This paper explores the L2 motivation of 11 students about to start studying English as junior college English majors. The participants took part in a ten-day L2 motivational program designed to help them with L2 skills and life on campus. To understand how they participated in the program, data gathered from online learning logs were coded using qualitative thematic analysis. Consequently, the participants shifted to embody ‘none to something’ qualities in terms of L2 selves and effort during the program. That is, they established self-images to believe in when using and learning English, which eventually developed into effort-driven attitudes and behavior. The students also set goals and plans according to their L2 selves created or revealed during the program. Although the program was comparatively short with a small number of participants entering a junior college, the findings indicate that an L2 motivational program for new adult students could be conducive to promoting and sustaining their effort, L2 selves, and motivation.

This study investigated EFL college-level learners’ expectation on and their experience in an online English-medium instruction (EMI) course focusing on how participants interacted with their classmates and the instructor in their online class (zoom session) based on assumptions and rationales of Interaction Hypothesis and classroom interaction research. Analyses of questionnaire, observation, and interview data revealed that participants’ experience of interaction and their perception of interaction opportunities in the zoom session were significantly related to how they would evaluate the course-taking experience. It was also found that cognitive strategy such as participants’ preparation for each class rather than L2 confidence was more relevant to their level of satisfaction with the course. Results of analyses suggested that an online class could be more effective than a face-to-face class in terms of engaging EFL adult learners in an academic course offered in participants’ L2, English. Based on study results, suggestions on how to increase interaction opportunities in online EMI course are made.

In spite of the benefits of English oral presentations on EFL learners' proficiency and competence, English presentations have not obtained much attention as instructional medium in the field of English education. With the belief that EFL learners' experience of English presentation performance can provide valuable insights for educators and researchers, this study intended to describe how EFL learners perceive their presentation performance through their reflective self-assessment. In particular, adopting Otoshi and Heffernen's (2008) rubric of evaluation, this study examined what a group of Korean EFL learners were concerned in regard to their presentation performances and how they evaluated them. The data collected were 41 reflective self-assessment papers written by 41 Korean college students. The papers were coded, categorized and interpreted. Findings showed that voice quality is the area the students in this paper were most concerned about. Negative evaluations of their presentation performance outweighed the positive evaluations except in the area of Power Point use. Lastly, rehearsal and visual aids education sessions as well as differentiating spoken and written English were suggested as instruction implications for educators.

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.

The study investigated the effect of the flipped class method implemented in a general English program in the tertiary level. The treatment variable of the experiment was a teaching method: a flipped class for the experimental group and a traditional class for the control group. A total of 13 class sessions were completed. The model of the experiment was a nested design with repeated measures. The dependent variables were positive affective experience, negative affective experience, class satisfaction, and language achievement. This study analyzed the data using factorial analysis, t-test, and repeated measures analysis of variance. The results showed that learners in the experimental group improved their positive experience during the treatment through statistically significant differences in pre-test and post-test scores; while the control group did not. The negative experience decreased at the end of the class in both groups. Although the mean differences were not statistically significant, the mean of the negative experience in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group. The class satisfaction was significantly different between the two groups. The experimental group improved language achievement on their final exam, while the control group’s mean decreased.

There has been considerable research which investigates whether the underlying linguistic competence of L2 learners is constrained by principles and parameters of UG, parallel to the situation in L1 acquisition. In terms of the Scope Principle (henceforth SP), a principle of UG, which is associated with the scope interaction between a quantified expression and a wh-phrase, some experimental studies in EFL settings were conducted to investigate whether or not interlanguage grammars can be characterized by the principle. These experiments were carried out through the Truth Value Judgment Task (henceforth TVJT) alone, showing contrasting and confusing results, especially between Japanese learners and Korean learners. That is, while Japanese EFL learners observed the SP, Korean EFL learners did not despite the fact that both Japanese L1 grammar and Korean L1 grammar disallow the distributive interpretation, especially in the ambiguous sentence like what does everyone have? Therefore, the present study aims to confirm whether the same results are obtained provided that the identical experiment using the TVJT is repeated in other EFL learners. Noticeably, this study employed an additional, complementary task (Question and Answer Task, QAT) in addition to the TVJT as an attempt to increase the accuracy of the task and reflect learners’ actual knowledge of the target features. In QAT, the subjects were asked to write the answers to the target questions involving quantifiers and wh-questions in English. Results from the TVJT appeared, on the face of it, to provide support for the claim that the Korean EFL learners are under control of the Scope Principle. However, findings from QAT revealed that they are not constrained by the principle. Thus, it would be reasonable to conclude that the results of the present experiment do not fully support the claim that the Korean EFL learners’ interlanguage grammar has access to the UG-driven Scope Principle. Instead, it can be argued that Korean learners' interlanguage grammar may be affected by their L1 grammar, which gives rise to the claim that the explicit instruction on the interpretation of those sentences is required as part of overcoming this problem.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the four sources of English pronunciation self-efficacy and English pronunciation proficiency of Chinese college learners of English. A sample of 429 English majors at a college in China was selected. The test scores from a read-aloud task were used as the measure of subjects’ English pronunciation proficiency. The questionnaire was used to collect the data of four English pronunciation self-efficacy sources. The Pearson correlations showed that the four sources were correlated significantly with English pronunciation proficiency. The multiple regression analysis showed that 45% variance in English pronunciation proficiency was explained by the linear combinations of the four sources; however, the nominal variable of gender was not statistically significant in explaining the variance in English pronunciation proficiency. Overall, the significant relationship between English pronunciation self-efficacy sources and English pronunciation proficiency was observed in the present study. Pedagogical implications for teaching English pronunciation were discussed based on the results.

The present study aimed at examining Korean college learners’ academic achievements and views in flipped classrooms. In total, 89 students with two different levels of English proficiency (45 in beginning class and 44 in intermediate class) participated in the study. All participants had pre-and post-test, and they responded to two surveys. Also, 15 students participated in the follow-up interview. The results showed that students’ academic achievements in the intermediate class were statistically significant in their post-test (p<.05) although those in the beginning class did not show any significance. Regarding students’ views on the approach, the findings revealed that many students in the beginning class considered the flipped learning skeptical while half students in the intermediate class perceived the approach positively. The results suggested that the flipped learning approach may not be an effective learning approach for beginning English learners. Finally, pedagogical implications and future research were discussed.

Youn-Kyoung Lee. 2017. The Effect of Problem-Based Learning on Korean College Learners’ English Vocabulary Learning. Studies in Modern Grammar 96, 253-270. The present study aimed at examining the effects of problem-based learning (PBL) on English vocabulary learning in a Korean college context. In total, 52 students participated in the study. The PBL class (n=26) was assigned to the experimental group, and the non-PBL class (n=26) was the control group. Both group had the same curriculum. All participants had pre-and postvocabulary test, and 12 students participated in the follow-up interview. The results showed that there were significant differences between the two groups on the post-vocabulary test (p<.05). The PBL participants’ interview data revealed that PBL provided sufficient English conversation practice and opportunities of scaffolding. The findings suggest that PBL should be applied to foster Korean college learners’ ability of English vocabulary learning.