The aim of the present study was to examine factors affecting Korean university EFL learners' English reading comprehension across two reading tasks (i.e., literal vs. inferential reading). To this end, five latent factors (linguistic, cognitive, affective, social, and English reading) were targeted, and the structural relationships among these five factors were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Results of the present study demonstrate that for literal reading comprehension task, linguistic, cognitive, and social factors made a significant and direct impact on Korean university students' English reading performances, whereas the effect of affective factor was not significant. Regarding the inferential reading task, only linguistic and cognitive factors were significantly and positively associated with Korean university students' English reading comprehension. Implications for pedagogy as well as for future research directions were also provided.

The present study investigated the structural relationships among factors influencing Korean EFL learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in English and their actual English use. To this end, a total 595 university students enrolled in a wide range of academic disciplines participated in a survey. Data from the survey were analyzed using both multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. Results of the present study demonstrated that English confidence assessed by students’ perception of their English skill and English anxiety directly influenced students’ English WTC as well as the frequency and amount of their English communication. However, attitudes in international issues and intrinsic motivation made a direct influence only on students’ English WTC. Instead, these two factors made an indirect effect on students’ actual English use through the mediating role played by WTC. On the other hand, classroom factor as measured by perceived ELT methods and topic familiarity made a direct influence only on students’ actual English use, and the effect of the classroom factor on students’ English WTC was not significant. The same pattern was observed for socio-educational factor. These findings were discussed in terms of the implications for EFL education in the Korean context.

Gardner’s socio-educational model of second language acquisition has received substantial attention from L2 researchers. Several scholars, however, came to question the applicability of the model into foreign language learning (FLL) situations because Gardner’s model was based on studies that have utilized samples selected from Canada, which is presumed to be a typical context of second language learning (SLL). Therefore, the present study investigated the generalizability of Gardner’s socio-educational model into FLL situations by using two samples of Korean learners of English selected from the USA (i.e., ESL sample) and Korea (i.e., EFL sample). To this end, a multi-sample Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis was performed to examine the factorial similarity of Gardner’s model across the ESL and EFL sample. Results of the SEM analysis indicated that the socio-educational model may also hold for learners of L2 in FLL situations. Further multi-sample analysis identified parameters that were not invariant across two samples of Korean learners of English, hence highlighting a call to fine-tune the Attitudes/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) for use in the context of FLL.