This article reports on an experimental study that investigated the effects of different conditions of listener backchannels on the fluency of L2 speakers. The participants were 15 advanced Chinese learners of Korean who performed oral tasks in three different backchannel conditions: (1) verbal + nonverbal (V+NV), (2) nonverbal-only (NV), and (3) no backchannels (NB). The verbal backchannels included “[ŋ~] (Non lexical verbal form)”, “[ne]”, “[ɑ]”, “[ɨm]” while the nonverbal backchannels involved head nodding. Fluency was assessed via three temporal measures: Rate A, Rate B and MLR. The data was statistically analyzed using SPSS 25 package. The results showed that 15 Chinese participants in the NV condition were more fluent than in the V+NV or NB conditions. However, no significant differences were found between the V+NV and NB conditions. These results suggest that nonverbal backchannels may facilitate the fluency of advanced Chinese learners of Korean during oral tasks depending on the nature of backchannel use in their L1 and sociocultural environments. The present research theoretically broadens the scope of both fluency and backchannel studies and provides valuable data and methods for empirical studies on backchannels to Korean.

The present study investigated students’ preferences for the types of tasks used to assess English speaking performance. It further examined whether students’ task type preferences affected their perceptions of test effectiveness. One hundred eighty-two high school students responded to a self-report questionnaire. A series of frequency analysis and paired samples t-tests were used for the analysis. The results showed that students’ most preferred task types and their least preferred ones overlapped with each other, suggesting that the task types of English-speaking performance tests used in schools are limited. The four key reasons determining students’ task type preferences were identified, including task difficulty, emotional comfort, practical value, and interest. In addition, the results indicated that students’ task type preferences could affect their perceptions of task effectiveness. Overall, the results suggest the need for developing more varied task types for English-speaking performance tests as well as helping students become familiar with English speaking performance tasks. Pedagogical implications were discussed along with study limitations.

River water quality and organisms have a very close relationship with the human living environment and health, so it is very important to ensure and maintain the ecological integrity of the aquatic ecosystem. In that sense, benthic diatoms have relatively little mobility, can explain the effects of long-term exposed pollution sources, and are very suitable indicator organisms for river ecosystem evaluation. Diatom ecologists have been developed various diatom indices to assess water quality and stream ecosystem over the world. However, they so far have insufficient identification of taxa, are strongly regional, and are difficult to apply as they are domestically. Unfortunately, there has not been developed an independent diatom index suitable for the Korean stream. Therefore, management of water quality and aquatic ecosystem suitable for domestic rivers can be made, and development or improvement of comprehensive multivariate diatom index for the integrated assessment of water quality and aquatic ecosystem is urgently needed.

The aim of the study was to set up assessment indicators for early elimination of horses that are not trainable or low efficient for training by comparing difference of behavioral response and heart rate on stimulation of desensitization training in horses. The animals used in this study were 8 untrained cross-bred horses (Thoroughbred and Jeju-horse) in Jeju island. Changes of heart rates and behavioral response of each horses were compared before and after desensitization training using a plastic bag on its tip. The result showed that the horses with their severe behavioral response were also high in heart rate during early stage of desensitization training, and the increased heart rates were recovered back to the base level according to the process of the training. The horses that quickly recovered in heart rate also showed same tendency in behavioral response. The horses that their recovery in heart rate and behavioral response in early stage of the desensitization training were late, showed insufficient results of the additional desensitization training. We conclude that assessment of heart rate and behavioral response in the early stage of desensitization training could be used as indicators to predict the effectiveness of desensitization or other kinds of training in horses.

The aims of this study were to analyze the physico-chemical factors and the characteristics of epilithic diatom community from 15 sites of the Naeseongcheon and tributaries located in the upper region of the Nakdong river from May to October 2016. The biological water quality was assessed using DAIpo and TDI. A total of 163 diatom taxa were identified with 2 orders, 3 suborders, 9 families, 35 genera, 145 species, 16 varieties and 2 forms. Cocconeis placentula var. lineata appeared at every examined sites. Achnanthes lanceolata, Nitzschia fonticola, Nitzschia inconspicua and Reimeria sinuata were common taxa of the Naeseongcheon. Nitzschia inconspicua and Achnanthes minutissima were major dominant species. As a result of the CCA, Electrical conductivity and total nitrogen concentration were important factors determining the diatom species composition. In the result of the biological assessment using DAIpo, the Naeseongcheon was rated at class B with an average of 62.38. In the result of assessment using TDI, the Naeseongcheon was rated at class C with an average of 66.12.

The purpose of this study was to investigate inter- and intra- rater reliability in an interview and a computerized oral test. It was also examined whether rater characteristics influenced on their reliability and biases, and finally the scores of both tests were compared with those of the Versant test using an automated computer rating system. For the study, the data from 21 Korean university students and 18 Korean or native speakers of English raters with various characteristics were collected. Some of the main findings from the study were as follows. First, rater severity was significantly different in each test, but each rater consistently graded on both tests suggesting lower inter-rater reliability and higher intra-rater reliability. Secondly, rater severity was impacted by the rater characteristics such as mother tongue, gender, age, and major. Lastly, there existed a positive correlation among the scores of the three tests, indicating that the scores of human beings and computers are strongly related.

The objective of the study is to assess temperament of a horse based on general temperament test by a questionnaire survey. Five test criteria were identified: gentleness, patience, aggressiveness, sensitivity, and friendliness, each on a 5-point scale. 114 horses bred at the National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The horses recorded scores of 3.6∼3.9 for gentleness, 3.1∼3.6 for patience, 3.4∼4.0 for aggressiveness, 2.8∼3.2 for sensitivity, and 3.4∼3.8 for friendliness, the overall score for sensitivity the lowest. Horses born in 2012 scored lower than the rest in all five areas at a statistically significant level (P<0.05). By gender, the colts scored higher than the fillies in all five areas, but the discrepancy was not statistically significant. Factor analysis yielded only one factor, and the Cronbach's α value was 0.980 for standardization of Factor 1, indicating a high reliability of internal consistency. The correlation coefficients among the test criteria ranged between 0.85 and 0.91 (P<0.01). The assessment criteria used in this study are expected to provide a useful basis designing a temperament test horses.

Yoo, Hye-won. 2012. The study on speech education by self-evaluation results analysis of speech learners. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 20(1). pp. 111-134. In this paper, I suggested the ideas for developing efficient educational contents and educational methods of speech education in the university by analyzing the self-evaluation results of college students' speeches. To do this study, I gave the students the checklist to be able to evaluate their speeches. The students had to submit the checklist and evaluation report for their speeches. The students' self-evaluations were quantitatively as well as qualitatively analyzed and extracted the main characteristics of college students' speeches. On the basis of these results, I suggested some ideas as follow. First, to improve their speech ability, it is important to gain confidence. So four strategies to gain confidence were proposed. Second, we must enforce the non-verbal education contents. Many students think that non-verbal elements in the speech are very difficult to do well. Therefore efficient educational methods as well as educational contents of non-verbal must be developed. Third, as to do high level speech, students must enhance linguistic sensitivity, so I proposed the methods of enhancing linguistic sensitivity. Last, I represented the meaning of speech contents. What this study is empirical is its good points.(208)

This study investigates secondary school English teachers’ perceptions and psychological burdens involved in the implementation of the speaking and writing tests of the National English Ability Test, which is being developed by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The study surveyed 138 secondary school English teachers in Seoul. Although more than half of the teachers were aware of the new test, 18% of the surveyed teachers were not aware of the fact that speaking and writing skills would be assessed in the new test. Also, 22.7% of the teachers were opposed to the productive skills test. More than half (56.2%) of the teachers felt some psychological burdens toward the inclusion of the speaking/writing tests. Although the teachers admitted that serving as raters for the new test would help improve their teaching, the majority of them were reluctant to participate in the actual rating process. The teachers felt that the difficulty of subjective rating and the lack of time for the speaking and writing tests were serious problems in implementing the new test. The teachers were sensitive toward the students’ test anxiety. They also indicated that they feel a strong psychological burden when making judgments on the students' performances. Implications and suggestions are made based on the findings.

본 연구는 제주조릿대의 성장단계별 영양소 함량을 분석하고 말에서의 소화율을 검정하여 말 사료자원으로써의 활용가치를 평가하고, 제 주조릿대 군락지 내 말 방목에 따른 제주조릿대의 생산성, 생육특성, 주변 식생의 변화 등을 구명하기 위해 수행되었다. 제주조릿대를 구초 (1년생)와 신초 (당년생)의 성장단계로 분류하여 조단백질, NDF, ADF 및 무기물 함량을 분석했다. 제주마 5두를 이용 제주조릿대 구초와 신초의 전분채취법을 이용한 외관상 소화율을 검정했

This study investigates the nature and the validity of the PhonePass SET-10 test designed to measure test-takers’ English oral proficiency using the automated computer technology. For this study, the data from 84 Korean college students were collected: students’ TEPS scores, PhonePass SET-10 results as well as the results from the survey developed to measure their attitudes toward the new format of English speaking test. Based on the analysis of the study, it is found out that there exists a positive correlation between the TEPS scores and the PhonePass SET-10 results of the participants, indicating that in fact the computer-based automated evaluating system can significantly contribute to assessing students’ English oral proficiency while the items and the purpose of the test administration are relatively limited. It is also reported that the participants of this study showed positive attitudes toward the PhonePass SET-10 with a hope that the newly developed speaking test will help them further their English study.

The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 13(1). The purpose of this study is to explore the possibility of interface research between English discourse studies and speaking assessment. Assessment expertise has already been interfaced with discourse-based studies to develop and validate oral proficiency tests of English. One of the important developments in language assessment over recent years is the introduction of qualitative discourse research methodologies to design, describe, and validate direct or semi-direct tests of speaking. This paper explored assessment research in the areas of the following discourse studies: interactional sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, variation analysis, conversation analysis, critical discourse analysis. This review of discourse-related assessment literature showed that discourse studies have much potential for the validation tasks of current oral proficiency tests. Possible areas of discourse studies related to the new era of process-oriented language assessment were discussed.

본 연구는 자기평가 활동이 초등학생의 말하기 능력에 미치는 영향을 검증하기 위해 첫째, 자기평가 활동이 학생들의 말하기 능력에 어떠한 영향을 미치는가? 둘째, 자기평가 활동이 학생들의 말하기 능력 수준별로 어떠한 차이를 보이는가? 라는 연구문제를 설정하였다. 이 연구문제를 해결하기 위하여 K시 소재 4학년 2개 학급 62명을 실험집단과 통제집단으로 선정하였다. 실험 처치는 본 연구자가 4주간 8회기에 걸쳐 실시하였다. 실험에 투입한 자기평가 도구는 자기점검식 평정방법과 학습 일지 방법을 혼합하여 본 연구자가 제작하였다. 본 연구에서 사용된 말하기 능력 측정 도구로는 말하기 능력 4가지 하위요소에 대해 3점 척도의 자기점검 평정표로 제작한 자기평가지로 동일하게 사용하였다. 말하기 능력은 교사 채점자 3인이 말하기 내용선정, 말하기 내용조직, 표현 및 전달, 자신감 있게 말하는 태도의 각 요소에 대하여 3점 척도의 분석적 평가를 한 후 그 결과를 평균하였다. 말하기 능력은 실험 전인 사전검사와 8회기 자기평가를 적용한 정보를 전달하는 말하기 실험 후의 사후검사, 그리고 4주 후의 지연검사를 통해 측정되었다. 연구에서 얻어진 결과는 첫째, 자기평가 활동이 학생들의 말하기 능력을 향상시켰으나 지속적인 효과는 나타나지 않았다. 둘째, 자기평가는 말하기 능력 상, 중, 하위 집단간 비교에서 상위집단의 말하기 능력을 향상시켰으나 지속적인 효과는 나타나지 않았다. 따라서 본 연구는 자기평가 활동이 장기적으로 이루어진다면 학생들의 수행능력을 향상시킬 수 있는 바람직한 교육적 대안이 될 수 있를 것이다.