This study aimed to categorize grammar items in English textbooks used across Korean elementary, middle, and high schools by specific grade levels. To achieve this, we developed an automated grammar item analyzer using natural language processing techniques, which analyzed 52,964 sentences from the textbooks. We selected 173 grammar items from the 2022 revised national curriculum and classified them according to the methodology used to determine CEFR levels in the English Grammar Profile. The classification results are as follows: 18 items for Grade 3 of elementary school, 6 for Grade 4, 11 for Grade 5, 8 for Grade 6, 29 for the first year of middle school, 43 for the second year, 22 for the third year, 29 for the first year of high school, and 7 for the second year. Based on these findings, this study discusses pedagogical implications, focusing on practical applications such as refining assessment tools, more precisely defining curricular objectives, and developing grade-specific instructional materials.
The paper observes that grammatical competence has been interpreted as the ability to judge grammaticality ever since the employment of communicative competence as the core basis of curriculum design in the 6th national English curriculum of Korea. It contends that this interpretation is different from what has been widely accepted in the literature on grammatical competence, that is, the ability to understand and express propositional meaning of utterances. The study suggests that a new and fresh look at grammatical competence needs to be taken in developing and implementing the national English curriculum which is to provide English learners in Korea with more potential opportunities for success in acquiring communicative competence.
This paper reviews research articles on English grammar instruction in Korea published in the journal ofEnglish Teaching since 1965. It analyzes current trends of research studies and provides prospects for future research studies in the field of English grammar instruction. A total of 45 research papers were reviewed and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative analyses revealed that over 90 percent of the articles have been published since 1990 and most of them have explored the efficacy of grammar teaching under the approach of focus on form. The qualitative analyses present thorough reviews of the published research papers with the emphasis on themes, research methods, and their pedagogical implications. The limitations ofthe published articles and some suggestions for the development of English grammar instruction are provided.
The is the commonest word in English. This word is also known as one of the most difficult grammatical items for Korean learners of English as a foreign language. This paper focuses on the non-generic use of the English definite article, and examines the grammatical descriptions of the article in Advanced English Grammar and English Grammar in Use. It reveals that some of the important usages of the definite article are not included in 'the grammar books', and observes, following Park and Song (2001), that these unlisted usages cause much difficulty for Korean learners to improve accuracy in the article use. Underscoring the organic view of language, the paper proposes that a comprehensive and systematic understanding of 'grammar' is prerequisite for optimum efficiency in teaching the English definite article to Korean EFL learners.
This paper explores grammar-based organization of English teaching content, paying special attention to some grammatical properties of the expression "How are you?". The paper reports that "frequency" and "simplicity" are two of the most important organizational principles, and proposes that full-scale detailed grammar description is the prerequísite for "simplicity-based" content organization.
Eunil Kim . 2002. A Functional Appro ach to Eng li sh Educ ation . S t ud ie s in M od e rn Grammar 27, 105- 121. This study is to explore how Functional Grammar can contribute to English Education. As noted in Brown (2000), the human organism approaches any new problem with an existing set of cognitive structures : Previously learned material interferes with subsequent material. Korean learners of English will use whatever previous experience they have had with Korean in order to facilit ate English learning process. This study tries to develop teaching materials that help Korean student s overcome the interfering effect s of Korean on English, focusing on how the Korean and English grammars code semantic domains such as animacy, volitionality, inchoation and functional domains of voice and tense/ aspect .