To address the English proficiency of underachieving college students, universities often use in-house language tests. C University lacks specific exams for identification, and relies on students’ English performance in the Korean College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT English). This research explores the potential of the TOEIC Bridge, a standardized English proficiency test developed for middle and high school students, to provide an effective, practical measure for screening underachieving students in English. The study investigates the relationship between TOEIC Bridge and CSAT English performance, evaluating the predictive value of TOEIC Bridge on CSAT outcomes. Analyzing data from 418 students, the study identified (1) a moderate correlation between TOEIC Bridge and CSAT English performance, and (2) predictability of CSAT English performance based on TOEIC Bridge, suggesting that TOEIC Bridge can provide a potential tool to identify underachieving students in English. These findings contribute pedagogical insights for tertiary education.

This research investigated consistency of achievement levels stated in the 2015 revised national curriculum of English, high school English textbooks, and the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) according to CEFR Levels. Based on CEFR levels, this study compared levels of targeted achievement standards in the national curriculum, focusing on reading passages in High School EnglishⅡ and CSAT implemented for three consecutive years (2021-2023). Results indicated that the reading section of textbooks and CSAT included a considerable portion of passages whose text difficulty levels were higher than CEFR B2, exceeding the achievement standards required for high school graduates. These results suggest that difficulty levels in the national curriculum, textbooks, and CSAT should be adjusted according to target levels of language proficiency based on CEFR levels so that learning burden of students can be lessened and competency-based English teaching and learning finally can be performed.

The College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) has focused on relative ranks among students since it started from 1993. In December 2014 The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that it would adopt an absolute grading system (AGS) for English scores in the CSAT, starting from November 2017, and discard the relative grading. The MOE hoped that the AGS of CSAT English would eventually serve to normalize English education by having teachers place more emphasis on improving students’ communication skills rather than on solving CSAT questions. This paper describes the rationale behind the implementation of AGS for CSAT English by the MOE and how the criteria and grades of AGS have been developed and set. Then current problems arising from the AGS for CSAT English are discussed by touching on its theoretical, practical and political issues based on relevant literatures, public hearings and news media reports, and informal interviews with contemporary teachers of English.

Since the introduction of criterion-referenced evaluation into the English Section of the 2018 College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT), it has become more important than ever to maintain the same level of its difficulty each year. This study was designed to examine whether 2017 and 2018 CSAT reading passages do not differ in terms of text difficulty. Both unidimensional and multidimensional indices Coh-Metrix (Version 3.0) provides were used in this study. Descriptive indices involved the respective count and length of sentences and words. As unidimensional indices, the Coh-Metrix L2 Readability score as well as the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores was measured. Indices for text easibility at different discourse levels (the surface structure, the textbase, the situation model, and the genre and rhetorical structure) were also included. Results showed that there were no significant differences between 2017 and 2018 passages. Compared with other easibility components (narrativity, syntactic simplicity, word concreteness, and deep cohesion), referential cohesion was rather low in both 2017 and 2018. Some pedagogical implications are also provided.

본 연구는 수능 영어 독해력 향상을 위한 다독 프로그램에 대해 교사와 학생들이 가지는 의식과 다독 프로그램에 대한 요구를 조사 및 분석하였다. 이를 위해 서울특별시와 경기도, 강원도, 충청도 소재 국·공립 고등학교 2학년과 3학년에 재학 중인 남녀 고등학생 309명과 동일 학교에서 근무 중인 영어교사 32명을 대상으로 요구조사를 진행하였다. 교사와 학생에게 주어진 설문 문항은 기초 설문 항목, 학교 수업 실태 조사 항목과 다독 실태 조사 항목 및 영어 다독 수업 모형에 대한 요구도 조사 항목으로 구성하였다. 교사의 요구 분석 결과를 종합하면, 교사들은 교과서를 제외한 영어 읽기 텍스트 부족과 읽기 교육 내용의 체계적 구성 결핍을 현재 영어 읽기 교육의 주된 문제점으로 인식했다. 다독을 통해 영어 읽기 능력을 향상할 수 있기 때문에 대다수의 교사들은 교육 여건이 충분하지 못한 상황에도 불구하고 다독 교육이 필요하다는 의견을 보여주었다. 학생 설문 분석의 경우, 지나치게 난해한 표현들이 수능 영어 지문과 EBS 교재에 다수 포함되어 학생들은 영어 읽기 문제 해결에 많은 어려움을 겪고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 대부분의 학생들은 현재 다루고 있는 수능 지문과 EBS 교재 이외에도 읽기 능력 향상과 수능 영어 시험에서 높은 점수를 획득하 기 위해 추가적인 읽기 자료를 원하고 있으며 이러한 교사와 학생의 의식 조사를 통해 수능 영어 독해력 향상을 위한 다독 프로그램의 요구를 확인하였다.

현재 우리나라의 슬러지 발생량은 지속적으로 증가하는 추세이며, 해양매립이 금지됨에 따라, 슬러지의 처리방법과 활용방안이 시급해져 새로운 방법을 모색할 필요가 있다. 이 연구에서는 하수 처리 시 발생하는 잉여슬러지의 탈수성을 증대시켜 슬러지 케이크를 감소시키기 위해 초음파를 적용하였다. 초음파를 액체에 발사하면 액중에 수축과 팽창이 교대로 일어나며 수 만개 이상의 미세한 공동이 발생된다. 이 공동이 폭발하면서 발생한 에너지를 슬러지의 입자 파괴에 이용하여 슬러지의 탈수성을 증대시키고자 하였다. 이번 연구에서 사용된 슬러지는 김포하수처리장에서 채취한 탈수 전 슬러지이며 하수슬러지 7L에 초음파 조사시간(5min, 10min, 20min, 30min, 50min, 60min)에 조사강도 154W, 308W를 가하였다. 일반적으로 초음파 조사시간이 길어질수록 CST가 증가하는 경향을 보였다. 그러나 조사한 슬러지에 응집제를 첨가시 초음파 강도와 조사시간에 따른 CST 결과 154W에서 조사시간 5분, 10분일 때 CST가 가장 낮게 측정되었다. 또한 초음파 조사시간에 따른 원심분리실험을 실시하였다. 조사시간 5min, 10min일 때를 조사하지 않은 슬러지와 실험을 실시한 결과, 초음파에 조사된 슬러지가 초기 침하되는 속도가 더 빠르며, 최종침하량도 더 빨리 도달했다. 연구결과 초음파조사시간과 초음파 강도가 탈수성에 큰 영향을 주었다. 탈수성의 직접적 효과를 보기 위하여 조사시간 5~10min, 초음파 강도 154W를 가해야한다. 이를 잉여슬러지의 탈수능 향상에 도입시 유용하게 사용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

This study was focused on the manufacturing method of a dewatering aid, which would reduce the water content of the sludge cake by enhancing the dewaterability of sewage sludge. The pretreatment technology for sludge by using radiation and among diverse discarded resources were starfish selected as the material to manufacture the dewatering aid. Starfish went through the process of washing, drying, and pulverizing. The starfish powder made in this process was applied to the digested sludge generated at the sewage treatment plant of D City, and its effects were investigated. The starfish powder that was 300 μm in particle size was added to the irradiated digested sludge. After the application of the condensation process, the sludge with the starfish powder added was dewatered using the belt press and centrifuge, which were the traditional pressure dewatering devices. As the result, it reduced the water content of the sludge 20% higher than the dewatered cake with no dewatering aid added and irradiation. When the powder was added, it contributed to less use of the coagulant added. The more irradiation dose, the lower water content did the dewatered cake have and the more coagulant was needed for condensation, which seems to be a disadvantage that can be compensated for by the starfish dewatering aid. A small-scaled treatment of the study to a radiation technology and dewatering aid using a discarded resource confirmed the potential of dewaterability. Based on the results saying that the dewatering aid and radiation technology can improve dewatering effects using the traditional dewatering devices, this pretreatment technology will be expected to be applied to sewage treatment plants.