The purpose of this study is to investigate university students’ perceptions on their English conversation classes taught by native English speakers. Its focus is on finding out how well the students understand and how actively they participate in class, what causes difficulty in their understanding or participation in class, and whether their class helps them in terms of affective aspects and English skills. A survey was conducted on a total of 465 university students in Korea, and the collected data were analyzed to compute basic descriptive and inferential statistics. Some of the important findings are 1) over 50% of the students understand their classes well; 2) a little over 30% actively participate in class; 3) about 30~50% of the students perceive their class help them affectively; and 4) about 50% of the students perceive their class help them improve their English skills in general. These results are discussed along with other findings related to the causes of the difficulties that the students experienced. Suggestions are provided on the basis of the results and their implications.

This study investigates faculty and students’ perceptions of English conversation courses in the General English Program (GEP) at a university. A total of 437 students completed the survey and interviews were conducted with 8 of them. Three Native English Speaker (NS) instructors participated in the study by submitting reflective journals and being interviewed. Qualitative as well as quantitative data collection methods were employed to offer a better understanding of the current status of English conversation courses taught by NS instructors. Results about the five research questions are as follows. First, students were satisfied with the courses overall, although it varied across classes taught by each NS instructor. Second, students’ satisfaction with the courses also varied depending on their self-assessment of English proficiency. Third, the results of the stepwise regression analysis showed that NS instructors’ qualifications and attitude were the best predictor of students’ satisfaction with the courses. Fourth, NS instructors expressed dissatisfaction with the current textbooks and administrative support from the university. Fifth, the lack of understanding of both students and Korean culture caused critical classroom management issues, which, in turn, led to students’ negative perceptions of the courses. The findings provide practical implications of this GEP curriculum at the university.

The purpose of the present study is to learn about English conversation instructors, in particular, to find out (1) who they are; (2) how they cooperate with English teachers at schools; and (3) what needs they have to serve better as English teaching staff at schools. An online survey was administered to all English conversation instructors at elementary and secondary schools in Korea. Around 4,630 English conversation instructors- 2,920 at elementary schools and 1,710 at secondary schools- participated in the study. The collected data were analyzed: (1) to describe the characteristics of English conversation instructors; (2) to examine how they are sharing teaching duties with English teachers; and (3) to assess the needs for their competency development. The needs of English conversation instructors were analyzed by calculating the gap between the current competence and the expected competence. The difference of English conversation instructors competence development needs at the elementary level and at the secondary level were then further analyzed through Analysis of Variance. The results of this study can be used as basic data to establish the training system for English conversation instructors’ competence development.

화상영어회화시스템은 원격으로 원어민과 직접 영어회화를 가능하게 함으로써 일반적으로 사용되고 있다. 그러나 어린 학습자는 게임 기술을 활용하여 학습의 흥미와 교육의 효과를 얻을 수 있다. 본 논문은 3차원 게임 기술과 네트워크 게임 기술을 이용해서 저연령의 학습자가 교육에 몰입할 수 있도록 하는 3차원캐릭터 화상영어회화시스템의 설계와 구현에 대해서 기술한다. 3차원캐릭터 화상영어회화시스템은 게임과 교육이 결합한 좋은 예가 될 것이며, 향후 성공적인 교육용 기능성 게임의 적극적인 개발을 기대한다.

It recently became evident that the EFL needs of secondary school students could not be met by the then-current complement of teachers. This led to an increase in the number of Conversational English Instructors in the public school system. This growing demand for EFL instructors in our nation‟s public schools requires an obligation to examine the selection criteria and process for incoming EFL instructors. Based on our analysis of a nationwide survey of EFL Instructors, we recommend reforms to the selection process system. A total of 199 EFL instructors in secondary schools including those in Seoul, metropolitan cities, medium-sized cities, and small communities participated in the main survey. The survey considered the entire EFL Instructor selection process including the 1st step of applicant specifications, the 2nd step of teaching-learning performance test and interview test. Our analysis suggests that the selection criteria should include the applicant‟s proficiency test score in spoken and written English, and the teaching-learning performance should be emphasized in a greater extent. This research suggests that the way of testing the applicants‟ teachinglearning performance in the 2nd step selection process should be changed into a more authentic microteaching situation, and that regional needs vary and must be considered in the selection process.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the efficient methodes of the basic English conversation learning. Various theories have been proposed to explain how children manage to acquire the adult language. The acquisition of a second language parallels the acquisition of a first native language. If a second language is learned early in life, it is usually acquired with no difficulty. The difficulties encountered in attempting to learn languages after puberty have given rise to a critical age hypothesis that refers to a biological period in which language can be acquired without overt teaching. A number of second-language teaching methods have been proposed, reflecting different theories of the nature of language and language acquisition. These methods, however, do not explain the apparent differences between first and second language acquisition.In order to obtain a complete picture of a second language acquisition process, it is necessary to combine the findings from both naturalistic and experimental studies, keeping in mind that differences in the tasks may affect the results. Studies conducted on a wide range of different languages are also needed in the quest for universal of second language acquisition.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a university English conversation program which had employed on-line homework and outside-class interviews with native English instructors. After over 1,200 sophomores took the conversation course for a semester, questionnaires were administered to measure the students' satisfaction for the program and their perceived usefulness and effectiveness of the in- and outside-class activities. The results showed: first, students perceived the in-class lessons and outside-class interviews with the native English instructors as useful, but not the on-line conversation practice; secondly, the students' perceived usefulness, affective effects, and content evaluation of each activity were shown to have significant effects on their perceived effectiveness of the outside-class activities. Lastly, significant differences were not found by the different groups of proficiency level in their perceptions of the usefulness, affective effects, and content evaluation of the outside-class activities. However, different proficient groups showed different amount of study efforts and preference for activities.