Korean L2 Learners Research Articles

Adult English Language Learners’ Reading Habits and Attitudes Regarding Picturebooks as an Educational Resource

The primary purpose of this study is to verify the validity in identifying the characteristics of the production of consonant clusters of Korean L2 learners through an analysis of vowel insertion occurrences. This is of significance as vowel insertion is regarded as the most frequent form of error in the production of English consonant clusters among Korean learners. For this specific purpose, the pronunciation of Korean L2 learner children and adults was analyzed using a set of six English words which contained consonant clusters in their onsets and fourteen English words which contained consonant clusters in their codas. The results of this study suggest the possibility of further investigation to clarify the characteristics with regard to the production of consonant clusters according to the age of Korean EFL learners. In addition, the phonological analysis process presented in this study is expected to assist researchers in this field in the future.

DO L1-L2 DIFFERENCES IN DISCOURSE PROCESSING REFLECT PROCESSING DEMANDS OR DIFFICULTY OF FORM-FUNCTION MAPPING?

AbstractWe examined what causes L1-L2 differences in sensitivity to prominence cues in discourse processing. Participants listened to recorded stories in segment-by-segment fashion at their own pace. Each story established a pair of contrasting items, and one item from the pair was rementioned and manipulated to carry either a contrastive or presentational pitch accent. By directly comparing the current self-paced listening data to previously obtained experimenter-paced listening data, we tested whether reducing online-processing demands allows L2 learners to show a nativelike behavior, such that contrastive pitch accents facilitate later ruling out the salient alternative. However, reduced time pressure failed to lead even higher proficiency L1-Korean learners of English to reach a nativelike level, suggesting that L2 learners’ nonnativelike processing and representation of the prominence cue in spoken discourse processing can be due to the inherent difficulty of fully learning a complex form-function mapping rather than to online-processing demands.

Comparison of Consonant Cluster Production between Korean EFL Children and Adults and Phonological Analysis: Preliminary Study

The primary purpose of this study is to verify the validity in identifying the characteristics of the production of consonant clusters of Korean L2 learners through an analysis of vowel insertion occurrences. This is of significance as vowel insertion is regarded as the most frequent form of error in the production of English consonant clusters among Korean learners. For this specific purpose, the pronunciation of Korean L2 learner children and adults was analyzed using a set of six English words which contained consonant clusters in their onsets and fourteen English words which contained consonant clusters in their codas. The results of this study suggest the possibility of further investigation to clarify the characteristics with regard to the production of consonant clusters according to the age of Korean EFL learners. In addition, the phonological analysis process presented in this study is expected to assist researchers in this field in the future.

Using corpus analysis to extend experimental research: Genre effects in L2 writing

This study investigates differences in the writing performance of L1-Korean learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in response to tasks requiring different genres of writing. Utilizing data controlled for L1 and proficiency level from the Gachon Learner Corpus, the study partially replicates a study by Yoon and Polio (2017), and examines genre effects by comparing descriptive and argumentative essays. A total of 481 essays (270 descriptive and 211 argumentative) from two proficiency groups were analyzed in order to evaluate the effects of different genres on EFL learners' writing performance. Using syntactic complexity and lexical complexity measures, the analysis found statistically significant differences between the two genres. The L2 learners produced more subordination, more of particular structures, and more sophisticated vocabulary in argumentative writing than in descriptive writing. These findings of genre effects can be interpreted on the basis of either the cognition hypothesis or the role of genres' communicative function. No proficiency differences were detected between the two genres except in lexical diversity. The study's findings suggest that existing corpora may be useful for studies seeking to confirm or extend experimental research.

Interpretation of Korean Null Pronouns in subject and object position: Comparing native and non-native speakers

We report an experiment that investigates how native and non-native Korean speakers’ interpretation of null pronouns in subject and object position is influenced by structural and discourse-level factors. We compare native Korean speakers to L2 Korean learners whose L1, Spanish, only has null pronouns in subject position. We find that native Korean speakers’ interpretation of subject and object null pronouns is guided by structural factors as well as discourse-level coherence relations, with subject nulls being more sensitive to coherence relations than object nulls. In contrast, our results suggest that L2 speakers’ interpretation of null pronouns in Korean is less influenced by coherence relations. Our results support claims that interface phenomena are challenging in L2 acquisition and provide new evidence that this occurs with null pronouns in L2 even when the L1 has null pronouns.

Automatic analysis of passive constructions in Korean

AbstractThe present study aims to explore the applicability of automatic analysis to L2-Korean learner corpora, with a special focus on learners’ use of a clause-level construction. For this purpose, we investigate L1-Mandarin L2-Korean learners’ written production of two passive construction types in Korean – suffixal and periphrastic – by devising a pattern-extraction process through NLP techniques. We focus on reporting how the passive constructions are identified and extracted from learner writing automatically, given language-specific features involving the passive. A total of 72 essays were analysed by adapting an existing pipeline (developed byShin, forthcoming), with enhanced tokenisation and annotation through manual revision of the data. Results showed that our automatic pattern-finder identified more instances than manual extraction for the suffixal passive and yielded a perfect match with manual extraction for the periphrastic passive. Implications of the findings are discussed in regard to strengths and drawbacks of the automatic analysis of learner writing, with suggestions for improving currently available tools for learner corpus research in Korean.

어휘 학습 전략 교육이 어휘 다양성에 미치는 영향: L2 한국어 학습자의 예

본 연구에서는 구어와 문어 자료에서 어휘 다양성이 높은 집단이 많이 사용하는 어휘 학습 전략을 추출하고 추출한 교육하여 그 효과를 확인하고자 하였다. 상위 집단에서 사용하는 어휘 학습 전략을 추출하기 위해 설문 조사를 통해 어휘 학습 전략을 조사하고 평균 D값을 측정하였다. 그 결과, 어휘 다양성이 높은 집단이 많이 사용하는 어휘 학습 전략 세 개(‘새 단어를 여러 번 말하면서 암기한다.’, ‘새 단어가 사용될 수 있는 상황을 생각하면서 그 단어를 외운다.’, ‘모르는 단어가 있으면 문맥적 흐름으로 의미를 추측한다.’)를 추출할 수 있었다. 이를 바탕으로 추출된 어휘 학습 전략 교육 전후의 평균 D값을 통해 구어, 문어, 표현 어휘 다양성을 측정하고 그 결과를 제시하였다. 구어와 표현 어휘 다양성 교육 전후의 경우, ‘새 단어가 사용될 수 있는 상황을 생각하면서 그 단어를 외운다.’, ‘모르는 단어가 있으면 문맥적 흐름으로 의미를 추측한다.’, ‘새 단어를 여러 번 말하면서 암기한다.’ 순으로 전략 교육의 효과가 큰 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 문어 어휘 다양성은 교육 전후에 ‘새 단어를 여러 번 말하면서 암기한다.’ 전략을 사용하는 경우에만 효과가 있는 것으로 나타났다.

A feature-based approach to the acquisition of L2 Chinese negation by L1-English and L1-Korean learners

The present study investigates the acquisition of the [±realis] features encoded in Chinese negation by L1-English and L1-Korean learners through the framework of the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis. Two modes of grammaticality judgment tests (written and aural) were administered to 90 L1-English and 92 L1-Korean learners ranging from elementary to advanced Chinese proficiency levels, along with 15 native controls. Our study's findings in general support the proposals of the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis. The results indicate that L2 learners with lower Chinese proficiency tend to correspond their L1 features encoded in negation with similar L2 items, leading to target-deviant performances at the early stages of learning. L1-English and L1-Korean learners with increased Chinese proficiency assemble the [+realis] and [−realis] features with mei and bu, respectively. However, they face difficulties in identifying the [±realis] features represented in certain licensing contexts. Based on the results, we argue that the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis is strengthened when variables that constrain feature detectability and reassembly, such as L1 influence, L2 proficiency, input frequency and consistency, and task modality, are considered.

A Study on the Acquisition of Chinese Adverbs for Korean L2 Learners

In this paper, in order to examine the Korean learners of Chinese adverbs acquisition situation, analyzes the Chinese native speakers corpus and Korean learner corpus. The statistics Korean learners and Chinese native speakers of Chinese use frequency adverbs, summarizes the using the characteristics of 36 basis adverbs and compared the differences of them. At last, through data analysis of changes in the Korean learners use adverbs and the relationship between Chinese proficiency. (1). The use of Chinese adverbs in Korean learners is single and concentrated; (2). In terms of the number and usage of adverbs, Korean learners use too many adverbs; (3). According to the order of native speakers’ usage frequency, the surplus of adverbs used by Korean learners is concentrated in medium frequency adverbs; (4). Starting from Grade B, the acquisition level of basic adverbs of Korean learners is gradually improved, and the excessive use of adverbs is correspondingly reduced, and the higher the Chinese level of Korean learners, the more frequently they use medium frequency adverbs. According to the characteristics of Korean learners’ acquisition of Chinese adverbs, this paper puts forward some Suggestions on teaching Chinese adverbs in Korean, so as to provide reference for teaching Chinese adverbs in Korean, compiling textbooks, classifying adverbs and evaluating learners’ levels.

어휘접근 과정에서 나타나는 한국인 L2 학습자의 이중언어 음운적 동시활성화 양상

This study explored the likelihood of cross-language co-activation among Korean L2 learners of English when performing a monolingual phoneme monitoring task. The stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA: -2,000ms, +200ms, +400ms) between picture and target phoneme stimuli were manipulated. Results demonstrated that participants responded faster and showed lower error rates when performing the task in L1 compared to L2. Moreover, interference effects were observed in all three SOA-manipulated experiments irrelevant to the language type, which shows the presence of phonological co-activation of the language not- in-use during monolingual task. Stronger L1 interference effect was shown during L2 task, which reflects the difference in the degree of bilingual phonological co-activation. This study suggests that when given a short period of time to access the semantic system which is shared by two languages, phonological information of both languages are co-activated even for non-proficient L2 learners whose languages have different scripts.

A study on the grammaticality of adverb case markers ‘ey, eyseo, (e)ro’ of Lao Korean L2 learners

A study on the grammaticality of adverb case markers ‘ey, eyseo, (e)ro’ of Lao Korean L2 learners

한국어 학습자의 구어 어휘 다양성과 어휘 학습 전략에 관한 연구 - 발표하기와 회상하여 말하기 과제를 중심으로 -

한국어 학습자의 구어 어휘 다양성과 어휘 학습 전략에 관한 연구 - 발표하기와 회상하여 말하기 과제를 중심으로 -

Re-examining the effect of phonological similarity between the native- and second-language intonational systems in second-language speech segmentation

AbstractThis study investigates how phonological and phonetic aspects of the native-language (L1) intonation modulate the use of tonal cues in second-language (L2) speech segmentation. Previous research suggested that prosodic learning is more difficult if the L1 and L2 intonations are phonologically similar but phonetically different (French–Korean) than if they are phonologically different (English–French/Korean) (Prosodic-Learning Interference Hypothesis; Tremblay, Broersma, Coughlin & Choi, 2016). This study provides another test of this hypothesis. Korean listeners and French-speaking and English-speaking L2 learners of Korean in Korea completed an eye-tracking experiment investigating the effects of phrase tones in Korean. All groups patterned similarly with the phrase-final tone, but, unlike Korean and French listeners, English listeners showed early benefits from the phrase-initial tone (signaling word-initial boundaries in English). Importantly, French listeners patterned like Korean listeners with both tones. The Prosodic-Learning Interference Hypothesis is refined to suggest that prosodic learning difficulties may not be persistent for immersed L2 learners.

The Contributions of Crosslinguistic Influence and Individual Differences to Nonnative Speech Perception

Perception of a nonnative language (L2) is known to be affected by crosslinguistic transfer from a listener’s native language (L1), but the relative importance of L1 transfer vis-a-vis individual learner differences remains unclear. This study explored the hypothesis that the nature of L1 transfer changes as learners gain experience with the L2, such that individual differences are more influential at earlier stages of learning and L1 transfer is more influential at later stages of learning. To test this hypothesis, novice L2 learners of Korean from diverse L1 backgrounds were examined in a pretest-posttest design with respect to their perceptual acquisition of novel L2 consonant contrasts (the three-way Korean laryngeal contrast among lenis, fortis, and aspirated plosives) and vowel contrasts (/o/-/ʌ/, /u/-/ɨ/). Whereas pretest performance showed little evidence of L1 effects, posttest performance showed significant L1 transfer. Furthermore, pretest performance did not predict posttest performance. These findings support the view that L1 knowledge influences L2 perception dynamically, according to the amount of L2 knowledge available to learners at that time. That is, both individual differences and L1 knowledge play a role in L2 perception, but to different degrees over the course of L2 development.

시각적 단어 재인에 미치는 단어 빈도와 의미적 연관성의 영향: 한국어 고급 학습자의 예

시각적 단어 재인에 미치는 단어 빈도와 의미적 연관성의 영향: 한국어 고급 학습자의 예

The Speech Act of Complaint by Korean L2 Learners of English in an Intercultural Perspective

The Speech Act of Complaint by Korean L2 Learners of English in an Intercultural Perspective

A Corpus Study of Modal Verbs in Korean Learners' Speech

Modality, one of the central components of English grammar, speakers’ evaluations and emotions is known to be important in verbal communication but difficult to use accurately. The purpose of the study is to investigate the pattern of modal verbs used by Korean learners in their speaking. In the present study, a comparative analysis of a learner corpus of Korean undergraduates’ speech and an American native corpus was performed. More specifically, this study explored the use of six core modal verbs in both corpora using the AntConc 3.5.8 software. The results of this study are as follows. First, it was observed the tendency of Korean L2 learners to overuse 'can' and 'will' while underusing 'could' and 'would'. Second, it was revealed that English proficiency predicted learners’ versatility in using modal verbs. Based on these findings, several reasons were discussed underlying these differences. This paper provides valuable insights for teaching of modal verbs in the English classroom.

중한 번역에서의 글쓰기 전략 연구－중국인 학습자의 번역 텍스트 분석을 중심으로－

통역과 달리 번역은 내용을 분석하고 사전 등의 참고 자료를 찾아볼 시간적 여유가 주어진다는 점에서 우수한 도착어 텍스트 결과물을 만들어낼 수 있다. 그럼에도 불구하고 중국인 한국어 학습자들은 모국어 수준에 미치지 못하는 한국어를 도착어로 하는 만큼 ‘재구성’ 과정에서 다양한 번역투가 섞인 문장을 만들어 낸다. 이러한 번역투 문장을 만들어 내는 이유는 도착어 역량이 제대로 함양되지 못한 면도 있지만 번역 글쓰기 연습의 부족에도 이유가 있다. 번역 글쓰기는 일반 글쓰기와 달리 출발어 텍스트의 간섭을 받기 때문이다. 이러한 번역투 문장에서 벗어나 완성도 높은 결과를 만들어 내기 위해서는 초벌 번역 이후에 도착어 텍스트의 일관성에 초점을 맞춰 재번역과 윤문의 과정을 거쳐야 한다. 그리고 이에 대한 체계적인 번역 글쓰기 교육이 필요하다.<BR> 본고에서는 중국인 학습자들의 언어적 특수성을 고려한 ‘중한 번역에서의 글쓰기 전략’을 제안하였다. 서론에 이어, 2장에서는 번역과 글쓰기의 관계를 살펴보고 이를 통해 드러나는 번역에서의 글쓰기 능력의 필요성을 확인하였다. 3장에서는 번역투 문장을 통해 본 글쓰기 전략에 대해 살펴보았다. 중국인 학습자들의 중한 번역 모의 테스트 결과를 제시한 후, 문제점과 이에 대한 해결책을 제시해 보았는데, 이 논의는 2장에서 살펴본 번역 글쓰기의 이론적 전제 하에 진행되었다.

The effects of speaker accent on syntactic priming in second-language speakers

Syntactic priming studies in second language (L2) have contributed to understanding how L2 speakers’ syntactic knowledge is represented and processed. However, little is known about social influences on L2 speakers’ syntactic processing and learning. The present study investigated whether L2 speakers’ syntactic priming is influenced by social factors, specifically different accents of English speakers and their familiarity with those accents. Korean L2 learners of English with intermediate proficiency were asked to describe pictures depicting ditransitive events after listening to sentences recorded by three English speakers with different accents: a standard-accented speaker (an American English speaker), and two speakers with non-standard accents (a Korean English speaker and an Indian English speaker). The results of the picture description task showed that syntactic priming effects in Korean L2 English speakers were significantly influenced by speaker accents and their familiarity with the accents. In addition, their priming patterns and interactions with these factors changed over time. These results suggest that syntactic priming in L2 speakers is socially mediated. We propose that priming effects in real language use can be better accounted for using a combination of cognitive and sociolinguistic models of syntactic priming and speech production.

한국어 학습자의 목적격 조사에 대한 인지 양상 연구 - 자기조절읽기 과제를 중심으로 -

This study aims to investigate the difference in perceiving Korean accusative case markers ‘eul’ of Korean native speakers and L2 learners through a self-paced reading(SPR) task. The study employed 15 native speakers, 17 advanced learners with TOPIK level 6 and 16 intermediate learners with TOPIK level 4. Their SPR results were analyzed to find out the perception similar among three groups, but there is a delicate difference among them. As results the study found out that (i) intermediate learners showed the longer Reaction Time(RT) on the window 3 and 4 than other two groups and it seems that the proficiency influences on the RT, (ii) learners’ accuracy rate(ACC) showed the violation of syntax influences on the ACC and they noticed well in the sentence which has the correct syntax than wrong. Overall, advanced and intermediate learners in this study showed significant difference of perceiving accusative case markers compared to native speakers.