This study investigated the effects of multisensory memory strategies of pairing visual and aural learning strategies of aural lexical advance organizers (LAO) and read-alouds on 146 Korean high school students learning the meaning and pronunciation of 18 unfamiliar English words. In this quasi-experimental design, the control group learned the words on a single mode of written LAO and silent reading as opposed to two treatment groups of aural LAO and silent reading, and of aural LAO and read-alouds, respectively. The effects were tested three times via pre-, post-(immediately after learning), and delayed (30 days later) tests. The immediate and long-term effects were examined by detecting the differences across the three groups in post- and delayed-tests by one-way ANOVA, and the retention of effects was examined by paired t-tests in each group across the three tests. The results indicated that pairing aural LAO and read-aloud strategies was most effective in learning and retention of both vocabulary meaning and pronunciation.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of visual input enhancement (VIE) on the comprehension of reading texts and the learning of two grammatical forms: English relative clauses and articles. Individual learners’ working memory (WM) capacity was also tested to explore its impact on the effectiveness of VIE. A total of 48 Korean college learners of English were assigned into three groups: (a) relative group receiving VIE on relative clauses (b) article group receiving VIE on articles, and (c) a control group receiving no VIE. Results showed that VIE did not have any negative effect on the learners’ reading comprehension. Rather, it had positive effects on the learning of the two grammatical forms. According to the findings, VIE on relative clauses enhanced the learners’ receptive knowledge of the grammatical form, whereas VIE on articles enhanced the learners’ productive knowledge of the form. There was a potential link between the effectiveness of VIE and the learners’ working memory processing ability. Pedagogical implications are also discussed based on these findings.

This study utilized a longitudinal data collection to examine online factors of digital multimodal composing (DMC) preference and measure learner course satisfaction with digital composing modes in an online EFL communication course. The purpose of this research was to involve learners in a process of online, interactive, and multimodal curricular design during emergency remote learning due to the coronavirus pandemic. Innovative online technologies such as a new learning management system and digital educational components were implemented and used to quantitatively examine learners’ acceptance of technology. Korean learner preferences for textual and audio modes of DMC were indicated by Relative Advantage, Perceived Usefulness, and User Satisfaction factors. These factors also indicated an aversion to video-based DMC including video recordings and video responses as well as moderate concern for video conferencing. Qualitative findings revealed student concern for the constructs of Ease of Use and Using Video Modalities when transitioning to new online learning technologies.

The purpose of this study was to analyze six English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ trajectories of discriminating near-synonyms in a data-driven learning task. Since the learners find it considerably difficult to learn subtle meaning differences of near-synonyms, corpuscorpuscorpuscorpuscorpuscorpus-based data-driven learning may provide an opportunity for them to tackle their difficulties. The study materials guided the learners to identify the differences between the four pairs of near-synonyms, categorize the concordance lines based on their findings, and generalize the findings. The six participants had notably different trajectories of discriminating near-synonyms. The qualitative analysis of the trajectories showed a tendency that the intermediate learners focused on the meanings and found the correct answer without knowing the core meaning, and the advanced learners moved further to attend to structural differences and sometimes tested their previous knowledge on the concordance data. This study implies the need for careful guidance, collaborative group works, and strategy teaching in data-driven learning tasks.

The study investigated how task types such as input or output could affect Korean EFL learners’ vocabulary learning at both short- and long-term periods after treatment. Forty two college students in Korea were randomly assigned to one of the four tasks. Based on Involvement Load Hypothesis, each task induced the same or different involvement loads: Read without glossary (Input), Gap with glossary (Input & Output), Gap without glossary (Input & Output), and Sentence and write (Output). Receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge was measured right after the treatment and a month later. The output-oriented tasks were found to be more effective than the input-oriented tasks regardless of type of vocabulary knowledge. The current study concluded that modalities such as input or output other than task-induced involvement load can contribute to Korean EFL learners’ vocabulary learning. The pedagogical discussion will be made at the conclusion.

The purpose of study was to investigate university students’ attitudes towards English language learning apps and examine whether there is any significant difference in their attitudes depending on their personal variables such as their gender, major, grade, nationality, and so on. This study also explored students’ perceptions of English language learning apps that they have used. Participants were college students living in Korea and China. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and an interview. Results showed that both Korean and Chinese students generally held positive attitudes towards English language learning apps, although Chinese students showed more positive attitudes than Koreans. The main reasons that they liked to use English language learning apps were their convenience, ubiquity, and rich resources. On the other hands, it was revealed that the lack of communication and feedback was the main problem of using such apps. Both Korean and Chinese students stated that it was an effective way to use English language learning apps to practice pronunciation, vocabulary, listening, and reading skills. Findings of this research suggest that English language learning apps should be developed to inspire users/students’ learning interest and foster learner autonomy.

The present study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of bottom-up (BU) and top-down (TD) approaches on EFL learners’ vocabulary learning, the difference in the effects of the two approaches depending upon their level of vocabulary proficiency, and their perception of the approaches. For this study, 122 college students were divided into two approach groups and to two levels in each group depending upon their level of vocabulary knowledge. They were trained with either of the approaches for one semester. The results were that 1) there was no statistically significant differences between the BU and TD approaches, even though the two approaches were effective to improve the students’ vocabulary knowledge; 2) high-level students failed to show any significant differences between the two approaches in the two tests, whereas low-level students in the BU group performed significantly better than those in the TD group in the production test; and 3) they preferred the BU or TD approach to the traditional method in vocabulary learning, and they listed some advantages and disadvantages of the approaches.

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationships among English learners’ motivation, strategies and achievement, with a group of 51 Korean three-year college students. The students responded to the questionnaire of learning motivation and strategies. Also they took a mock TOEIC. Multiple regression analysis allowed for the analysis of learners’ motivation and strategies to predict a single dependent variable, their English achievement. The findings revealed that, first, ‘internal motivation’ was found the highest predictor of their English study, while ‘instrumental motivation-individual’ was the lowest motivation type for students. Second, participants used ‘social strategies’ most frequently in studying English, and they used the others in the order of ‘compensation strategies’, ‘affective strategies’, ‘cognitive strategies’, ‘memory strategies’ and ‘metacognitive strategies’. Last, the impact of learning motivation and strategies on the TOEIC scores was not statistically significant, but the relationship of learning motivation and strategies was found to be positive. Implications for the practical classroom and suggestions for further research are suggested.

This study investigated the efficacy of retrieving EFL vocabulary from memory as a long-term retention strategy. Three learning treatments, rereading, recognizing and recalling target words, were compared with the assistance of 74 university students who underwent the treatments to learn academic American English during a 15- week semester. In addition to investigating the efficacy of the learning treatments, the study explored the effects of recognition and recall testing in relation to the treatments for possible interactions between learning treatment and test format. The study found that while rereading was the preferred student study strategy, recalling words was a more efficacious learning practice. Recognition learning was also less effective than recalling words, which suggests that the use of recall tests will promote long-term retention more than recognition tests such as multiple-choice tests. Learning treatment and test format comparisons suggested that the retrieval of words as a learning strategy was likely to be the most effective study practice regardless of test type despite transfer-appropriate processing inconsistencies.

The study aims to investigate the effect of post-reading question-generation activities on Korean middle school students’ English reading abilities with respect to cooperative learning. Two groups of students read the same reading materials; however, one group as an experimental group generated questions of three types, literal, inferential, and evaluative questions, while the other group as a control group answered comprehension questions. Each group was further divided into two sub-groups by cooperative and individual learning. A statistical analysis of the recall test scores reveals a positive effect of post-reading question-generation activities and cooperative learning on English reading abilities. The reading test scores by the three question types further illustrated variations across the question types: the experimental group outperformed the control group in the inferential and evaluative questions and individual learning was detected to be more effective than cooperative learning in the evaluative questions. Interactional effects were observed between post-reading activities and cooperative learning in the literal and evaluative questions. The findings suggest question-generation activities as a beneficial post-reading task, though their effectiveness can vary by question types and learning context.

This study examined differences in South Korean students’ motivation to learn English as a foreign (EFL) from elementary to high school, and investigated the impact of private education experience on their English learning. A questionnaire was administrated to 7,957 students in elementary through high school. This crosssectional survey results revealed that EFL students’ motivation to learn English presented different levels of medians depending on their school grades and levels; it showed lowering trends from the elementary to high school levels. However, during the same period, students’ perceptions of the importance of learning English was not in a downward trend. Students with private education experience tended to have a higher level of motivation than did those without private education experience, especially with respect to instrumental, intrinsic, and integrative motivations. Socioeducational factors in South Korea, such as excessive pressure from the College Scholastic Ability Test and hakbul orientation, are discussed.

While many scholars paid attention to L2 learner beliefs about grammar learning and error correction, there has been little research on both teacher and learner beliefs about types of grammar instructions in Korean EFL contexts. This study aimed to investigate the beliefs about types of instructions as well as grammar learning and error correction using a questionnaire adapted from Jean and Simard (2011). A total of four hundred and eighty-seven participants in Korea participated in the study and were divided into five groups: three teacher subgroups (non-native Korean high school, non-native Korean college, and native college) and two student subgroups (high school and college). The participants in general highly valued accuracy in L2 learning, but they disliked grammar learning or teaching. While both students and teachers believed that grammar instructions such as discovery learning, and mechanical practice could be useful in grammar learning, Korean teachers reported more positive views on grammar instructions than Korean students. The majority of the participants reported that they had a tendency to prefer error correction in the written production rather than in the spoken one. The results also revealed opinion gaps among the subgroups. The pedagogical and theoretical implications will be discussed.

The study discussed advanced-level Korean high school EFL learners’ demotivation and remotivation strategies in English learning. Demotivation refers to specific external forces that reduce or harm motivation; remotivation is the process of recovering the reduced motivation. Although both are common in L2 learning, only a few studies address this issue. Using the survey data of 130 participants, the study identified eight demotivating factors through factor analysis. The first factor, negative attitude toward English, indicates that even high school students felt demotivated because of the sheer difficulty of studying English. Descriptive statistics revealed that a negative attitude toward the English-speaking community was not a strong demotivator, which indicated that students possessed Machiavellian motivation. Correlation and regression analysis suggested that no demotivator had a significant negative relationship with English scores; rather, the ways students perceived the demotivators were more important. Eight remotivation strategies were identified; among those, “Keep thinking about the social importance of English” was the most often mentioned one. These results suggested the need for further qualitative, systemic research on remotivators and for training programs for practicing remotivation strategies.

The use of language learning strategies has been linked to effective EFL learning. However, while some researchers have suggested that good language learners use more strategies and more sophisticated strategies than less successful learners, others have disputed the unconditional nature of this view with the suggestion that factors such as task demands may affect the relationship between learner proficiency and strategy use. To examine the connection between language learning and learning strategy use the study examines the use of language learning strategies by 48 Korean university students from elementary school to university. In addition, emotional intelligence is investigated with regard to its impact on strategy use. The results bolster claims that associate greater and more sophisticated strategy use with more successful learners. In addition, the results highlight the importance of encouraging learning strategy use at early educational levels and the influence of emotional intelligence on the use of particular strategy types.

This study aims to investigate the effects of semantic clustering on Korean secondary school students’ English vocabulary learning. The present study was conducted with 56 secondary school students in South Korea. In order to determine if and how semantic clustering affects second language learners, the participants were divided into two groups: a semantically related (SR) word group and a semantically unrelated (SU) word group. The two comparison groups were taught the same 25 vocabulary items in different clusters (SR vs. SU). In the experiment, vocabulary test scores were gathered and analyzed three times: on a pre-, post-, and delayed-test. In the results, scores from the SU word group significantly outperformed the SR word group on the post-test, but on the delayed-test. Findings suggest that presenting new L2 words in SU sets is more effective than SR sets in the short term with Korean EFL secondary school students.

The purpose of this study was to explore how motivational factors affect Korean EFL secondary students’ motivated learning behavior using structural equation modeling (SEM). It further examined differences in the internal structure of L2 motivation over time. A total of 489 secondary school students participated in the study. Data were collected at two time points during an academic semester: in the beginning and at the end of the semester. Results of the SEM showed that students’ ideal L2 self was the strongest determinant of their motivated learning behavior at both time points for middle school students, whereas for high school students, ought-to L2 self had the strongest direct and significant impact on their motivated behavior in learning English throughout the semester. It was also found that both middle and high school students’ perceptions about the international posture of English and their parents’ involvement in English learning made indirect effects on their motivated behavior. Pedagogical implications and research suggestions are discussed.

The present study explored the effects of different task types on the autonomous vocabulary learning of EFL learners. To this end, two types of tasks with similar but slightly different levels of involvement loads were developed: a corpus-based task and a word map task. The participants of the study were 41 EFL students from a university in Seoul, Korea. They were divided into two groups: a corpus group (n=20) and a word map group (n=21). A total of 33 target words were selected and the experiment was administered during a period of five weeks. Major findings from the study were as follows: First, the corpus task proved to be more effective than the word map task in productive vocabulary learning, whereas the two tasks showed similar effectiveness in receptive vocabulary learning. Second, the two tasks varied in the effectiveness of vocabulary learning depending on the learners' vocabulary proficiency levels and the specific domains of vocabulary knowledge (receptive and productive). Lastly, the corpus group responded more positively than the word map group to their task and to the vocabulary learning. The findings indicate that the corpus task has advantages over the word map task and provide ‘residual’ empirical support for Hulstijn and Laufer’s (2001) involvement load hypothesis. Based on the findings, some pedagogical implications were made for the effective teaching and the autonomous learning of vocabulary.

Presenting semantically related L2 words is a popular method in EFL coursebooks, but the research results on this issue remain inconclusive. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of semantic clustering on Korean young learners’ English vocabulary learning. The study was conducted with 174 primary school students. The subjects were divided into two groups: a semantically related words group (SR) and a semantically unrelated words group (SU). For the six weeks of treatment, the two comparison groups were taught the same 40 vocabulary items in different clusters. The vocabulary test results showed that both vocabulary presentation methods had a positive effect on vocabulary learning. However, the SU group significantly outperformed the SR group. These findings indicate that presenting new L2 words in semantically unrelated sets might be more effective than semantically related sets.