types showed the most remarkable gain in comprehension. The findings of this study suggest the need for further research on the relationship between reading comprehension and reading rates, and how to incorporate sustained silent reading into the reading curriculum.

Recent developments in multifaceted Rasch measurement (Linacre, 1989) have made possible new kinds of investigations of facets of speaking test samples. The Rasch measurement, implemented through the computer program FACETS 3.56 version, can provide useful information in separate graphics and tables for the facets (e.g., test takers’ ability, item difficulty, and rater severity, bias analyses). This study investigates the roles of newly updated FACETS in the context of rater monitoring of English speaking test. Data for this study came from G-TELP Speaking Test. The performance of 50 candidates on the speaking test was multiply rated and analyzed using the most updated FACETS version of Rasch model. After exploring the extent to which new graphics and analyses tables of new FACETS are useful in rater monitoring, it was suggested that other tester groups should bring analytic tools like FACETS to effectively analyze raters’ consistency patterns as well as other rating patterns of individual raters for specific test tasks and criteria.

It has been reported that primary school students have difficulties in the reading process and their interests and achievement in reading is low, in spite of the various methods that have been introduced. This study aims to examine the reading approaches at the primary school level. To achieve this purpose, the primary English curriculum and textbooks were analyzed in order to explore the approaches that were adopted for primary English reading. The textbooks were analyzed in two aspects: the selection of words and the teaching methods for reading. The data revealed that the curriculum looked well-structured according to the developmental stages of reading, but that the textbooks did not facilitate reading for early readers. Although the reading text increased gradually from the letter to the sentence level, the words in each unit were not organized to help readers recognize the text efficiently which impinged on the students’ reading comprehension. Since words at each unit were selected meaning-based, students had to memorize them as a unitary whole. On the other hand, it was rare to find words structured on the basis of letter-sound relations between words. This lack of structure prevented students from recognizing the alphabetic principles of English. As a result, the textbooks did not consider the bottom-up skills at all in its development process. Therefore, students failed to acquire the basic principles of alphabetic language in the early reading stage. Some suggestions for curriculum and textbook development are presented in the end.

With the changing status of vocabulary, the notion of vocabulary has been broadened from single words to multi-word expressions or units. Many lexicologists focus on vocabulary rather than grammar, and maintain that these lexical units or collocations are the most powerful force in comprehension and production of language. Little action research, however, has been performed to identify the best practices and to aid students in learning English in a real classroom. Collocational approaches to vocabulary acquisition view the basic premise of language learning as noticing and acquiring multi-word units like individual words. Focusing on this concept, this research presents practical collocation teaching methods, beginning with a brief definition, the pedagogical implications, and the most commonly occurring collocations. It suggests eight collocation- teaching methods, to be directly used in classroom activities. Finally, implementation of the suggestions presented here will produce more meaningful and effective vocabulary learning activities so that the EFL learners acquire knowledge of the English language more communicatively.

This study explores whether journal writing and in-class discussion operate for developing reflective teachers and investigates main issues understood and enhanced by Korean EFL teachers through journal writing and in-class discussion. Seven participants in this study were all in-service English teachers as well as graduate students taking a course on ‘reflective teaching’ in a large university in Seoul. They were supposed to write journals on the web once a week and to read others’ journals for the following in-class discussion. Main issues enhanced by participants through journal writing and in-class discussion were as follows: Teachers’ beliefs about profession as English teachers in Korea; Teaching techniques to make students’ learning successful; Teachers’ perceived difficulties in current teaching. As to the feasibility of journal writing, most of the participants reported that journal writing had been a turning point to be a reflective teacher and in-class discussion made them find lots of useful teaching tips and solutions for the problems they had met. This study provides teacher trainers and teachers themselves useful insights to develop reflective teaching and to better understand the current issues of English teaching in Korea.