In the era of the 4th industrial revolution, creativity plays a pivotal role in the competitiveness of a country. The importance of creativity education therefore cannot be overemphasized. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of discussion-based English reading and writing activities on Korean high school students' creativity, English writing, and self-assessed creative thinking. The participants were 45 high school students in Seoul, Korea. They were divided into two groups: the discussion-based English reading and writing group (n=24) and the traditional English instruction group (n=21). The experiment was administered during two semesters of the 2017 academic year. The major findings are as follows: First, the experimental group showed significant improvement on the creativity test, especially in the areas of fluency, flexibility, and original thinking. Second, the experimental group outperformed the control group on the writing test. Third, the experimental group showed positive changes in their self-assessed flexible thinking, convergent thinking, and intrinsic motivation. All of these indicate the beneficial effects of the discussion-based English reading and writing activities. Based on the results, some pedagogical suggestions were made for the effective integration of creativity education into the teaching of English as a foreign language.

Flipped classroom is a pedagogical approach that inverts the flow of the traditional classroom. Due to recent interest in the effectiveness of the flipped learning, research on flipped learning has become pervasive. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to explore the applicability of flipped learning approach to the teaching of English vocabulary for Korean EFL learners. The participants of the study were 40 Korean high school students in Seoul and they were divided into two groups (flipped classroom and traditional classroom). The major results and findings of the study are as follows: The flipped classroom promoted the vocabulary acquisition of Korean high school students in terms of receptive and productive knowledge, which was shown to have a long-term effect. In addition, the flipped classroom had a positive effect on students’ learning attitudes and self-directed learning. Furthermore, the participants’ perceptions of the flipped classroom were very positive. Thus, the implementation of flipped learning will enable Korean instructors not only to explicitly teach vocabulary but also to encourage self-directed and interactive learning to take place in class. Given the beneficial effects of flipped classroom on the vocabulary learning, there is a need for further investigation of the flipped classroom on various skills of English.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of two different types of vocabulary activities on Korean EFL learners’ vocabulary learning and perceptions. The participants of the study were 30 Korean middle school students in Seoul, and they were divided into two groups (typography and web-based authoring). The former employed the word meaning and spelling image association technique and the latter used a multimedia vocabulary authoring tool for 42 target words. The major findings of the study are as follows: (1) Both the typography and the web-based vocabulary authoring groups showed significant improvement on the posttest of vocabulary test, which indicated the equal effectiveness of the two vocabulary activities; (2) with respect to different English proficiency levels, the low-level group showed much higher improvement of the mean difference between pre and post tests than the higher group; and (3) the participants’ perceptions turned out to be more positive when they participated in creating English word spelling image than authoring multimedia vocabulary learning materials. The results suggest the beneficial effects of active student involvement in the vocabulary learning process. Pedagogical and practical suggestions are made on the effective teaching of English vocabulary in Korean classroom settings.

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.

The purposes of this study are to examine the effects of the speech-analysis software on Korean college students' pronunciation improvement, and to find out ways to enhance the efficiency of computer-based visual feedback in the teaching of English pronunciation. The participants of the study are 89 English-major college students who are required and expected to have native-like pronunciation. A total of 178 recorded pronunciation data of pre-and post-tests were analyzed in terms of consonants, tense/lax vowels, consonant clusters, and phonological changes. The major findings of the study are as follows: First, the use of speech-analysis software was effective in improving the students' pronunciation. Second, the use of speech-analysis software was more effective at the discourse-level than at the word-in-isolation or sentence levels. In addition, it was more effective to students with low level pronunciation proficiency than those with high level proficiency. Third, the use of speech-analysis software was the most effective in training word-initial [h]-deletion of function words at the sentence level. Fourth, the participants responded that the visual feedback of speech-analysis program was useful in self-monitoring and self-correcting their pronunciation errors. Based on these findings, some pedagogical suggestions are made with respect to the didactic use of speech-analysis software in the teaching of English pronunciation.

This study describes the development principles of the Elementary English Digital Textbook (MEDT) and provides suggestions for the future development of English digital textbooks based on the evaluation of MEDT contents. With these purposes, the study firstly presents relevant theories about the instructional design, e-learning strategies, second language acquisition, and English teaching theories to investigate on what theoretical foundation the MEDT was developed. It then examines how the MEDT integrates and incorporates new technologies such as speech recognition, automatic writing scoring system, games, flash animation, and digital storytelling into a wide variety of English learning activities such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Thirdly, the study reports the learners" and experts" evaluations of MEDT with respect to contents, learning activities, interest, levels, and technological functions. Lastly, based on the evaluation of the MEDT, some suggestions are made on the effective use of MEDT for the implementation of enhanced, high-technological, and motivating English learning environments in Korean elementary schools.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of using and authoring web-based vocabulary learning tasks on Korean EFL learners' vocabulary acquisition. The subjects of the study were seventy-seven EFL college students in Korea. They were divided into three groups: a traditional control group, and two experimental groups using and authoring the web-based vocabulary tasks, respectively. The major results of the study were as follows: first, the two experimental groups performed significantly better on the vocabulary recognition and use posttest than the control group did. This result indicates that both the use of the web-based tasks and the participation of students in authoring the web-based tasks are more effective in vocabulary acquisition than the use of traditional vocabulary learning methods. Second, both the experimental groups performed significantly better on the delayed posttest than the control group did. This result provides evidence that using and authoring web-based vocabulary tasks are effective in helping students retain newly acquired words in the long-term memory. Third, the learners' responses of the two experimental groups prove to be positive with respect to the use of the web-based task authoring tools in vocabulary learning. Based on these results, some pedagogical suggestions should be made on the effective use of the web-based task authoring tools in Korean English classroom settings.

The purpose of this study is to investigate an effective way of using real-time computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools for the development of Korean EFL learners’ oral communicative competence. The subjects of the study are the 53 first-year female university students and they are randomly assigned into three groups: text-, voice-, and video-chatting groups. The major results of the study are as follows: first, all the three synchronous CMC tools are effective in improving the fluency and accuracy of speaking skills. Second, the voice-based CMC tools, not the text-based one, are effective in improving the learners’ interactive skills and active use of communicative strategies. Third, all the three synchronous CMC tools are effective in enhancing the learners’ confidence in their English speaking abilities and beliefs in the improvement of their oral communicative competence. Lastly, the learners’ responses to the use of the CMC tools in performing communicative tasks are very positive in all the three groups. Based on these results, some pedagogical suggestions are made on the effective use of the synchronous CMC tools in Korean English classroom settings.