Korean EFL College Students Research Articles

Relationships among Korean EFL College Students’ Beliefs, Motivations and Attitudes towards English Learning

Relationships among Korean EFL College Students’ Beliefs, Motivations and Attitudes towards English Learning

Reading-related Vocabulary Learning Strategy of Korean EFL College Students

Reading-related Vocabulary Learning Strategy of Korean EFL College Students

Roles of Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Knowledge in L2 Writing through the Mediation of L2 Reading Ability

The present study aims to investigate the direct and indirect contributions of Korean EFL college students’ L2 receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge to their L2 writing performances by using a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis with a goal to explore the pathways of vocabulary knowledge to writing. Data from 178 students were collected through tests of receptive and productive vocabulary breadth and depth, a writing test and a reading test. In testing a hypothesized model on the roles of receptive and productive vocabulary in writing, the results of the SEM analysis reveal the direct role of productive vocabulary in writing. The indirect role of receptive vocabulary on writing was observed through the mediating role of productive vocabulary or reading ability due to the direct contribution of receptive vocabulary to both productive vocabulary and reading and that of productive vocabulary and reading to writing. Findings from the study shed light on the relations of L2 receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge with L2 writing abilities, suggesting potential benefits of both receptive and productive vocabulary learning for L2 writing.

The Effects of the Process-Genre Approach on Korean EFL University Students’ Writing Abilities

The purpose of this study is to investigate a model for teaching English writing skills which is focused on the process-genre approach for Korean EFL...

The Relationship between Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Vocabulary Size with Korean EFL College Students

The Relationship between Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Vocabulary Size with Korean EFL College Students

How Does Form-Focused Instruction Affect Korean EFL Students in a Communicative Language Teaching Classroom?

This study aims to explore how Form-Focused Instruction (FFI) in a CLT context would affect Korean EFL university students’ oral communicative competence as well as their perceptions. Fifty two students participated in this study, and 26 in the FFI class were instructed to learn specific grammatical features with communication skills; whereas the rest of 26 in the non-FFI class were never given any grammar instruction or feedback. The two classes’ performance on the group oral conversation test and their responses to the survey questionnaire were, respectively, compared. The test results showed that the FFI class students outperformed those in the non-FFI class in all areas including grammar, vocabulary, content, fluency, turn-taking, and non-verbal behaviors. In addition, the survey results demonstrated that the FFI class students thought they had improved particularly grammar and fluency, and thus gained greater confidence and motivation; whereas the non-FFI class students were concerned much about their grammatical correctness which made them difficult to continue conversation. It can be thus confirmed that FFI in a CLT classroom would help students enhance their communicative competence and confidence.

Disciplinary Voices in Academic Writing

This study investigates how EFL students as disciplinary insiders construct a voice in their academic writing through specific linguistic resources. Through detailed text analysis of voice markers, the study identifies and describes how disciplinary voices are manifested or constructed through the texts written by two undergraduates of one upper-level course in applied linguistics. The range of relevant voice markers as employed in this study builds upon two dimensions of interactional model of voice in academic writing proposed by Hyland (2008a): stance and engagement. The voice features found in the two texts provide clues as to how the students portray their disciplinary voices through the linguistic choices made in text construction. The students showed clear preference for some choices over others. Alongside these preferences were variations in the way they used linguistic resources to represent themselves, their positions, and their readers. Certain preferences were, at times, different from the rhetorical preferences of native English-speaking writers in academic discourse. However, complementary analyses, including more quantitative studies, are needed to provide a complete picture of how Korean EFL college students make decisions on the strategic use of voice features in academic writing.

The size and depth of vocabulary knowledge of Korean EFL university students and its role in reading comprehension

The size and depth of vocabulary knowledge of Korean EFL university students and its role in reading comprehension

Effects of language proficiency on error patterns of Korean EFL university students’ writing

Effects of language proficiency on error patterns of Korean EFL university students’ writing

Korean EFL Learners’ Understanding of Polysemous Preposition Senses

This paper examined how well Korean EFL university students recognize the multiple senses of high-frequency polysemous English prepositions. With 10 target prepositions –after, against, behind, for, in, into, off, on, over, and through -40 undergraduates took a choice test asking them to fill in the blanks with the correct prepositions. The results of the test revealed that the students` knowledge of the target words was rather limited. Interviews were conducted to discover what was behind their failure to make the most of the prepositions. It turned out that most of the students interviewed had an overly simplistic understanding of what prepositions have to offer, which in turn has led them to give prepositions a low priority in their study of English. The findings of the study suggest that the students in the study need to be helped to take a more proactive approach to learning prepositions.

A Study of the Relationship between Korean EFL College Students' Reading Strategy Use and Reading Anxiety

The purpose of this research is to identify English reading strategies that are frequently used by Korean EFL university students as well as differences found in the use of foreign language reading strategies by gender and reading anxiety. A 30-item Survey of Reading Strategy (SORS) developed by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002) and the 20-item Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) developed by Saito et.al (1999) were used with descriptive statistics (means, frequencies, standard deviations, and etc.) to investigate the overall reading strategy use, reading strategy use in three categories, and the most and least used strategy items. The descriptive statistics for overall reading strategy use showed that the participants used a medium degree of reading strategy use. The current result indicates a medium use of each of the three strategy categories. Pearson’s r correlation indicated no significant correlations between reading strategy and the three categories of strategy variables and reading anxiety.

Effects of a Customized Instruction on Korean EFL College Students’ Learning Achievement and Attitudes

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a small-sized “customized” English conversation instruction on undergraduate university students’ communicative competence. The research was conducted at S university in Korea, where a three-week “customized” intensive English conversation program was provided to 38 participants. For this research, paired t-test analysis was carried out to compare the result of the pre-and post-program mock TOEIC and TOEIC Speaking results. Also, paired t-test analysis was used to compare the results of the survey that was designed to find out the changes in the participants’ attitude towards oral performances in classes. Finally, Pearson Correlational analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the participants’ level of participation and their level of program satisfaction. The results of the study strongly suggests that the small-sized, customized instruction had significant impact on the participants’ communicative competence and attitudes toward oral communicative performances in English.

Group leader election: Korean EFL university students’ attitudes and rationales.

Group leader election: Korean EFL university students’ attitudes and rationales.

A Study on Vocabulary Learning Strategies Used by Korean EFL University Students

A Study on Vocabulary Learning Strategies Used by Korean EFL University Students

Motivational Value of Mobile-Based Communicative Tasks as Coursebook Supplements

This study explores the perceptions of Korean EFL college students regarding the motivational value of a commonly-used, English-language mobile application as a language learning tool and coursebook supplement. The tasks were designed according to SMART learning pedagogy (MEST, 2011), requiring learners to work collaboratively and to communicate about their findings. The tasks were designed specifically to expand upon the content presented in the coursebook by providing learners with access to authentic content that is highly relevant to their major of study. The motivational value of the mobile application and the coursebook are assessed using Keller``s (1987) ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) motivational model. Although the results did not reveal statistically different results between the two learning tools, student comments provide additional insight as to how mobile application based tasks can help to motivate learners who are less motivated by the traditional coursebook materials. The results suggest that the opportunity to explore authentic forms of English which are of personal interest may provide learners with increased levels of interest and confidence in their English abilities. Motivational value aside, the students expressed rather overwhelmingly a desire for coursebook supplementation.

Effects of Pragmatic Instruction for Korean EFL College Students in Request Acts

Effects of Pragmatic Instruction for Korean EFL College Students in Request Acts

Applying Toulmin: Does Peer Response Play a Role in Korean EFL College Students’ Revision Quality?

The skill of argumentation is problematic for EFL students who are linguistically and rhetorically deficient in expressing academically appropriate...

Korean EFL University Students’ English Vocabulary Size and Their Writing Proficiency

The purpose of the current study was two-fold. It was to measure the receptive and productive vocabulary size of Korean university students and to...

The Effects of English Listening Strategy Training using a Learning Log on Korean EFL College Students’ Listening Ability and Affective Domain

The Effects of English Listening Strategy Training using a Learning Log on Korean EFL College Students’ Listening Ability and Affective Domain

Analysis of Lexical Complexity in Korean EFL Students’ Narrative Writing

The present study investigates the degree of lexical complexity in Korean EFL college students’ narrative writing. This study was based on data...