Korean L2 Research Articles

중국인 학습자의 모국어와 한국어 읽기 이해능력 관계 연구

This study is aimed to reveal the relationship between L1 (Chinese) and L2 (Korean) reading comprehension of Chinese advanced Korean learners, as well as the influence of L1 comprehension on L2 comprehension. To achieve this purpose, 72 Chinese advanced learners were recruited to take test on their capability of L1 and L2 reading comprehension. According to the research results, there is not only a close correlation between L1 and L2 reading comprehension, but also a significant association between literal and Inferential comprehension ability, which are identified as the sub-factors of L1 and L2. Besides, a regression analysis was conducted to further examine the effect of L1 reading comprehension on L2 reading comprehension. As confirmed by the analytical results, L1 comprehension ability exerts a positive (+) effect on L2 comprehension ability. That is to say, the improvement of L1 comprehension ability is accompanied by the improvement of L2 comprehension ability in the process of acquisition. These results play a significant role in verifying the relationship between L1 and L2 reading comprehension against the empirical research results in relation to Korean education, thus providing inspiration for the development of Korean education. (Yonsei University·Kyung Hee University)

Hidden in Plain Sight: An Exploration of Learner Productions of Phonological Processes in Korean and Their Impact on Comprehensibility to the Native and Nonnative Ear

ABSTRACT This study explored the error gravity of learners’ mispronunciations involving orthographically nonsalient phonological processes in L2 Korean. A recorded DictoSpeak, similar to a dictogloss, was used to facilitate discussion between learners of Korean and a native-speaking interlocutor. Task content was seeded with exemplars of six phonological processes: aspiration, fortis articulation, palatalization, nasalization, lateralization, and addition of nasal /n/. Native and advanced nonnative Korean speakers used a 9-point scale to assess the comprehensibility of stimuli presented in two conditions (excised, in context). Overall, ratings were higher for nonnative versus native raters. For both rater groups, findings revealed (a) comprehensibility was significantly better for stimuli in context, and (b) a significant Process x Condition interaction. Lateralization had the highest impact on comprehensibility, followed by palatalization, fortis articulation, nasalization, aspiration, and /n/ addition. Based on the results, pronunciation instruction is recommended for at least two of the most impactful processes. Pedagogical suggestions for learners of Korean outside of Korea are also discussed.

Individual Differences in Categorical Judgment of L2 Stops: A Link to Proficiency and Acoustic Cue-Weighting.

This study investigated individual differences in Korean adult learners' categorical perception of L2 English stops with an aim to explore the relationship of gradient categorizations to perceptual sensitivity to acoustic cues and L2 proficiency. Korean young adult L2 learners of English (N = 49) participated in two speech perception tasks (visual analog scaling and forced-choice identification) in which they listened to English voiced and voiceless stops and Korean lax and aspirated stops with Voice Onset Time (VOT) and F0 manipulated to form a continuum. It was found that in both L1 and L2 stop perception, listeners' gradient category judgment was associated with greater reliance on language-specific redundant cues (i.e., F0 in L2 English and VOT in L1 Korean) and that in the perception of L2 stops, categorical listeners who tended to be less sensitive to F0 were the ones with a higher level of L2 English proficiency. The results suggest that the categorical manner of judging L2 stops reflects learners' better knowledge of L2-specific acoustic cue-weightings, based on which less relevant acoustic information is effectively suppressed.

The source of the that-trace effect: New evidence from L2 English

Recent approaches to the that-trace phenomenon in English include syntactic analyses based on the principle of Anti-locality and a sentence production analysis based on the Principle of End Weight. These analyses have many similarities, but they differ in their predictions for second language (L2) speakers. In an Anti-locality analysis, we expect L2 speakers to show a pattern very similar to first language (L1) speakers, with substantial degradation in acceptability for extraction of a subject from an embedded clause with that. In the Principle of End Weight analysis, we expect L2 speakers to display this same subject extraction degradation whether or not the embedded clause has that. A sentence acceptability experiment with L1 English speakers and two groups of L2 English speakers (L1 Korean and L1 Spanish) confirm the prediction of the Principle of End Weight analysis: the L1 speakers show degradation with subject extraction from a that-clause, while the L2 speakers do the same with clauses with and without that. These results form an interesting contrast with studies of island effects, which have generally found substantial L1~L2 similarities, and show how L2 data can be used as evidence to decide between competing analyses of L1 phenomena.

한국어 낭독과 자유 발화의 운율적 특성*

This study aims to clarify the prosodic differences in speech types by examining the Korean read speech and spontaneous speech in the Korean part of the L2 Korean Speech Corpus (speech corpus for Korean as a foreign language). To this end, the articulation length, articulation speed, pause length and frequency, and the average fundamental frequency values of sentences were set as variables and analyzed via statistical methodologies (<italic>t</italic>-test, correlation analysis, and regression analysis). The results found that read speech and spontaneous speech were structurally different in the form of prosodic phrases constituting each sentence and that the prosodic elements differentiating each speech type were articulation length, pause length, and pause frequency. The statistical results show that the correlation between articulation speed and articulation length was highest in read speech, explaining that the longer a given sentence is, the faster the speaker speaks. In spontaneous speech, however, the relationship between the articulation length and the pause frequency in a sentence was high. Overall, spontaneous speech produces more pauses because short intonation phrases are continuously built to make a sentence, and as a result, the sentence gets lengthened.

Self‐Assessment of Comprehensibility and Accentedness in Second Language Korean

AbstractThis study investigated L2 Korean speakers’ self‐assessment of speech comprehensibility and accentedness, including a conceptual replication of Trofimovich, Isaacs, Kennedy, Saito, and Crowther (2016, Experiment 1) and exploratory analyses of individual differences in self‐assessment. L2 Korean speakers (N = 198) self‐assessed their comprehensibility and accentedness using 9‐point scales, rated their satisfaction with their pronunciation and the value (importance) of pronunciation on 9‐point scales, completed a background questionnaire, and recorded a monologic speaking task. L1 Korean listeners (N = 82) judged 28 randomly assigned speakers for comprehensibility and accentedness using 9‐point scales, and scores for each speaker were adjusted to account for variation in listener severity. Listener and self‐assessments for both comprehensibility and accentedness correlated moderately (r = .54). Individuals with lower listener‐based scores tended to overestimate their ability in self‐assessment and vice versa, but higher listener‐based scores were associated with smaller absolute miscalibration. Regression analyses suggested that pronunciation satisfaction and perceived value of pronunciation both influenced self‐assessment scores and calibration.

Non-native talkers and listeners and perceptual benefits of clear speech

Native clear speech aids speech perception for various native populations such as hearing-impaired adults (Picheny et al., 1985). Compared to native speech, little is known about the benefit of non-native clear speech (Smijlanic and Bradlow, 2011). The current study investigates whether non-native clear speech can aid both native and non-native listeners, using every combination of talkers and listeners (native talker/listener, and non-native talker/listener). Non-native participants were L1 Korean speakers, while native participants were L1 American English speakers. Each group had 32 participants listening to semantically anomalous English sentences recorded by four native and four non-native talkers and presented with speech-shaped noise at 0 dB SNR in each speaking style (casual and clear). Each sentence had four keywords, and the number of correct keywords was converted to rationalized arcsine units. The results show significant effects of talker L1, listener L1, and speaking style. Native speech was more intelligible than non-native one and native listeners outperformed non-native listeners. Clear speech was more intelligible than casual speech. However, none of the interactions among the factors reached statistical significance, indicating the two groups of talkers and the two groups of listeners behaved in a parallel way in terms of producing and receiving clear speech benefits.

Racialised Teaching of English Language in South Korea: Voices of University ELT teachers

ABSTRACT In this paper, we examine how English language teachers working in a South Korean university navigate complex intersecting identity categories of race, gender, language and nationality while grappling with tensions and paradoxes arising from workplace policies influenced by racialised ideologies, globalisation and neoliberalism. In-depth interviews conducted with two tertiary English language teachers—a local Korean L2 English teacher and a L1 English teacher of Mexican-Italian heritage from the United States—provide insights on how globalisation and internationalisation policies influenced the selection criteria for the hiring of English language teachers at Garam University. Data reveal how ideological preferences for hiring White L1 English teachers, hindered the positive teacher identity formation for Korean L2 English teachers and L1 teachers of colour, particularly when teacher identity intersects with other identity categories. Findings suggest racialised ideologies not only created hierarchies, dichotomies and barriers for L2 English teachers, but ‘White normativity’ is also not challenged by the administrators or the teachers themselves. Implications will be discussed, including why English teachers working in South Korea’s universities in neoliberal times need a safe space to interrogate unjust racialised policies and practices perpetuating marginalisation and exclusion for L2 English teachers and L1 teachers of colour.

A Q methodology study to explore Korean as a second language undergraduate student-teachers’ anxiety

Teaching is an emotionally demanding job, and negative emotions such as anxiety affect teacher practices, identity, and student learning. Therefore, it is essential to consider the emotional challenges student-teachers expect from their future careers. This study explores how a cohort of student-teachers enrolled in a Korean as a Second Language (KSL) teaching undergraduate degree course perceive the emotional challenges of the teaching profession, with a focus on those aspects that are perceived to trigger anxiety. Q methodology was used to collect data from 37 Korean L1 undergraduate students, explore their shared worries and concerns, and inform improvements that can be brought to the undergraduate program under investigation. Results highlighted the presence of four main perspectives. The first perspective is shared by students concerned about lacking experience, skills, and clarity in delivering their teaching. The second perspective characterizes students concerned about poor work-life balance and being under-prepared for their classes. The third perspective represents students worried by the relationship with colleagues and supervisors and by issues of classroom management. The last perspective is shared by students concerned about being underestimated and to lack opportunities to express their creativity. Results are compared with previous research conducted on experienced Korean language teachers and discussed with reference to the Korean educational context. Practical suggestions for integrating emotional and affective components into undergraduate courses in foreign language teaching are provided.

Existence and consequences of dormant features: Evidence from L2 acquisition of Chinese object ellipsis

The current study investigates second language acquisition of Chinese object ellipsis to probe the development of features transferred from learners’ native language without robust confirming or disconfirming evidence in the second language (L2) input. It is argued that Chinese allows object ellipsis licensed by a verb with a [VCase] feature but not by a verb with a [Vnon-Case] feature. In contrast, Korean allows object ellipsis to be licensed by both types of verbs, whilst English prohibits both. An acceptability judgement task was conducted among first language (L1) English and L1 Korean L2 Chinese learners from elementary to advanced levels, with the results showing that the [Vnon-Case] feature was assembled in the Chinese grammars of English and Korean elementary L2 learners; however, it gradually lost its vigour and licensing power for object ellipsis in intermediate L2 grammars and was successfully removed from licensing object ellipsis in advanced L2 grammars. These findings support predictions by Yuan regarding a feature’s dormant status and modify Yuan’s predictions regarding a dormant feature’s consequences.

Emotion Word Development in Bilingual Children Living in Majority and Minority Contexts

Abstract The lexicon of emotion words is fundamental to interpersonal communication. To examine how emotion word acquisition interacts with societal context, the present study investigated emotion word development in three groups of child Korean users aged 4–13 years: those who use Korean primarily outside the home as a majority language (MajKCs) or inside the home as a minority language (MinKCs), and those who use Korean both inside and outside the home (KCs). These groups, along with a group of L1 Korean adults, rated the emotional valence of 61 Korean emotion words varying in frequency, valence, and age of acquisition. Results showed KCs, MajKCs, and MinKCs all converging toward adult-like valence ratings by ages 11–13 years; unlike KCs and MajKCs, however, MinKCs did not show age-graded development and continued to diverge from adults in emotion word knowledge by these later ages. These findings support the view that societal context plays a major role in emotion word development, offering one reason for the intergenerational communication difficulties reported by immigrant families.

Prosodic Disambiguation in First and Second Language Production: English and Korean.

This study investigates the use of prosodic cues for syntactic ambiguity resolution by first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers. In a production experiment, sentences with relative clause attachment ambiguity were elicited in three language conditions: native English speakers' L1 productions as well as Korean-English bilingual speakers' L1 Korean and L2 English productions. The results show that English uses both boundary marking (pause) and relative word prominence (elevated pitch and intensity) for disambiguation, while Korean mainly relies on boundary marking (pre-boundary lengthening and pause). The bilingual speakers have learned to use the English phonological categories such as pitch accents for disambiguation, but their use of phonetic cues to realize these categories still differed from that of native English speakers. In addition, they did not show a significant use of boundary cues. These results are discussed in relation to the typological differences between the prosody of English and of Korean.

Subject/object asymmetry in the processing of relative clauses in L2 Korean: Evidence from a hand-tracking study

목적 본 연구에서는 핸드트래킹 기법을 활용하여 한국어 학습자들이 주격 관계절과 목적격 관계절이 포함된 문장을 처리할 때에 나타나는 비대칭성을 검증하고자 하였다. 방법 이를 위하여 미국에 거주하는 한국어 학습자들을 대상으로 반응 시간, 답변의 정확성, 최대 편이(Maximum Deviation), 곡선하 면적(Area Under the Curve), x축(x-flips)과 y축(y-flips) 상에서의 손의 움직임 등을 통해 언어처리 과정을 추적하였다. 이를 통해 한국어 학습자들이 주격/목적격 관계절을 처리할 때 인지적 부담에 따른 비대칭성이 표출되는지를 알아볼 수 있다. 결과 연구 결과에 따르면 핸드트래킹 기법에 포함된 여러 측정도구들 중 반응속도, 답변의 정확도 등을 통해 제2언어로서 한국어를 처리할 때 주격/목적격 관계절의 비대칭성이 나타남이 증명되었다. 결론 본 연구의 결과는 주격/목적격 관계절 문장처리 상의 비대칭성이 제2언어로서의 한국어에도 존재한다는 실험적 증거를 제시함과 동시에 구조거리가설과 명사구접근가설이 주격/목적격 관계절의 비대칭성을 설명하는데 유효하다는 주장을 뒷받침하였다.

The Challenges of Error Coding Scheme for Verbal Inflections in Child L2 English

This study shows a streamline of the schema change for analyzing English verb usages, depending on linguistic convergence of taxonomy, coding, and display. A Korean L1 child’s developmental knowledge and use of English verbal morphology in the EFL context were observed for one year (Subject

The Necessity of Minimal Representation of Genericity in a Newly Developed Language, Unish

The current study compares generic representations in different languages including English and Korean. It reviews important universal concepts of genericity denotation in languages and compares how genericity is realized in different languages. By comparing different genericity representations in different languages, the current study predicts possible acquisition difficulties. It also suggests difficulties of acquiring English article systems are also caused by the complex nature of article uses. Particularly, using a large corpus data (ICNALE), the current study reveals how L1 Korean L2 English learners use articles when they denote generic terms in their essays. Ample uses of bare Noun Phrase (NP) forms tentatively suggest that (i) probably uses of ‘articles’ are not necessarily the most efficient way of expressing genericity, and (ii) it can be marked by other grammatical functions, which are more simple and regular. Therefore, the current research argues that NP systems should be simplified and minimally represented in a newly developed language, which by nature will be learners’ extra language. In the current research, generic NPs in Unish language is introduced and it suggests that bare noun forms in Unish can denote genericity in a very regular and economical manner. Therefore, it may be easier for leaners to acquire because the configuration process is minimized in the Unish.

한국어 L1 화자와 L2 화자의 서사 텍스트에 나타난 응결성 비교

This paper aims to analyze the differences between Korean L1 group and L2 group in cohesive expression in narrative text writing. The previous studies have been pointed out that the Korean L2 texts lack cohesive expression, but not enough contrast studies have been done comparing cohesive expressions between L1 and L2 texts. Thus, it was difficult for L2 speakers to recognize how their textual composition should be modified in comparison to L1 speakers. This paper analyzes the characteristics of L1 text that L2 speakers can refer to for text writing. It examined the method of lexical cohesion, the use of tense forms, the use of sentential conjunctions and conjunctive endings for semantic cohesion, and the use of determinative phrases as representative language devices in cohesive expression. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the expression of lexical cohesion, which was considered to be related to the lack of substitutive pronouns in Korean. In use of the tense form, the two groups showed a distinct contrast, with L2 speakers using the tense form as a deitic function, while L1 speakers used it as a modal function. In addition, although both groups used sentential conjunctions and conjunctive endings as cohesive devices, the L1 group used sentential conjunctions much more diversely and more often. In contrast, the L2 group showed a relatively high dependence on conjunctive endings than sentential conjunctions. Finally, semantic cohesion by determinative phrase differed significantly in the two groups. In L1 text, unlike in L2, noun phrases in each sentential component have been modified by a determinative phrase. In conclusion, L2 speakers need to be trained with the use of sentential conjunctions, along with the modal function of tense forms. In addition, they need to use determinative phrases for semantic cohesion more often. (Jeonju University)

The influence of lexical characteristics and talker accent on the recognition of English words by native speakers of Korean.

This study investigated the influences of lexical characteristics and talker accent on English spoken word recognition by first-language (L1) Korean second-language (L2) speakers of English. Stimuli were words that varied in phonological neighborhood density (PND) and word frequency (WF), produced by a L1 English speaker (L1 talker) and a L1 Korean speaker (L2 talker). Participants were 60 listeners from three groups: 20 L1 English speakers, 20 Korean L2 English speakers studying in the United States, and 20 Korean L2 English speakers studying in Korea. The 40 L2 English speakers varied widely in their estimated English proficiency. The results showed significant main effects of talkers, PND, and listener proficiency on word-recognition accuracy as well as significant interactions among stimulus talker (i.e., L1 vs L2 talker), PND, and WF and between stimulus talker and listener groups. However, we did not find that PND differentially affects word recognition in L2 learners, as had been found previously by Imai et al. [(2005). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, 896-907] using the same design. Instead, our results paralleled closely those of Yoneyama and Munson [(2017). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 141, 1308-1320], who examined L2 English speakers whose L1 was Japanese. These findings are discussed in light of the influence of L1 lexical structure on L2 phonological processing.

Exploring lexical bundles in low proficiency level L2 learners’ English writing: an ETS corpus study

Abstract The use of formulaic language in written discourse is an important indicator of language competence. Nonetheless, the features of lexical bundles used by lower proficiency English as a Foreign Language learners have received little attention. The present study addressed this gap by employing a corpus-based method to investigate the quantity, function, and quality of four-word lexical bundles produced by low proficiency L2 English writers with 11 different L1 backgrounds in response to a timed English writing assessment. The investigation was specifically anchored on the data extracted from 1,330 essays using Wordsmith 7.0. Results of the investigation showed (1) an over dependence on writing topic related bundles; (2) an Indo-European L1 language background positively influencing lexical bundle production; (3) an overuse of stance expressions and discourse organizers at the expense of referential expression usage; (4) L1 Japanese, Korean, and Telugu writers producing more accurate lexical bundles and L1 German writers producing fewer accurate lexical bundles; and (5) the frequent use of lexical bundles not leading to highly accurate and appropriate use of lexical bundles. The implications of these results were discussed in connection with foreign language education.

L1 transfer in the interpretation of L2 reflexive pronouns by child learners of Korean

Aim: The current study explores first language (L1) transfer in child second language (L2) acquisition, testing whether L1-Chinese children learning L2 Korean show an advantage over L1-Russian children in the acquisition of Korean reflexives. Methodology: L1-Chinese and L1-Russian children with L2 Korean completed truth-value judgment tasks designed to explore their interpretation of the Korean reflexives caki and caki-casin in bi-clausal sentences. Chinese, like Korean, has a monomorphemic reflexive that takes a long-distance (LD) antecedent, and a polymorphemic reflexive that prefers a local antecedent; Russian, in contrast, has only a monomorphemic reflexive, which requires a local interpretation in finite clauses. Data and analysis: The proportion of preferences for each condition in the tasks was statistically compared using a logistic mixed-effects regression. Findings: The study resulted in two main findings. First, L1-Chinese children, regardless of L2 proficiency, preferred the LD antecedent (i.e., the matrix clause subject) for caki and the local antecedent (i.e., the embedded clause subject) for caki-casin, which is target-like for Korean and consistent with the interpretation of the Chinese reflexives ziji and taziji. Second, high-proficiency (but not low-proficiency) L1-Russian children showed target-like behavior in rejecting an LD interpretation for caki-casin, but a non-target-like acceptance of the local interpretation for caki, which may be due to L1 transfer based on Russian’s locally bound reflexive. Originality: L1 transfer in the interpretation of L2 reflexive pronouns has been reported with adults, but not with children. The current study fills this research gap. Implications: This study provides evidence that supports L1 transfer in the context of child L2 reflexive interpretation, countering arguments claiming for a limited role of L1 transfer in child L2 acquisition.

Hallyuand Korean Language Learning: Gender and Ethnicity Factors

ABSTRACTAccording to recent Modern Language Association (MLA) reports (2015, 2019), student enrollment in Korean language classes shows the fastest growth among all foreign languages offered at US higher education institutions for the past decade. It is believed that such remarkable growth in the interest in the Korean language is to some extent indebted to the popularity of Korean popular culture, which is called Hallyu or “Korean Wave.” The present study examines the role of Hallyu in Korean language learning, focusing on the gender and ethnicity factors of learners. A survey of 180 US college learners of Korean was analyzed using descriptive statistics, two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson's correlation coefficient. The results indicated that both gender and ethnicity were found to be significant factors. That is, female nonheritage students' L2 Korean motivation was more strongly driven by their interest in Korean popular culture than that of male or heritage students, measured by the learners' consumption of Korean popular culture and their motivation for Korean language learning.