The study aims to investigate the effect of post-reading question-generation activities on Korean middle school students’ English reading abilities with respect to cooperative learning. Two groups of students read the same reading materials; however, one group as an experimental group generated questions of three types, literal, inferential, and evaluative questions, while the other group as a control group answered comprehension questions. Each group was further divided into two sub-groups by cooperative and individual learning. A statistical analysis of the recall test scores reveals a positive effect of post-reading question-generation activities and cooperative learning on English reading abilities. The reading test scores by the three question types further illustrated variations across the question types: the experimental group outperformed the control group in the inferential and evaluative questions and individual learning was detected to be more effective than cooperative learning in the evaluative questions. Interactional effects were observed between post-reading activities and cooperative learning in the literal and evaluative questions. The findings suggest question-generation activities as a beneficial post-reading task, though their effectiveness can vary by question types and learning context.

The present study aims to investigate the direct and indirect contributions of Korean EFL college students’ L2 receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge to their L2 writing performances by using a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis with a goal to explore the pathways of vocabulary knowledge to writing. Data from 178 students were collected through tests of receptive and productive vocabulary breadth and depth, a writing test and a reading test. In testing a hypothesized model on the roles of receptive and productive vocabulary in writing, the results of the SEM analysis reveal the direct role of productive vocabulary in writing. The indirect role of receptive vocabulary on writing was observed through the mediating role of productive vocabulary or reading ability due to the direct contribution of receptive vocabulary to both productive vocabulary and reading and that of productive vocabulary and reading to writing. Findings from the study shed light on the relations of L2 receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge with L2 writing abilities, suggesting potential benefits of both receptive and productive vocabulary learning for L2 writing.

This study is an exploratory case study of writing strategies that Korean EFL graduate students in applied linguistics employed in the semester-long process of L2 computermode research paper writing with the use of multiple resources. Data for writing processes and strategy and resource use were largely collected from a writing strategy inventory questionnaire and writing logs, which were complemented by a keystroke logging program, video recordings and retrospective recall interviews. The results of the study reveal the influence of genre features and variations across writing stages, strategies, resources, and individual writers. Planning was intermingled with researching. The participants deployed certain strategies only at a particular stage or throughout the whole writing process. The students who had higher education in English-speaking countries used fewer strategies and preferred electronic resources to print resources than those who were educated mainly in Korea. The latter also showed a tendency of employing self-regulatory strategies. Findings from the study suggest that the research paper writing process is resourceful, strategic and individually situated, and it involves complex composing behaviors accompanied by more varied strategies and resources than shown in studies of one-time reading-to-write tasks.

The present study aims to explore the factors affecting Korean EFL high school students’ choice of picture options with key expressions in a writing test prompt, as well as the effects of option position and contents on their performance. It further aims to examine whether these effects vary with English writing proficiency. The performance of lower- and higher-level students in two prompts was analyzed along with their reasons for their choices. The prompt had three picture options with two key expressions in each option; the students chose one picture option and wrote a 20-word message declining a request using a reason specified in the option. Significant effects were not found for position within the prompts, but for the content of the options. The participants tended to choose a certain picture option over others mainly because of topical knowledge, difficulty level, or picture preference. The findings suggest a significant effect of picture contents, which yields implications for designing prompts with picture options for score validity.

Nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) was analyzed to identify inter-specific genetic relationships among 8 Cymbidium species (Cymbidium insigne, C. ensifolium, C. marginatum, C. faberi, C. gyokuchin, C. kanran, C. forrestii, and C. goeringii). Nuclear rDNA including 2 internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions and 5.8S, was amplified using polymerase chain reaction and sequenced. The sequences were compared via pair-wise multiple alignment to determine the genetic relationships among the studied species. The lengths of the ITS1, ITS2, and 5.8S regions were 235 bp, from 255 bp to 257 bp, and from 153 bp to 165 bp, respectively. Sequence similarities in the ITS region ranged from 78.7% between C. gyokuchin and C. kanran to 96.8% between C. ensifolium and C. kanran. A phylogenetic tree was constructed from nuclear rDNA nucleotide sequence data of the 8 cymbidiums and 1 outgroup species to estimate genetic relationships. The tree revealed that cymbidiums could be classified by their ecological traits, such as their temperature preference or inflorescence pattern. The phylogenetic data is applicable for identification, classification, and breeding of cymbidiums.

This study purposes to examine the effects of two types of revision training (teacher feedback-aided and protocol-aided revision training) on L2 student writers’ revision and written product and quality, compared with their self-revision and also to analyze L2 writers’ perceptions on revision training through a pre- and post-training questionnaire survey. The results of the study show positive effects of both types of training; more positive effects of teacher feedback-aided revision training on the quality and product of writing, especially in less proficient writers; more significant effects of protocol-based revision training on revision frequency, content changes, and success ratio of revision, especially in less-proficient writers; and more local (content preserving) revisions triggered by teacher feedback, especially in more proficient writers. Though teacher feedback-aided revision was favored over protocol-aided revision after training, the participants’ perception on the former’s positive effects and utilization rate decreased, but their perception on the latter’s positive effects and utilization rate enhanced. The present study suggests protocol-aided revision as an alternative revision method, and different revision methods depending on the focus of revision and L2 writing proficiency.