Oral language comprehension (OLC) and vocabulary depth are widely recognized as key predictors of reading comprehension. However, research has either provided a limited representation of OLC or failed to acknowledge the distinctive predictive nature of vocabulary depth. This study investigates the combined contributions of OLC, conceptualized as a unified composite of foundational language variables and compares its effects on reading comprehension to vocabulary depth, while accounting for writing abilities. A total of 169 advanced Korean university EFL students were tested on listening comprehension, grammar knowledge, vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and reading comprehension in English. SEM analyses revealed that both OLC and vocabulary depth made unique contributions to reading comprehension, with OLC demonstrating relatively stronger predictive power. Writing abilities did not show significant effects when OLC and vocabulary depth were considered in the same model. These findings underscore the independent predictive roles of OLC and vocabulary depth in L2 reading comprehension and highlight the importance of integrating these constructs into EFL pedagogical practices.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of the sentence-writing task on English vocabulary learning of Korean high school students. The effectiveness of the sentence-writing task can be explained based on the Involvement Load Hypothesis (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001); yet, there has been no consistency in the results of the previous studies on this hypothesis. In the present study, the effects of the sentence-writing task on vocabulary learning were re-examined in comparison with the gap-filling task. In addition, considering that there have been no studies addressing the effects of autobiographical elaboration (relating the meaning of a certain word to one’s own experience) on memory, the effects of the autobiographical sentence-writing task were compared to those of the imaginary sentence-writing task. Forty high proficiency and 40 low proficiency learners were randomly assigned either of the sentence-writing or the gap-filling task. The results demonstrated that the sentence-writing task is more effective in vocabulary learning than the gap-filling task, regardless of the learners’ proficiency levels. However, no significant difference was found between the effects of the autobiographical sentence-writing task and the imaginary sentence-writing task. Based on the results, the pedagogical implications were discussed in the conclusion chapter.

Recently in the course of examining Korean diptera, we found a species, Atrichopogon femoralis Tokunaga placed in the subfamily Forcipomyinae Meigen. Forcipomyinae is most specious in the family Ceratogonidae, and comprise about 5,566 extant species placed in 103 genera in four subfamilies (Borkent and Wirth, 1997) from almost all the zoogeographic regions. Genus Atrichopogon is second largest genus, with about 520 species (Borkent, 2012). Currently 39 valid species of 6 genera belonging to 3 subfamily are known in Korea. The specimens were collected from intermountain area and reservoir of Chungcheongnam-do, Cheonan-si, and Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gyeongju-si by black light trap (BLT) in 2013. We report an occurrence Atrichopogon femoralis Tokunaga for the first time in Korea, and of which diagnosis, description, distribution and photo images are presented. For further researches, we also provide a key to genera of Korean Ceratopogonidae.