To investigate L2 adolescent learners’ use of machine translation (MT), an MT error correction (EC) test was developed, based on the analysis of MT errors arising from translating the learners’ L1 of middle school EFL textbooks. Learners were also asked to report on their use of MT EC strategies on the EC task. Results indicated that mistranslated sentence and verb tense are the most difficult types of MT errors to correct. Furthermore, to resolve MT errors, guessing from context and literal translations were the two most frequently employed EC strategies. When multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the contribution of EC strategies to the learners’ ability to correct errors, the mid proficiency learners’ reliance on literal translations and the low proficiency learners’ use of multiple EC strategies were positively associated with improved corrections of MT errors. The results of the study are discussed in light of how L2 learners need to develop competence for using MT in L2 writing.

The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of input- and output-based planning (reading a sample passage vs. writing a draft) on the oral performance of L2 learners with low-proficiency. In this study, 16 Korean female junior college students of low English proficiency were divided into two different planning groups. The reading group was required to read a sample passage of the given topic, designed to encourage “noticing” and “focus on form” using input enhancement, while the writing group was asked to write a draft of their speech, using only their own L2 knowledge. After such planning activities, both groups recorded their assigned speaking tasks using Kakao Talk. Eight planning activities and oral performances were completed over the period of the semester. In order to compare the effects of input- and output-based planning on the improvement of overall proficiency, pre- and post-tests, in which the students produced the same narratives, were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Furthermore, this study explored any difference in speaking performance after each type of planning and what the learners were actually doing during planning time. The results showed that output-based planning had positive effects on speaking performance and its repeated practice led to the improvement of overall proficiency.

Linguistic features that are indicative of higher writing proficiency levels can inform many aspects of lanauage assesment such as scoring rubrics, test items, and automated essay scoring(AES). The recent advancement of computer algorithms that automatically calculate indicates based on various linguistic features has made it possible to examine the relationship between linguistic features and writing proficiency on a larger scale. While the ability to use appropriate n-grams - recurring sequences of contiguous words - has been identified as a characteristic differentiating between proficiency levels in the literature, few studies have examined this relationship using computational indices. To this end, this study utilized the Tool for the Automatic Analysis of Lexical Sophistication(TAALES;Kyle&Crossley, 2015) to calcualte eight indices based on n-grams from a stratified corpus consisting of 360 argumentative essays written by Korean college-level learners. First, the indices from the training set of 240 essays were used to design a multinomial logistic regression model in order to identify indices that are significant predictors of writing proficiency levels. Subsequently, the regression model was applied to a test set of 120 essays to examine whether the model could be used to predict the proficiency levels of unseen essays. The results revealed that the mean bigram T, mean bigram Delta P, mean bigram-to-unigram Delta P, and proportion of 30,000 most frequent trigrams indices were significant predictors of proficiency levels. Furthermore, the regression model based on eight indices correctly classfied 52.5% of essays in the test set, demonstrating above-chance level accuarcy.

The present study investigated which facets of perceived self-efficacy (PSE) in L2 reading are significantly related to L2 reading proficiency (L2RP), which type of linguistic knowledge feeds into PSE, and how they are related to L2RP when considered together. Participants (n = 95) were college students from two universities in Seoul. Four subcomponents of PSE were identified for investigation: text-based PSE, general PSE, PSE in linguistic knowledge, and PSE in authentic reading. The result of stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the general PSE whose items reflect dimensions of social comparative influences and perceived controllability over environments was the only significant predictor of L2RP (R2 = 17.7%). For the relationships between linguistic knowledge and PSE, vocabulary knowledge (VK) was shown to be the only significant predictor of PSE when considered together with grammar knowledge (GK) and L2RP (R2 = 22.9%), while VK and GK were significant predictors of L2RP (R2 = 69.4%). PSE was not found to make an independent contribution to L2RP when considered with linguistic knowledge.

This study examined a timed cloze test for evaluating English proficiency in second language (L2) experimental research. Forty-five Korean college students were randomly assigned to either a timed or untimed condition. In the timed condition, the participants read the sentences of the text one phrase at a time, using the self-paced, cumulative, moving-window reading paradigm, and their reading time (RT) and accuracy were measured. In an untimed condition, the participants carried out a typical pencil-and-paper cloze test. Linear mixed-effect models were used to analyze the data. Although the accuracy data did not indicate any significant results, the RT data showed that the participants responded faster when they selected accurate answers and they answered function words rather than content words; also, as the participants’ TOEIC scores increased, a marginally significant RT difference was observed. A significant correlation was also found between the cloze test and high TOEIC scores in the timed condition. The results showed that the timed cloze test used in the study can provide useful data for L2 experimental research in measuring L2 proficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether second language writings at different proficiency levels can be distinguished using automatic indices of linguistic complexity. For this study, 35 linguistic measures in 234 essays selected from the Yonsei English Learner Corpus were analyzed in order to identify the best indicators of L2 writing proficiency among the three categories: text length, lexical complexity, and syntactic complexity. The key to this study is the use of computational tools, the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer and the Lexical Complexity Analyzer, which measure different linguistic features of the target language, and a robust statistical method, discriminant function analysis. Results showed that automatic computational tools indicated different uses of linguistic features across L2 writers’ proficiency levels. Specifically, more proficient writers produced longer texts, used more diverse vocabulary, and showed the ability to write more words per sentence and more complex nominalizations. These findings can offer a window to understanding the linguistic features that distinguish L2 writing proficiency levels and to the possibility of using the new computational tools for analyzing L2 learner corpus data.

A study was conducted to investigate the levels of representation in memory constructed as an outcome of L2 reading comprehension, and the effects of L2 proficiency, prior knowledge, and L1 reading skills on the construction of the representation. A total number of 128 Korean EFL learners participated in the study. Their L2 reading comprehension was tested through verification measure and comprehension questions designed to assess different levels of understanding including the sentence-level, textbase understanding and the situation model, or the deeper level of understanding of what the text is about. Results showed that the representation the L2 readers constructed was characterized as consisting of rather loose textbase understanding and relatively weak, but varying degrees of, situational understanding. Only L2 proficiency, among the three factors, appeared to have a significant effect on the levels of understanding in the representation the L2 readers constructed.

The demand for test-taking has become an inevitable element of Korean secondary EFL learners’ academic lives in which learners strive to excel in the high-stakes examoriented milieu. However, current knowledge of practitioners, such as those of teachers and administrators, may be insufficient for ascertaining if the learners actually undergo the test-taking process they anticipate and assess what they aim to test. In contrast to the product-oriented view where the primary interest is on the outcome (i.e., scores or stanine levels), the purpose of the present study was to explore 165 Korean high school learners’ test-taking process via questionnaires with proficiency and item type as the grouping variables. There was avid use of conventional reading strategies among the high proficiency learners and test management strategies among the lower proficiency learners. Results present implications for teaching learners not only to become testwise, but also to work consistently towards building reading skills and adopt long-term learning strategies.

This paper explores who needs what aspects of L2 English to what levels of proficiency, focusing on college English curriculum development in Korea. A survey was conducted of 532 college students in Seoul. Grounded that career is one of the most important motives for EFL learning, the participants were divided into seven groups based on their desired careers. The results show that the types of desired careers of the participants are highly correlative with the strength and weakness of their need for learning English, the kinds of English skills they want to learn, and the levels of English proficiency they hope to achieve.

This study examines the relationship of L2 learners’ motivational and attitudinal factors with the two versions (self-rated and tested) of proficiency. 79 Korean university students were assessed on measures of L2 orientations, motivation, and attitudes toward English using a questionnaire and learning autobiographies. The study also compared participants’ self-reported proficiency with their TOEIC scores. The results show that more of negative values (self-rated proficiency is lower than tested proficiency) came from students with high test scores than low-achieving students. Students defined gaining bilingual proficiency as criterion for success in L2 learning,and their expectation of such desired proficiency is significantly correlated with motivation and perceived significance of English, but not with the self-rated and tested proficiency. Multiple regression analyses suggest that students’ self-awareness of the importance of English learning significantly predicts their motivation, and linguistic L2confidence and self-assessment of target language competence are significant predictors for tested proficiency, but motivational intention is not. Potential interpretations for findings and implications for L2 pedagogy are discussed.

This study was an attempt to investigate a Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) theme with the Interdependence Hypothesis in the use of Content-Based Instruction (CBI) approach. In addition, the study examined the threshold notion of language proficiency and how it would play in different groups distinguished by school level. Based on the analyses of data obtained from comprehension quizzes, proficiency tests of speaking and writing, questionnaire, and interview, the study revealed that the undergraduate group showing a higher level of proficiency and the graduate group experiencing longer period of schooling performed on the comprehension quizzes and evaluated their CBI experiences similarly. It suggested that CALP represented by schooling earned in L1 be taken advantage of as a springboard for CBI. It also indicated that reading skills may be more critical to the survival and success in CBI courses at least for the participants of the current study who showed relatively high confidence in listening skills. It suggested that there is a need for further study to examine whether such a tendency is common to the similar groups of Korean English language learners in order to accommodate their preferred way of learning English.

This study looks at the employment of negotiation about form by a pair of advanced English L2 users engaged in collaborative composition tasks, and compares their negotiation with that of a beginner English L2 pair. Contrary to the increasing interest in negotiation for meaning within the L2 literature, there is little research that investigates how learners interact in negotiation about form contexts, where learners are required to explicitly talk about the form that they encounter. In particular， few studies have been conducted with learners at different proficiency levels in such contexts. Recognising this paucity, the study presents a holistic analysis of learners' negotiation about form generated by learners at different proficiency levels. This means that first, the negotiation about form was quantified in terms of language-related episodes (LREs); second, the same data was examined via an in-depth, descriptive analysis; third, delayed post-tests were conducted on specific linguistic items produced via negotiation about form. The study does not find much difference in LREs between the two proficiency levels of learners or convincing evidence that LREs lead to L2 learning at all. The results also reveal limitations in the relationship between the interactions engaged in and eventual learning. (196 words)

The current study has two research questions: 1) Are EFL students’ ratings comparable with the advanced or native TESOL graduates’ ratings? 2) What are the significant variables that discriminate one self-marked proficiency group from another? To address question 1, 90 Korean EFL learners rated 3 sample essays on a 5-scale with four writing features (organization, content, language use, and holistic feature), Twenty-five TESOL graduates also rated the sample essays given the same scoring rubric. The students’ ratings then were compared to the ratings of TESOL graduates. To address research question 2, 100 students’ responses to 10 survey items were analyzed, using discriminant analysis (DA). The result showed 1) that significant difference were observed in a few analytic features between students’ ratings and colleagues’ ratings, and 2) that the students who marked themselves as high-proficient writers were likely to respond with confidence that their ratings were accurate. In conclusion, differing L2 proficiency level is partly, but not fully associated with rating performance in subjects who are able to read and comprehend English sentences. On the other hand, L2 proficiency influenced student raters’ perception.