This paper on language learner strategies utilizes a little used quantitative, datamining technique called cluster analysis to investigate characteristics of groups of South Korean learners of English. After 71 students in three first-year university liberal arts English conversation courses completed the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), and the number of learning strategies was reduced from 50 to 26 based on standard deviation (SD) results, the non-hierarchical (K-means) 3-cluster procedure was applied to the self-reported data. Following statistical analysis, each of the three cluster groups could be profiled according to achievement scores. At this point, six items emerged as particularly meaningful with regard to the latter, including direct strategies (a memory one and a cognitive one) and indirect strategies (two affective and two metacognitive). These strategies and their significance with reference to the local context as well as results previously reported in the literature are discussed. Finally, limitations of the study and implications for future research using cluster analysis are reported.

The study explores the identity construction of non-regular English conversation teachers (non-RECTs) in an elementary and a middle school in Korea. Drawing on positioning theory and the notion of community of practice, the study illustrates how non-RECTs resist, modify, and reconstruct their teacher identity through positioning themselves and others, and different modes of participation in the school contexts. It is a three-year longitudinal study with two female non-RECTs. The primary data gathered through interviews and informal talks, documents, and e-mails were also included for triangulation purposes. The findings suggest that the non-RECTs self-positioned themselves as qualified teachers who can effectively implement communicative language teaching into the classroom, but their positioning was challenged and rejected by regular teachers. The participants resisted their marginalized positions as temporary instructors and claimed their legitimacy by establishing themselves as positive contributors to the communicative curriculum. The findings show the non-RECTs’ identity construction is a struggle between the different views on legitimacy and a negotiation among multiple and conflicting identities.

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.

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.

This study aims to explore the forms of negative yes/no interrogatives and the social actions they perform in task-oriented conversations in Korean and English. The data consist of 20 Korean and 22 English pairs interacting with each other whiJe arranging a series of 15 pictures. It seems that negative yes/no interrogatives are used more extensively in Korean conversation than in English, and that they have different interactionaJ functions in the two languages. AnaJyses of the data suggest that negative yes/no interrogatives in English are used to perform a very specific function in interaction, making an assertion in a disaligning situation while seeking agreement from the addressee. On the other hand, it is shown that negative yes/no interrogatives in Korean are used as an important interactionaJ device between conversationalists. It seems that the ch미ce of the two types of negative yes/no interrogatives in Korean is largely dependent on the speaker’s estimation of the following two factors: (a) the degree of certainty about the information conveyed, and (b) the degree of common ground with the addressee. (Hanyang University, 마1san)

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.

This paper considers various marked practices by which speakers of English refer to people, including themselves and others, when conversing with their interlocutors. It shows that parties in a conversation sometimes deploy marked ways of reference in order to accomplish various non-referential (i.e., interactional) undertakings. This paper aims to contribute not only to a better understanding of English speakers' referential practices, but also to the teaching of English to Korean leamers to whom these marked language use may not be well known. The knowledge of these marked uses can be a very useful interactional resource for the leamers and may obviate possible interactional troubles when they interact in the target culture.

본 연구에서는 담화표지어의 사용과 관련하여 아시아권 비원어민 영어화자와 미국인 화자 사이의 차이를 알아보고자 하였다. 이를 위하여 아시아권 비원어민 영어화자의 대화를 담은 음성코퍼스에 사용된 담화표지어 well의 위치와 기능을 살펴보고 그 결과를 원어민 영어 화자를 대상으로 한 선행연구와 비교하여 사용 양상의 차이를 조사하였다. 조사된 결과를 살펴보면 아시아권 화자에게서 나타나는 특징은 다음과 같다. 첫째, 아시아권 화자는 담화표지어 well을 yeah, mhm, oh, OK 뒤에서 고빈도로 사용하였고, 담화표지어 well의 앞과 뒤에 상대적으로 잦은 쉼(pause)을 사용하였다. 둘째, 담화표지어 well의 구조적 기능을 고빈도로 사용하였지만, 상호작용적 기능은 다양하게 사용하지 못하였다. 아시아권 화자에게서 나타나는 담화표지어 well의 독특한 위치와 제한적인 상호작용적 기능 사용이 아시아권 화자 간에는 자연스럽게 수용되며 대화의 끊김이나 장애 요소가 되지 않았지만, 잦은 말차례 지연(delay), 잦은 쉼(pause)의 경우 원어민과의 소통에서는 부정적으로 작용할 수 있음을 함의하였다.