Korean EFL Research Articles

한국인 EFL 학습자의 부정관사 사용

한국인 EFL 학습자의 부정관사 사용

A Study on the Korean EFL Learners’ Grammatical Knowledge Development under Input-enhanced FFI and Output-enhanced FFI Conditions

본 연구의 목적은 형태초점교수법이 학습자의 언어형태에 관한 지식 향상에 미치는 영향을 조사하고, 학습자들이 그 형태에 관한 지식을 출력활동인 글쓰기에 어떻게 활용하는지를 살펴보는 것이다. 연구참여자들은 122명의 대학생들로 3개의 집단 즉 입력강화집단 35명, 출력강화집단 41명, 대조집단 46명으로 나누어 평가시험과 글쓰기 과제를 사전·사후로 실시하였다. 연구결과를 살펴보면, 입력강화 형태초점교수법과 출력강화 형태초점교수법 모두 학습자의 언어형태 학습에 영향을 미치는 것으로 드러났고, 학습자들이 이러한 형태초점교수법으로 습득한 지식을 영어글쓰기에 활용하는데 기여한 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구결과에 의거하여, 학습자의 언어형태 학습의 효과를 극대화할 수 있는 방법으로 입력강화와 출력 강화기법을 적절하게 결합한 형태초점교수법을 적용할 것을 제안한다.

Influences of Writing Genres and Proficiency on Lexical Diversity

Providing ESL/EFL writers with freedom to choose a writing topic has been regarded as important for promoting their learning motivation and improving their quality of writing. Lexical diversity is one of the critical elements in evaluating writing quality, and several factors such as major/content knowledge, age, gender, or language proficiency influence the overall quality of writing even when L2 learners freely choose their writing topics. This study explored the relationships between overall language proficiency and lexical diversity, and between writing genres and lexical diversity when Korean EFL writers had freedom to choose their topics. Seventy-two university students participated in this study, and they submitted two essays of different writing genres during one semester. Their writings were analyzed in terms of the number of types, tokens, TTR, and VocD using a computer program, CLAN. It was found that VocD values differed depending on writing genres, but overall proficiency did not contribute to the differences. The length of essays was not related to the level of VocD either. The findings suggest that in order to improve the lexical diversity of EFL writers, educators need to provide them with diverse writing activities that include different types of writing genres.

Native and Nonnative English Speaking Teachers’ Feedback Beliefs and Practices

Seohyun Penn. (2018). Native and Nonnative English speaking teachers’ feedback beliefs and practices. Language Information, Volume 26. 51-78. The present study investigates native and nonnative English teachers’ beliefs of teaching writing and giving feedback and how they give feedback to Korean EFL student writing. The data were collected from 74 English teachers (38 NESTs and 36 NNESTs) in order to examine their teaching methods of writing, feedback beliefs and their self-reported feedback practice. The survey responses were analyzed using a structured coding method (Saldana, 2009) and actual feedback points were analyzed using Analytic Model for Teacher Commentary (Ferris, 1995) and Error Categories (Ferris, 2012). The findings indicated that both groups of teachers considered teaching English writing and giving feedback to EFL students an integral part of students’writing and linguistic development. NESTs and NNESTs demonstrated comparable ways of giving feedback to student writing: 70% of their feedback was corrective feedback while 30% consisted of teacher commentaries. While teachers were cautious in giving content feedback avoiding teacher appropriation, they marked every error they saw on the students’ writing. The most salient differences emerged from the amounts of feedback they gave and the time spent on student writing. Based on the results obtained in this study, various instructional insights and implications for EFL teachers were discussed in the areas of teaching and giving more effective feedback. The current study warrants the necessity of implementing teacher training for both NESTs and NNESTs in Korean EFL settings.

The Effects of Task Complexity and Working Memory on Korean Adult Learners’ English Speaking Performance

This study investigated whether task complexity may affect L2 speaking performance as predicted by the Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2011), and whether the effect of task complexity may interact with individual differences in working memory capacity. A total of twenty Korean advanced-level EFL learners performed two separate picture description tasks, which were different in task complexity along [+/- here and now] dimension. Their working memory was measured by an L1 version of a reading span task. The results showed that there was no significant difference between Here-and-Now task (i.e., a simple task) and There-and-Then task (i.e., a complex task) in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency of English speaking performance, rejecting the prediction of the Cognition Hypothesis. Yet, it found that working memory correlated with accuracy in L2 performance on the complex task, but not on the simple task. This indicates that the effect of individual learners’ working memory capacity is observable only when a task demands a high control of attentional resources. Conversely, when a task is simple, individual differences in working memory capacity do not result in significant differences in L2 speaking performance.

Ongoing Speaking Anxiety of Korean EFL Learners : Case Study of a TOEIC Intensive Program

With the growing, and often required, opportunities for Korean EFL learners to interact with NNSs as well as NSs via international job markets, many English intensive programs are being established by universities and are welcomed by students. Given that a great deal of effort is being made by these students, their English Speaking Anxiety (ESA), and its impact on their efforts, has not been examined to any great degree. This study aims to investigate Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) and Language Anxiety in Cognitive Processes (LACP) of Korean university students in an Intensive TOEIC speaking program and their relationships with their academic achievement. Statistical analysis was carried out to trace students’ ESA between the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) variables and its correlation with the LACP and their impact on students’ TOEIC speaking achievement throughout the program. This study also includes instructors’ semi-structured interviews with students and the students’ introductory journals to offer their voices on English speaking. The study documents that ESA is correlated between FLA items and LACP variables differently and influence TOEIC speaking performance negatively. The implication of the study is discussed further with regard to teachers’ consideration of learners’ ESA when learning the language.

Pedagogic challenges of English-Mediated Instruction in the Korean EFL Context

Pedagogic challenges of English-Mediated Instruction in the Korean EFL Context

Examining the Relationship between Reading and Writing of Advanced Korean EFL Learners

Examining the Relationship between Reading and Writing of Advanced Korean EFL Learners

Linguistic complexity and register appropriateness of Korean EFL learners' academic writings

Linguistic complexity and register appropriateness of Korean EFL learners' academic writings

Improving Intercultural Communicative Competence through PBL-Based Collaborative Activities between Foreign International Students and Korean EFL Learners

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the PBL-based collaborative work between international students and Korean university students on improving international students` intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Fantini`s (2006) ICC instrument was implemented to measure the international students` ICC performance through a pre- and a post- survey. Also, the post-survey results were compared with those of Korean host students. The data analysis focused on four areas: knowledge, attitude, skills, and awareness. The results showed that the international students improved their ICC overall in the four areas. Especially, a robust improvement was found in the skills area. The results have implications, namely, that PBL-based collaborative work with Korean host students in class helped international students improve their ICC and acquire the skills, techniques, and strategies to deal with hurdles in intercultural situation.

How Visual Thinking Strategies Using Picture Book Images can Improve Korean Secondary EFL Students’ L2 Writing

This research aims to explore whether guided visual artwork discussions called Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) using picture book images can benefit and enhance Korean EFL secondary students’ L2 writing. Incorporating content analysis, this research examines how carefully guided artwork discussions can enhance visual understanding, critical thinking skills and interpretive L2 writing skills. The L2 writing samples of the focal students revealed that they were able to think based on visual clues. The discussions were led by the teacher who pointed out significant visual elements and allowed time for the students to explore diverse ideas. The focal students were able to piece together the jigsaw of the images and articulate their thoughts in English, during which time they learned to take risks and to make mistakes in using a foreign language. Their critical comments and improved L2 writing suggest how critical/aesthetic thinking skills can be developed through continued visual practices in a secondary EFL setting.

Thematic Patterns in Formal Email Writing of Korean EFL College Learners

Ko, Bo-Ai. 2018. “Thematic Patterns in Formal Email Writing of Korean EFL College Learners”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 26(1). 31~59. This study explores the Theme types and the thematic progression in the formal email writings of Korean EFL college learners, based on the Theme-Rheme analytical framework of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG). Data was collected from 99 college students, enrolled in an English Writing Composition course during the second semester of 2017 via a cyber university in Korea. Their main writing activity involved email writings in the form of requesting primarily based on the Genre Approach. Text analysis was conducted with the comparison of the high- scoring group (15), the medium-scoring group (15) and the low-scoring group (15), based on assessment of the course assignment. Employing the coding step of identifying the Theme and Rheme of each T-unit, the text analysis sought to figure out which Theme types were used for each T-unit and which thematic progression patterns were used for overall text flow and cohesion. The key finding was that there were certain discourse-specific thematic patterns of formal email writing. Among the range of thematic features, this study will highlight marked Themes, interpersonal Themes and thematic choices of nominalization for the purpose of formal email writing texts.

Semantics in English Article Usage by Korean EFL Learners: A Corpus-Based Study

Semantics in English Article Usage by Korean EFL Learners: A Corpus-Based Study

A Corpus-based Study of the Use of English Articles by Korean EFL Learners

A Corpus-based Study of the Use of English Articles by Korean EFL Learners

Prosodic remedies of Korean talkers' English L2 speech: Optimal pitch and speech rate

The current study investigates native English listeners’ perceived foreign accent for pitch- and duration-manipulated speech of Korean EFL talkers...

Cross-Language Transfer of Phonological and Orthographic Awareness in L1-Korean L2-English Early Literacy Acquisition

The current study explored the cross-language transfer of L2 word recognition (WR) among 129 Korean EFL students. Participants underwent measures of L1-/ L2 phonological awareness (PA), L1-/ L2 orthographic awareness (OA), and L1-/ L2 unfamiliar-/ pseudo word recognition (WR). Findings showed that (a) the significant predictors of L1 unfamiliar WR were L1 PA-/ OA; (b) L1-/ L2 PA and L2 OA played an important role in L2 unfamiliar WR; and (c) L2 PA-/ OA were positively predictive of L2 pseudo WR. These results support the linguistic interdependence hypothesis that literacy skills can be transferred from one language to another (Cummins, 2000). The findings of the current study suggest the importance of L1 phonological components in L2 early literacy acquisition. Specifically, the present results propose that knowledge of L1 phonological elements such as syllable onsets, nuclei, codas, and bodies may play a crucial role in successful L2 WR among, at least, early Korean-English readers.

Writing Improvement through Critical Literacy Practices in the Korean EFL College Classroom

Writing Improvement through Critical Literacy Practices in the Korean EFL College Classroom

Evaluation on Self-directed Learning Activities by a Low Level of Korean EFL Learners

Evaluation on Self-directed Learning Activities by a Low Level of Korean EFL Learners

Nominalization in Korean EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing : A Comparative Study of Distribution and Use

Nominalization in Korean EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing : A Comparative Study of Distribution and Use

Language Assessment Literacy of Korean EFL Teachers: An Investigation of Their Training Experiences and Needs

The purpose of this study is to investigate secondary EFL teachers’ previous training experiences and their needs for training with respect to...