• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.225-254
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to contrast the patterns of realization and understanding of refusal speech acts between Korean and Thai learners. This study intends to answer the following questions: (1) Do Koreans and Thai learners perform refusal speech acts differently? (2) Do Koreans and Thai learners understand refusal speech acts differently? A DCT and a follow-up interview were conducted to collect data of two groups of 30 native Korean speakers and 30 native Thai speakers. For research question 1, we analyzed the refusal strategy and provided reasons given by Koreans and Thai learners depending on the context. For research question 2, we ran a chi-squared test on the elements of the follow-up interviews, such as the weight of burden of refusing, and whether the participant would actually refuse or not. The differences between the refusal strategies of the two groups could be categorized by the preceding inducing speech act. In refusing a request, the difference was prominent in the apologizing strategy, whereas in refusing a suggestion, the difference was mainly in the direct refusal strategy. When refusing an invitation, the most evident difference was the number of refusal strategies employed. When providing an explanation of refusal to people with high social status, Koreans gave more specific reasons for refusals, whereas Thai learners tended to use more vague reasons. Moreover, when refusing an invitation, Koreans primarily mentioned the relationship, and Thai learners showed the spirit of Greng Jai. When asked the weight of burden of refusing, Koreans felt pressured to refuse a request from people with high social status, and a suggestion or invitation from people with high level of intimacy while Thai learners found it highly difficult to make a refusal in all cases. In answering whether they would actually refuse or not, Koreans tried not to make a refusal to people with high level of intimacy, and such a trend was not evident among the Thai. This study can help us better understand the learner's pragmatic failure, and serve as a basis in establishing a curriculum for teaching speech acts.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.83-113
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• 2014

This study aims to examine the change of strategy use by analyzing the refusal sequence of beginner Japanese Korean learners by time difference of 10 weeks. The results of the study are as follows; First, in the solidarity system of politeness(power-, distance-), learners showed similar ability as native Koreans after 10 weeks. Second, in the deference system(power-, distance+), there was a difference according to the situational burden when using strategies. In the invitational setting, the learners sought justification for their refusal or tried to negotiate by explaining in detail as time passed. However, in the request setting, they showed no will to compromise by refusing directly and leading the listener to give up. Third, similar difference was found in the use of strategies depending on the situational burden in the hierarchical system(power+, distance+). While learners could present their justification for refusal by showing their interest in the invitation as time passed in the invitation setting, they expressed straight refusal and were not willing to negotiate in the request setting.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.255-292
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• 2018

Most grading scales of Korean language proficiency tests are based on existing grading scales that are not empirically verified. The purpose of this study is to develop an empirically verified scale descriptor. The 'Performance data-driven approach' that is suggested by Fulcher (1987) was used to develop the detailed description of characteristics for each level of performance. This study is focused on the functional phase of speech samples analysis (coding data) to create explanatory categories of discourse skills into which individual observations of speech phenomena can be scored. The speech samples that were collected through this study demonstrated stages of speech that can be a foundation of a grading scale. The data used in the study was collected from 23 native speakers of Korean. Speech samples were recorded from simulated speaking tests using the 'REFUSAL' task, and transcribed for analysis. The transcript was analyzed using discourse analysis. The result showed that the 'REFUSAL' task needs to go through four functional phases in actual communication. Furthermore, this study found specific and detailed explanatory categories of discourse competence based on the actual native speaker's speech data. Such findings are expected to contribute to the development of more valid and reliable speaking assessment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.65-86
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• 2021

In the foreign language education, learners are an important part of education, however in the Korean language education, the study of learners was insufficient compared to the contents of education, teaching methods and textbooks. Therefore, it is meaningful to analyze how learner research, especially learning strategy research, has been conducted and derive areas that need research for better education. In this study, co-word analysis was conducted on the titles of academic journals and dissertations in order to analyze the learning strategy research in Korean language education. I found it is about "reading" that the most studies related to Korean language learners' learning strategies were conducted and those studies' subjects mostly were 'Chinese international students' and 'marriage-immigrants'. In addition, the results of the subgroup analysis on the research topic show four major subgroups: a group related to 'reading for academic purposes', a group related to 'request, rejection, conversation, etc.', a group related to 'writing', and a group related to 'vocabulary, listening'. This shows that the researchers' major interests in studying Korean learner's strategies are "reading" and "speaking" and their studies have been concentrated in the specific areas. Therefore, it is necessary for researchers to study various functions and subjects in Korean language learner's learning strategies.