This paper investigated the effects of Korean syllable structure on the acquisition of English consonant clusters on the basis of the speech data collected from a total of 8 Korean middle school students (2 females and 6 males). A total of 24 English monosyllabic words that formed 8 different quasi minimal triplets was employed and recorded. Each triplet consisted of mono-consonantal, bi-consonantal, and tri-consonantal words like pin, spin, spring or pin, pink, pinks. The three words at four triplets were differentiated by the number of consonants at the onset position and those at the other four triplets, at the coda position. Using a 5 point-scale scoring method, two native English speakers rated the speech data in terms of (i) intelligibility and (ii) the scoring of bi- and tri-consonantal words with three points being fixed on mono-syllabic words. The main finding was that the tri-consonantal words scored the lowest, bi-consonantal words were in the middle, and mono-consonantal words scored the highest. But, this general tendency held true only at the words dissimilar at the coda position. At the onset position, on the other hand, the mono-consonantal words scored the lowest. The in-depth analysis that followed the rating showed that a comparison of the words in terms of the syllabic intelligibility can be properly made only when each consonant comprising a syllable is intelligibly articulated on its own.

The present study aims to examine the realization of English reduced vowels by Korean learners. Little seems to be known about the acquisition of reduced vowels by L2 learners in spite of the importance of their correct use in avoiding a foreign accent. Three groups of Korean subjects and native American-English subjects participated in the study, and five types of test materials were created considering phonological position, morphological structure, and English orthography. The frequencies of F1 and F2 were measured and their scatter plots were drawn for the analysis. The findings of the present study are summarized as follows. First, L1 influence was identified in the realization of English reduced vowels by Korean learners. The characteristic of the syllable-timed language of Korean was represented and L1 transfer of the Korean vowel [ ] was shown in the results. Second, English proficiency of Korean learners was reflected in the production of the reduced vowels. Third, the early experience of staying in English-speaking countries helped Korean learners acquire English reduced vowels.

This article reports on research into self-directed English leaning of Korean university students, focusing on their motivation and metacognition. In general, university students in Korea undertake independent learning to improve their English competence outside the classroom, rather than relying on English courses provided by their universities. Although much of their English learning is self-directed, little has been known about how they carry out their out-of-class English learning. To obtain a better understanding of their self-directed learning, this study, employing a qualitative approach, analyzed reflective journals written by 25 university students during one semester. From the analysis, students’ motivation and metacognition emerged as important themes involved in the students’ self-directed learning. The findings of this study suggest that student motivation continuously ebbs and flows as a result of its complex interrelationship with contextual factors. In addition, it was found that students’ metacognitive knowledge played a crucial role in directing their out-of-class learning as students adopted learning strategies based on their metacognitive knowledge, which was again formed and revised in the course of their learning process. Finally, this article presents suggestions for promoting students’ self-directed English learning.

A vast amount of research has now established that writer-reader interaction is embodied in written texts through various linguistic devices. Among them, modalization plays a key role as a strategy for constructing the interaction in text. The impetus for this study is that it allows a new perspective to cross-cultural comparison between English and Korean texts. Based on contextual analysis of 356 British and Korean newspaper science popularizations with the two pairs of analytical categories that show how directly the writer performs the interaction with the reader (Types DI and II) and how strongly the writer commits him/herself to propositions (Types S and W), this paper argues that the discoursal preferences in the interactive use of modalization by the two groups of authors seem to be a reflection of the different orientations to human relations in British and Korean societies: equality-orientation in Britain and hierarchy-orientation in Korea.

The purpose of this study is to analyze writing activities in Korean high school English textbooks and suggest more effective writing activities in comparison to Chinese textbooks. For the analysis, two Korean and two Chinese high school English textbooks are selected. Writing activities are investigated in terms of three research procedures. The study begins by typifying writing activities as controlled, guided, and free writing, guided by Raimes’ controlled -to-free approach (1983) and Rivers’ five writing instruction stages (1981). Next, it examines writing activities according to the writing criterion prescribed by the Korean and Chinese national curricula, respectively. Finally, it investigates writing activities in relation to other language skills, such as listening, speaking, and reading. The results are as follows. First, while Korean textbooks include more writing activities than Chinese textbooks, there remain substantial imbalances in both. Both textbooks contain the most controlled writing activities and lack free writing. Second, Korean textbooks provide more writing questions than do Chinese textbooks in order to satisfy the national-level writing criteria. However, in comparison to Chinese textbooks, they lack writing activities designed to satisfy paragraph- level writing standards which enhance logical organization competence. Third, Korean textbooks offer more writing activities integrated with other language skills. Both textbooks most frequently contain writing activities integrated with reading skills.