Developing an English Intensive Course Model Based on CMC for Korean High School Students

Abstract

This study investigated how an English intensive course based on CMC (Computer-Mediated Communication) promoted Korean high school students` English proficiency and influenced their affective factors. It was examined that if the English intensive course provided practical help to learners and teachers. Based on the three syllabi of the English intensive courses conducted over three years, the participants chose and ranked preferred activities. The preferred activities based on CMC were described in the study. In addition, it was analyzed that how the English intensive course affected participants` English proficiency as well as affective factors. To compensate for the limitation of the data, in-depth interviews with learners and teachers were conducted. The result revealed that the students` most preferred activity was a group project using CMC. It helped the students improve their English. Among the four language skills, the writing skill revealed the most advance, followed by speaking, reading and the listening. The English intensive courses contributed to improving students` self-esteem in English. It was found that the teachers who participated in the intensive course had a willingness to turn regular classes into intensive ones. With respect to these findings, some pedagogical implications were made for the development of future CMC based intensive course for Korean high school students.