In a teaching environment where all instructors have to teach the same class materials within limited time, from which they have to create the same test items, it is very difficult to create some space that could foster learner autonomy (LA). The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of LA on college students’ academic achievements, task perceptions, and classroom engagement at a Korean university. The study was undertaken in four sections of the same beginner level college English course over the course of a semester. A total of 84 students enrolled in the college English class participated in the study, of which 41 students were assigned to the control group and 43 students to the experimental group. The students’ learning outcomes between the control and experimental groups, their responses to the LA task, and the instructor’s observations of the students’ learning process were analyzed. The study revealed that the students in the experimental group produced significantly higher scores in their exams than those in the control group. Also, compared to its counterpart, the experimental group appeared to engage in the learning process more actively. Educational implications for promoting LA in EFL college classes are discussed.

English has become an important language of science and scholarship due to the globalization and internationalization of higher education. As a result, there has been a rapid increase in English-mediated instruction (EMI) courses across English as a foreign language (EFL) countries. In an expansion of EMI courses, different reactions have arisen among professors between Korean and Nordic higher education contexts. Utilizing both literature search on EMI as well as insights from the researcher’s involvement in EMI projects, this article presents a comparative analysis of EMI between Korean and Nordic universities with the hope that it will contribute to more effective implementation of EMI within EFL universities such as the ones in Korea. The analysis demonstrates that although there are similar concerns about the expansion and implementation of EMI, the two contexts have fundamental differences, including the motivation for the introduction of EMI, linguistic environments, and philosophy of teaching and learning. These factors are intertwined and influence the implementation of EMI in each context. Therefore, in order to implement EMI more successfully in Korean universities, understanding the differences underlying the two contexts is required.

The study investigates the relative effects of two types of indirect written corrective feedback (CF) on the acquisition of English articles. Thirty-five high intermediate Korean EFL college students who were enrolled in three composition classes participated in this study. After the instruction on the English article usage, three classes (Class A, Class B, and Class C) received different types of feedback on their blog writings over the course of a semester. Both Class A and Class B received indirect feedback in the form of underlining errors. In the following class, Class A received correct forms with metalinguistic information for the errors revised incorrectly, but Class B did not have such opportunities. The Class C received no feedback. The results showed that only Class A, which received indirect feedback plus correct forms with metalinguistic information, made a statistically significant gain from the 3 sessions of feedback treatment. Pedagogical implications were provided on the basis of the findings.

This study describes how Korean college students perceive reviewing their peers’ drafts over the course of one semester and what variables might affect their review process. Twenty-six students enrolled in the teacher researcher’s two writing courses participated in this study. The data came from the students’ reflections on their peer reviews and the researcher’s observations/descriptions of the review process, and informal interviews with several students. The findings indicated that the students in this study valued peer reviews, but they were reluctant to write comments on peers’ drafts, especially at the beginning of the semester. However, toward the end of the semester, they felt more comfortable in providing written comments on peers’ drafts, particularly when they developed positive relationships with their peers. Suggestions for effective peer activity have also been provided.

This study examined the linguistic and methodological issues that arose as two Korean professors taught their subject matter in English to Korean college students and how each professor used the comments and suggestions provided by a teacher trainer. The participants included two Korean female professors who taught their major course in English. The data came from the analysis of the two professors’video-recorded lessons, the teacher trainer’s notes of follow-up discussions with each professor, and students’ response to the surveys. The results showed that the two Korean EFL professors exhibited more methodological than linguistic issues as they delivered their subject matter in English. Additionally, the way they used the trainer’s comments on their instruction revealed differences. One professor closely followed them, thereby changing her future instruction, whereas the other did not pay close attention to them; consequently, her subsequent lessons showed little transformation from her first lesson. This study suggests that it is important to establish a systematic support system for Korean EFL content professors who deliver their lesson in English.