This study investigated how Japanese learners of Korean perceive the similarity of stop sounds between the Korean and Japanese languages. The results found, compared to the beginner’s group, the advanced group showed a lower rating value for the similarity for the same stimulus sound, and the learners with a higher perception ability distinguished lower similarities, even among the inner groups of the beginner’s and advanced group. This study also investigated how the related information in the native language affects how the learners perceive lenis consonants in word-medial position in the Korean language, as Japanese stop sounds are divided into two sounds depending on [±voiced] feature, whereas Korean stop sounds do not have a voiced sound in word-initial consonantal context, but the lenis consonants go through voicing in word-medial position. In result, Japanese learners tend to perceive the lenis consonants in word-medial position much better than other sounds, and it was shown that the related information in native language had played a positive role in perceiving Korean word-medial consonants.
Kim, Suyeon. 2017. “L2 Learners' Perception of STAD and its Relationship with Learning Styles”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 25(2), 73~102. This study aims to examine the relationship among cooperative learning, L2 learning, and learning styles. To that end, I utilized Slavin's Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) and investigated how learners perceive the effect of STAD on second language (L2) learning and how the effect of STAD is associated with their learning styles. I implemented STAD in two college English conversation classes during a semester, with 44 learners completing two questionnaires and six participating in interviews. Three key findings emerged: 1) L2 learners perceived STAD as being more useful than lecture-centered classes in improving their conversational skills, promoting more active participation and interaction, and developing higher self-confidence and lower anxiety, 2) while avoidant learning styles had a significant negative correlation with students' perception, a significant positive correlation resulted with the majority of learning styles, and 3) collaborative and independent learning styles had a more significant effect on L2 students' perception of STAD than other learning styles. The results show that through cooperative learning, L2 learners are scaffolded to improve conversational skills, and STAD accommodates diverse learning styles by giving learners equal opportunities for success. This study implies that L2 learning can be maximized when teachers employ a strategy that allows learners with different learning styles to participate.
This study compared aural and written modes of presentation for the two item types, to explore the effects of question/option presentation mode and item type on EFL learners’ listening comprehension performance and their perception. One hundred and fifteen Korean college students who were divided into three different proficiency groups participated in the study. The participants took a listening test which consisted of dialogue-completion and Q&A multiple-choice items in the aural and written modes, followed by a survey on their perceptions, and a stimulated recall interview. The results showed that the least proficient group was more critically affected by the mode than the other two groups. The least proficient group performed significantly better in the written mode than in the aural mode, while they received similar scores on the two item types. The major factors that caused the discrepancy among the groups were memory capacity in the aural mode and reading ability in the written mode. The implications and suggestions on listening test development are discussed.
本稿는 安養市의 一般系 D高等學校 2학년 3개학급 학습자들을 대상으로 漢詩授業의 認識 및 그 敎育的 含意를 분석했다.
학습자들의 본문풀이 결과, 학습지에서 신습한자를 漢字辭典처럼 구성하면 학습자들의 독해력과 창의력 신장에 도움이 되었고, 교사의 설명과 시범은 학습자들의 문제해결에 많은 영향을 주었다. 六色思考帽 技法을 적용한 한시의 감상활동 결과, 작품의 분석과 표현기교에 대한 감상의 수준이 높아서, 한시감상에 六色思考帽 技法이 적절했다. 諺文風月은 漢詩의 形式美와 作家의 力量을 체험 할 수 있는 심화활동이었다.
학습자들의 漢詩授業 認識을 I-STATistic을 활용하여 統計分析했는데, 性別이나 授業前 成就 度는 한시수업의 만족도에 유의미한 변수가 아니었다. 두 번째로 授業前 漢文敎科와 漢詩授業에 대한 關心度는 漢詩授業의 滿足度와 상관도는 낮고 인과관계는 없었지만, 수업후 한시수업에 대한 관심도는 유의미한 결과가 도출되었기 때문에, 한시수업은 수업전 인식과 수업후 인식의 변화가 뚜렷했다. 세 번째로 협동학습법이 학습자들의 선호모형으로 판단되지만, 適用授業模型에 따른 漢 詩授業 滿足度는 유의미한 차이가 없었다. 수업후에는 感受性 涵養에 교육적 의미를 찾을 수 있었 다. 따라서 교육과정상 한시단원은 반드시 수업에 적용해야 될 當爲性이 높았다.
This study investigated L2 production, perception, and the relation of production and perception by examining 20 Korean learners’ production and perception of the English contrasts of /ʃ/ vs. /ʃi/, /ʧ/ vs. /ʧi/, and /ʤ/ vs. /ʤi/ in word final position. Of the 20 Korean learners, 10 (5 males, 5 females) were low in English proficiency and the other 10 (5 males, 5 females) were high. Our findings from production and perception experiments showed that the relation of L2 production and perception varies according to learners’ proficiency levels in L2. A significant correlation between L2 production and perception was attested within the high group learners. Thus, the high group learners with higher production accuracy generally exhibited higher perception accuracy. Unlike the high group, the low group learners’ production and perception patterns did not show any significant correlation between the two. In general, the low group displayed higher accuracy in production than in perception. In addition, within the low group, the heavy influence of L1 constraints on L2 perception was attested while L2 production was not in accordance with L1 phonology.
The research on washback of a test has little been carried out in Korea while it has been flourishing in language testing researchers overseas. This paper investigates whether the advent of NEAT has affected the perception of test takers and the teaching/learning practices in English classrooms of Korea. In addition, we also want to investigate the relationship between variables such as perception of test users, teaching/learning practices, and test scores. We carried out a survey with 601 students who were seated at NEAT administered in April 2013 as well as 3,267 third-year high school students who had no experience on NEAT. The analyses revealed some evidence to support that NEAT has an effect on the perception of the participants. However, the analyses also revealed that NEAT was not effective to appeal for a change in teaching and learning practices in English classrooms in Korea.
This study investigates how input modes and text types influence Korean college learners’ CALL listening and their perception of their concentration, comprehension and anxiety. The current study employed three input modes (listening-only, listening-with-subtitles, and listening-with-transcripts) and two text types (lectures and dialogues). The major findings are as follows: 1) subtitles or a transcript enhanced learner’s listening comprehension; 2) subtitles were the most helpful input mode whereas transcripts may have imposed more cognitive load to decode the reading; 3) the text types influenced CALL listening comprehension, but the familiarity effect may have been more dominant for more literate text types such as lectures; 4) apart from the higher English proficiency student’s perceived concentration, the two written input modes were perceived as beneficial tools for their concentration, comprehension, and reduced anxiety; 5) in particular, the lower English proficiency students tended to perceive the transcript as advantageous although they did not actually benefit from the transcript for their listening comprehension as much as they perceived. The pedagogical implications of the present study is subtitles and transcripts can be efficient pedagogical tools to draw learners’ attention to linguistic features or organization of the content to foster language ability. When designing CALL listening classes or applications, individual learners’ differences should be taken into account as well.
The English language does not possess a 3rd person singular epicene pronoun normally used in a sex-indefinite or gender-neutral context, so the masculine 3rd person singular “he” has taken the role for over centuries. However, many researchers have indicated that generic he is not exclusively sex-neutral in that it evokes masculine imagery. For this reason, in English speaking countries, singular they has successfully evolved as an alternative to generic he. Nevertheless, in the Korean EFL setting, where the importance of English education has been emphasized, the actual use and perception of the English epicene pronoun has rarely been considered. In this context, this study investigated Korean EFL learners’ use and perception of the 3rd person epicene pronoun in sex-neutral contexts. The research observed that generic he was the learners’ most preferred choice of pronoun though it indeed evoked masculine images, whereas singular they was neither widely accepted, nor often used. The present study also determined to what extent the use and perception of epicene pronouns were related to and affected by linguistic and biographical variables. It was also demonstrated that simplicity in epicene pronoun use could have assumed priority over nonsexist expression among some Korean EFL learners. The present study has implications in that it contributes to epicene pronoun education in Korean EFL settings, and to build awareness in Korean EFL learners regarding the issue of sex bias in language.
Second language (L2) research has reported a facilitative role of interaction in L2 learning. It points out that interactional corrective feedback (ICF), which naturally occurs during negotiation for meaning, is one of many benefits. Research argues that such feedback can draw learners’ attention to their nontargetlike utterances. However, many researchers question whether ICF is perceived by learners as correction to language in meaning-based classrooms since it is interwoven with an ongoing conversation. In light of this, the current study aims to investigate in nine intact classrooms how learners perceive ICF. In doing so, the study pioneers in the investigation of how learners perceive ICF differently depending on whether they are direct or indirect recipients. In addition, the study examines whether the type of ICF plays a role in learner perception. The study analyzed stimulated recall interviews from 45 students to measure learner perception. The results show that learners perceived about 50% of ICF as correction and that they were generally more sensitive to the corrective function of feedback when they were direct recipients. However, when instructors use recasts, there is no significant difference in learner perception between direct recipients and indirect recipients.
English Tag Questions (ETQs) are frequently used among native speakers in various situations. Though ETQs look simple and easy to learn, some ESL students with particular language backgrounds report that it is difficult to learn and utilize ETQs naturally. One of my hypotheses is that the familarity of ETQs depends on whether ELS students have similar syntactic structure in their native languages to English. To investigate this inquiry, I have compared syntactic structures of tag questions from five different languages: Polish, Deutsch, Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, and Korean. In addition to the syntactic analysis, I have also surveyed Chinese, Japanese, and Korean ESL students, who comprise major population of ESL students, for their reflections on ETQs; whether they can differentiate the meaning of some basic syntaxes of ETQs. The results showed that there were significant differences in the responses of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students: Chinese students are much better in general than Japanese or Korean students. This paper contends that ETQ is one of the idiosyncratic features of English, and suggests that the syntactic and pragmatic differences of various languages should be considered in order to teach ETQs effectively.
The present study investigates the effect of pronunciation training on Korean adult learners’ perception and production of English vowels, /i/, /I/, /u/, and /Ω/. The study examines 1) the effect of pronunciation training on perception and production and 2) the maintenance of the effect over a one-month period. The subjects were 10 Korean graduate students who took a 4-week long English pronunciation training course. They were tested before and after pronunciation training and tested again one month after the training. In each test, both perception and production of the vowels were tested to see if the subjects were able to distinguish tense and lax vowels. In the perception part, subjects listened for words and checked the vowel (either tense or lax) sound they heard. For the production part, subjects read the selected words which contained the target vowels. The results show that pronunciation training has an effect, which supports the teachability of phonology in adulthood; however, the maintenance of the effect demonstrated a difference between perception and production, in which the effect was maintained in production but not in perception. Based on the results of the study, implications are discussed.
본 연구는 실시간 온라인으로 진행되는 학부 교양 초급 한국 어 수업에서 강의식 수업과 플립 러닝식 수업을 실시하고 각 수업 방 식에 대한 학습자 인식 및 수업 효율성을 살펴보는 데 목적이 있다. 이를 위해 ZOOM에서 8주간 각 수업 방식을 적용한 한국어 수업을 진행하고 사후 설문 조사를 실시하였다. 그 결과 학습자들은 강의식 수업보다는 플립 러닝식 수업에 긍정적인 반응을 보였으며, 강의식 수 업에서는 ‘어휘 및 문법’ 영역, 플립 러닝식 수업에서는 ‘듣기, 읽기, 쓰 기, 말하기’ 영역의 수업 효율성이 높게 나타났다. 이에 실시간 온라인 으로 진행되는 초급 한국어 수업의 효율을 높이기 위해서는 수업 환 경과 언어 영역의 특성을 고려한 혼합된 수업 방식이 필요할 것이다.
Semantic priming refers to a tendency that language processing is facilitated in case that words are semantically related to each other due to a language user’s knowledge and prior experience. Hence, semantic priming can be considered as a tool to assess language processors’ implicit index of semantic relatedness. The purpose of the present study is to investigate 1) whether teenaged EFL learners will show semantic priming effects on gender category perception, 2) whether there are any different effects between immediate and delayed prime conditions, and 3) whether there are any different effects between gender stereotype and suffixtype words. As a result, semantic priming effects were observed in general. Delayed prime condition showed stronger effects than immediate prime condition and feminine suffix-type of words showed robust effects than any other types.
Many researchers called for a need to expose L2 learners to diverse writing contexts, and L2-L2 interactions using English as a communication tool became more common than communication with native English speakers. The present study introduced two groups of Korean university students to a task, for which they were grouped differently: the first with a group of students at a Chinese university and the second with Chinese students as well as students of a different Korean university. These groups performed a task that they selected from among three choices. In the process of their e-mail exchanges, the students' pre- and post-task perspectives were explored through two surveys. In addition, the students expressed their reflections regarding this experience in writing. Overall, the students seemed to consider this experience of exchanging emails with L2 students speaking a different L1 useful and it helped some students gain confidence in their ability to use English as a communication tool. This study provided an opportunity to expand the writing context in EFL classrooms.