This study explores EFL English learners’ reactions and achievements when exposed to two types of online learning, pre-recorded lectures and real-time lectures, in a semester-long English reading class. The participants were 60 Korean university English learners who attended both types of online lectures for six weeks each. They studied three parts: reading comprehension for top-down and bottom-up reading skills, grammar, and vocabulary. Midterm and final exams assessed the learners’ achievements, and one online survey was conducted to investigate their reactions. The results showed that the participants preferred to study recordings and were most satisfied with their grammar studies in recorded lectures but preferred real-time lectures for reading comprehension. The study also found that they attained better scores on top-down reading skills and vocabulary learning through recorded lessons and higher scores on bottom-up reading skills and grammar learning through real-time lectures. Finally, the study shows the participants preferred to attend a combination of both online methods. This study suggests salient online learning ways for an English reading course.

This study aimed to explore the role of inference making in the relation between vocabulary knowledge (breadth and depth) and reading comprehension for 487 ninthgrade Chinese EFL students who were categorized as either struggling or adequate. Path analysis was used to examine both direct and mediated effects. The results indicated a statistically significant indirect effect of vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension, mediated by inference making, for the entire participant group. However, there were notable differences between the struggling and adequate readers, as evidenced by distinct path diagrams. For struggling readers, the indirect effect of vocabulary breadth on reading comprehension through inference making was significant, while that of vocabulary depth was not significant. For adequate readers, both vocabulary breadth and depth directly explained reading comprehension. These results are discussed in the EFL context, encompassing assessment and instructional implications for EFL readers with varying levels of reading abilities.

This study addresses the lack of comprehension data in second language acquisition research by focusing on English existential there-constructions (ETCs) with a locative extension (e.g., there is an X on the Y). The post-copular noun X used in the present study consisted of two types: actual and nonsense. Participants included 40 native speakers, as well as 40 advanced and 40 intermediate Korean learners of English, who completed an online picture selection task. In one picture, X was placed on the nearby Y; in another picture, X was placed on the far Y. The choice of both pictures was the correct response because ETCs are used to describe the existence of something regardless of its distance. There was a statistically significant relationship between English proficiency and the interpretation of ETCs. However, there was no relationship between the noun type and the interpretation of ETCs. In the Korean English curriculum, the distinction between expletive there and locative there must be emphasized.

This study explores effects of e-book and audio-book on EFL comprehension. It was conducted at a university in Korea with 75 college students. The whole experiment lasted for five weeks in 2020. To determine effectiveness of multiple modalities, participants were assigned to three different experimental groups: e-book, audio-book, and e-audio-book (a combination of e-book and audio-book) groups. While the e-book group was provided with passages in a text format, the audio group received the same passages in an audio format. The e-audio-book group was given both text and audio formats. At the beginning and end of the treatment, pretest and posttest were administered. As expected, the e-audio-book group benefited more than the other two groups in listening comprehension. However, they showed better performance in reading comprehension than the audio-book group only. Additionally, the e-book group performed better in reading comprehension compared to the audio-book group. Based on these findings, pedagogical implications are made.

In today’s digital era, tablets are gaining popularity as reading devices. However, few studies have compared reading e-books on tablets with reading printed books and regular classroom instruction for language learning. To evaluate the role of tablets in reading and analyze the possibilities, the current study examined 97 elementary school students learning English as a foreign language in South Korea. These students were taught English once or twice a week for 11 weeks based on extensive reading using tablets (n = 42), printed books (n = 32), or regular textbook-based instruction as control (n = 23). The results indicate that literal level reading comprehension was improved the largest in the tablet group compared with the other groups. By contrast, improvements in inferential reading comprehension and grammatical knowledge were greater in those reading printed books than in the tablet group. The findings suggest that the print medium was superior for deep reading and digital texts were better for quick and shallow learning.

Facing the demands of the pandemic and distance learning, English learners require educational technologies that are accessible, engaging, and effective. Meeting these demands requires educational technology developers to consider learners’ sociocultural contexts. Learning theories can be applied to meet individuals’ needs to optimize chances for participation, engagement, and learning gains. This article describes two Internet-based digital technologies that target struggling adult readers who need to improve their comprehension skills: SARA (Study Aid and Reading Assessment) and AutoTutor for Adult Reading Comprehension. The SARA assessment provides a diagnostic profile for individuals’ reading strengths and weaknesses. This profile can be used to guide the selection of reading comprehension lessons in AutoTutor-ARC, a digital technology that both adapts to learners’ performances and engages them in an immersive learning experience using a three-way conversation with computer agents acting as a tutor and a peer to discuss texts. We discuss how these technologies can be integrated into educational settings to improve engagement and learning.

This study investigated the relative predictive power of vocabulary depth and reading fluency on the reading comprehension of advanced Korean EFL learners in college. By doing so, the scope of paradigmatic relations, as part of vocabulary depth, was extended to encompass associative vocabulary as well as synonyms and antonyms, and reading fluency at the discourse level was considered. For this study, 139 college students were tested on a range of vocabulary depth tests, as well as reading comprehension and text-level reading fluency. The findings revealed that although both vocabulary depth and reading fluency are significant contributors to reading comprehension abilities, the predictability of vocabulary depth was larger than that of reading fluency. In addition, associative vocabulary not only revealed additional predictive power for reading comprehension on top of reading fluency, synonyms and antonyms, but also showed stronger predictability compared to synonyms and antonyms. These results highlight that both vocabulary depth, especially the knowledge of how words are related together, and text-level reading fluency play a crucial role in boosting the reading comprehension abilities of even advanced L2 readers.

Numerous studies have supported the simple view of reading by showing the significant predictive roles of oral language comprehension ability and decoding skills in the reading comprehension of monolinguals and second language learners. However, little is known about its applicability to young foreign language learners who do not have much access to the target language and literacy input outside the school and especially those whose first and second languages are typologically different. This study was designed to examine the contribution of English oral language comprehension ability and decoding skills to the reading comprehension of fifth-grade Korean EFL learners. In doing so, the indirect effects of oral language ability and phonological awareness were also considered, and English reading fluency and Korean reading comprehension abilities were controlled for. The findings not only support the simple view of reading but also highlight the indirect effects of oral language comprehension ability and phonological awareness on reading comprehension abilities via the effects of decoding skills.

The present study examines the effects of schema activation and reading strategy use on L2 learners’ reading comprehension, strategy use, motivation, and learner beliefs. The participants consisted of 89 Korean college students, and they were assigned to one of two reading activity groups―schema building or reading strategy instruction―or to a control group. The study employed a background questionnaire, pre-, post-, and delayed English reading comprehension tests, and also pre- and post-reading strategy use, reading motivation, and general learner belief questionnaires. The results indicate that both the schema building and reading strategy task groups showed significant improvements in terms of immediate learning effects, but the reading strategy group showed an added degree of improvement over the schema building and control groups in terms of long-term reading comprehension. Additionally, the two task groups reported positive responses to their own use of reading strategies, motivation, and positive beliefs. Based on the findings, this study suggests pedagogical implications for L2 reading classrooms.

Despite the recognized importance of morphological knowledge to literacy outcomes such as vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, two of its subconstructs— morphological awareness and morphological processing—have received comparatively little attention. In response, the aim of the study reported here was to examine how the relationships between morphological awareness and morphological processing, especially in terms of morphological transparency and morphological frequency, contribute to the vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension of 62 native Korean-speaking secondary school students—27 eighth-graders and 35 tenth-graders— learning English as a foreign language. The students’ performance on the Test of Morphological Structure and the Word Reading Test was assessed to gauge their compounding awareness, inflectional awareness, vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension. The results indicated that the students’ performance was varied depending on morphological transparency and frequency. In addition, it was not morphological processing, but rather morphological awareness that explained variances in vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, when compounding awareness and inflectional awareness were controlled for. This paper discusses what such findings imply for teaching English as a foreign language to Korean learners.

This study investigated predictors of reading comprehension in elementary school English learners. The study specifically examined the role of word recognition and oral language skills in their reading comprehension levels. Participants were 206 students in grades four, five, and six, and they completed measures of letter naming, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, correlation, and multiple regression. Findings showed that there were significant differences between performances of the 4th graders and the other two grade groups on all measures, indicating a possible ceiling effect in the acquisition of basic reading skills by upper-grade students. Oral language, indexed by oral vocabulary and listening comprehension, emerged as the more powerful predictor of reading comprehension as compared to word recognition skills. In addition, the contribution of word decoding tended to decrease across grade levels; whereas oral vocabulary explained more variance in upper grades.

본 연구의 목적은 한문에서 관습적으로 쓰이고 있는 한문의 慣用語句(常用語句)에 대한 표현과 용법에 관한 고찰이다. 본고는 한문의 관용어구를 ‘부정의 의미를 나타내는 문장’, ‘비교의 의미를 나타내는 문장’, ‘서술어와 목적어, 보어 도치의 문장’을 중심으로 관용적으로 표현되는 어구에 대한 풀이와 구조원리를 정리·제시하였다. 본 연구는 한문의 어휘뭉치(collocation)에 관한 연구로 항상 어울리는 단어끼리 조합하여 어떤 특정한 의미를 나타내는 한문의 상용적 표현인 관용어구를 추출 하여 그 원리와 의미에 대한 분석내용을 제시한 것이다. 이는 한문 독해에 있어서 무의미한 虛詞로 인한 독해의 난해성을 용이하게 풀이할 수 있는 근거가 될 수 있으며, 漢文讀解 교수·학습방법 이나 한문독해 관련 학습서 또는 참고서 제작에 직접 활용할 수 있을 뿐만 아니라, 향후 교육과정 개편 및 교과서 편찬 등에서도 참고할 수 있을 것이다.

As research evidence for the facilitative effects of reading strategies on reading comprehension has been accumulating, research and pedagogical interests in prereading strategies such as prediction and schema activation are increasing. Yet, little research evidence of how actual performance on such tasks may be related to reading comprehension is sparse. This study explores whether prediction abilities and content schema are related to Korean middle school EFL learners’ reading comprehension abilities in English, and whether such potential relations may differ for factual and inferential comprehension. The study participants were one hundred thirty-seven Korean seventh grade students, and their performance on schema activation, prediction, and reading comprehension abilities was investigated, while controlling for their overall language proficiency and literacy skills. The findings indicated that although both prediction abilities and content schema facilitated reading comprehension, prediction abilities were a relatively stronger predictor of both factual and inferential comprehension. The results further suggest the need to provide effective trainings on pre-reading strategies.

In order to inform foreign language education practices that can empower students to properly retrieve and utilize information in today’s society, research on the nature of reading that takes place on the Internet—referred to as online research and comprehension—is of paramount importance. As an initial step, this study investigated the strategies employed by six Korean tertiary-level learners of English that engaged in a second language online research and comprehension (L2 ORC) task. To this end, screen recordings of L2 ORC sessions and verbal data from stimulated recall interviews were triangulated in order to identify and categorize strategy use behind L2 ORC. The results revealed that a wide variety of strategies for constructing a coherent reading path as well as comprehending single and multiple digital texts contributed to successful L2 ORC. These findings demonstrate that the current conception of L2 reading needs to be expanded to encompass the novel challenges posed by the Internet.

This article has shown the actuality of Chinese character teaching activities by using the method of name-choosing with 井. First of all, teachers must design the name question into the curriculum activity. While I started from the question of “assuming Xu Shen’s opening of a bookstore and how to get its name”, the students collectively completed the kanji character on the blackboard. Furthermore, the questioning method is used to promote student thinking, and the teacher is to give students feedback on the knowledge of the Chinese characters, sounds, and meanings. Finally, the teacher will explain the origin and development of the word “彧” in the structure of shape, sound, and meaning. The Chinese character teaching method provided in this article is an innovative and effective learning that can promote the teacher-student interaction. If we can implement this method through the teacher education, we will have a refreshing experience in the dissemination of international character education!

Despite the evidence of an association between foreign language (FL) reading anxiety and reading comprehension, only a few studies have investigated how FL reading anxiety interacts with the reading process. This study examined how people with different anxiety levels approach reading tasks differently; that is, the relationships among foreign language reading anxiety, cognitive interference, reading strategy use, and the effects of these constructs on actual reading comprehension. Participants (N=265) were Korean adolescent EFL learners. From analyses of their responses to FL reading anxiety scale, Cognitive Interference Questionnaire (CIQ), a strategy inventory for reading comprehension, and reading comprehension tasks, results suggested that anxiety played a critical role in the interplay of attention and reading strategy use, which were associated with comprehension. Highly anxious students who were occupied with off-task thoughts tended to use more local reading strategies while less anxious students were more focused on completing the reading tasks and employed more global reading strategies. Results also suggested that the significant predictors of reading comprehension were FL reading anxiety as well as the CIQ and Global strategies, which indicated that the less anxious students who were more focused during reading, and those who employed more Global strategy scored higher in reading comprehension.

The present study attempts to make a link between eye movement measures and reading comprehension (RC) to further examine how reading span (RS) differences contribute to differences in L2 reading performance. The variability of text processing was measured by duration and frequency of fixations using an eye tracker. Thus, it investigates the effects of RS in terms of processing as well as RC performance. To this end, forty-five Korean undergraduate students at an intermediate level participated in the experiment. Four types of eye movements were tracked: first-fixation time (FFT), total-fixation time (TFT), secondfixation time (SFT), and fixation count (FC). The results showed that the high-RS group received higher scores than the low-RS group on the RC test, suggesting a significant role of RS in RC performance. In addition, significant differences between the RS groups were found in TFT and SFT. RC performance is negatively correlated with the TFT and SFT. Due to their limited RS, the low-RS group needed more time for comprehension and left few resources available for integration of meaning in the text. The findings suggest that fast and efficient EMs are closely associated with a better RC performance. The present study shed light on how RS affects the students’ text processing and that, in turn, leads them to different outcomes from the L2 reading comprehension tests.

This study analyzes the structure and meaning of the landscape expressed in the Sangrimshipgyeong poem composed by King Jeongjo, which describes the Donggwol back garden in the Joseon Dynasty. The study conclusions are as follows: the landscape contents of Sangrimshipgyeong were evenly distributed in the Donggwol back garden, and jeongs, gaks, and dangs are set as view points. The landscape objects of Sangrimshipgyeong consisted of behaviors and the natural phenomena of four seasons. The poem primarily depicted daytime scene. The landscapes were distributed over the four seasons, with four spring landscapes, four autumn landscapes, one summer landscape, and one snowy landscape. The landscape structure expressed in Sangrimshipgyeong appeared to be formed around a limited view point of the building. However, the objects did not intermittently exist, but maintained organic relations in one context. It is organic and harmonious in that interplay was visualized as the pavilion extends to nature, and nature comes into the pavilion. The depiction of Sangrimshipgyeong was not only very suggestive in terms of showing the hopes and dreams of the royal culture of the Joseon Dynasty, but also interesting because they were based on the condensed ideological symbolism of a specific cultural group. Sangrimshipgyeong expresses amusement and responsiveness to the scene based on the understanding of nature in the limited space of a palace back garden. It was also full of dynamic poetic language, such as encouragement of agriculture, sericulture, rain-calling, and highest- level state examination. Sangrimshipgyeong is interpreted as a symbol of ideology and a desired landscape reflecting the cosmic resonance of political affairs and moral cultivation of a king or an heir to the throne.