• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.221-250
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• 2017

This study aims to discuss the basic foundations to set levels and language skills for developing a Korean Proficiency Test for young and adolescent learners. Recently, there has been an increase in demand regarding young and adolescent learners from multicultural and overseas backgrounds. However, the current Korean Proficiency Test lacks the appropriate means to determine the Korean proficiency of young and adolescent learners with general purposes of language learning. Therefore, there is an urgent need for developing a specialized and new form of language assessment for young and adolescent learners who are exposed to a foreign language or a second language learning environment. The study examines and analyzes cases of foreign language examinations for young & adolescent learners; furthermore, the objectives and target were set based on the results of a needs analysis and in-depth interviews conducted among teachers and education officials in overseas Korean Hangeul Schools, international schools, elementary and secondary schools. Finally, the levels and language skills appropriate for the objectives of a proficiency test and target learners have been suggested.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.265-289
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• 2017

외국어를 학습하는 데 있어서 해당 외국어의 의사소통 능력을 향상시키고 평가한다는 것은 상당히 큰 중요성을 가진다. 교실에서 학습자의 듣기, 말하기, 읽기, 쓰기 능력을 통해 학습자의 언어 능력을 함양하고 평가하기 위해 어떠한 연습문제나 시험 혹은 평가방법을 사용하느냐 하는 것은 학습자의 학습동기에 지대한 영향을 미친다. 왜냐하면, 보통 학습자들은 교수자가 무엇을 가르치고 기대하며 평가하느냐에 따라 자신들의 학습방법을 맞춰 나가기 때문이다. 이러한 맥락에서 본 연구는 보다 적극적인 학습자들의 참여를 유도하고 유연성 있는 학습자 중심의 학습법을 고양시키며 다양한 언어능력을 고취시키기 위하여, 효과적인 외국어 학습법의 하나로 알려진 paraphrasing을 학습에 활용하고자 한다. 특히 paraphrasing은 일상생활 속에서도 의사소통을 원활히 하기 위한 수단으로서 글 바꿔 쓰기 혹은 말 바꿔 말하기로 활용되기도 하나, 본 소논문에서는 paraphrasing이 학습을 목적으로 하는 학습현장에서 활용되었다는 것을 감안하여 의역을 통한 학습 혹은 의역학습법을 소개하고자 한다. 실제로 paraphrasing은 언어 및 외국어 학습자들에게 상당히 효과가 있는 것으로 알려진 것에 비해 실제로 한국어 교육현장에서 사용한 연구들은 거의 찾아 볼 수가 없다고 해도 과언이 아니다. 따라서, 의역학습법을 학습현장에서 도입했을 때 경험한 여러 시행착오를 바탕으로 실질적으로 교실에서 사용된 예시들을 소개하고, 한국어를 가르치는 교수자들과 한국어를 배우는 외국인 학습자들에게 paraphrasing을 사용한 새로운 한국어 교수방법과 평가 도구를 제안하고자 한다. 이를 통해, paraphrasing이 한국어를 가르치는 교수자들과 한국어를 배우고자 하는 외국 학습자들에게 효과적인 언어학습 도구로서 실질적으로 교육현장에서 널리 사용될 수 있는 계기가 되었으면 한다.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.173-196
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• 2017

Writing is a subjective and performative activity. Writing ability has multi-facets and compoundness. To understand the examinees's writing ability accurately and provide effective writing scores, raters first ought to have the competency regarding assessment. Therefore, this study is significant as a fundamental research about rater's characteristics on the TOPIK writing assessment. 150 scripts of the 47th TOPIK examinees were selected randomly, and were further rated independently by 20 raters. The many-facet Rasch model was used to generate individualized feedback reports on each rater's relative severity and consistency with respect to particular categories of the rating scale. This study was analyzed using the FACETS ver 3.71.4 program. Overfit and misfit raters showed many difficulties for noticing the difference between assessment factors and interpreting the criteria. Writing raters appear to have much confusion when interpreting the assessment criteria, and especially, overfit and misfit teachers interpret the criteria arbitrarily. The main reason of overfit and misfit is the confusion about assessment factors and criteria in finding basis for scoring. Therefore, there needs to be more training and research is needed for raters based on this type of writing assessment characteristics. This study is recognized significantly in that it collectively examined writing assessment characteristics of writing raters, and visually confirmed the assessment error aspects of writing assessment.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.169-201
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• 2014

The purpose of this research is to analyze the problems of the way of the 32th TOPIK(advanced)'s management for the disabled examinee and to prescribe the management of the TOPIK for them. Since the TOPIK started in 1997, the number of examinee who take it as a qualifying exam for the university entrance have gradually increased. The first disabled examinee who wants to use the result of the TOPIK for entrance into the post graduated university took the 32th TOPIK(advanced level). However, there was no examination regulations and detailed management method for the disabled. The biggest problem was the examinee could not have braille test and answer. The exam supervisor read all that is printed on the test sheet. It caused two big problems. 1) The essay question in writing test became an oral test. 2) The strategies of answering to multiple choice questions could not be used in vocabulary/grammar, writing, listening, and specially reading section. The first problem is occurred because writing and speaking have different cognitive process. The second one can be strongly related to the result in reading section. Above all, these disrupt accurate assessment of the examinee's writing and reading achievement. Therefore, this research insists the TOPIK needs to have the regulation and prescribe the management for the disabled. This research suggests 5 regulations for the blind examinee which covers the test time, supervisor, place and request of the examinee. These refer to the regulation for the disable in the other tests, such as the college scholarship ability test, TOEFL, TEPS, and a civil service exam.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.435-443
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between learning motivation, learning strategies and Korean proficiency. Therefore, this study conducted a learning motivation and learning strategies survey on 101 learners of Korean language from Korean and Chinese universities who obtained a middle and high-level on the Test of Proficiency in Korean. A frequency analysis and correlation analysis was conducted on these students using the SPSS 28.0 program. As a result of the study, it was found that the motivation for learning Korean in Chinese learners was high in the order of integrated motivation and instrumental motivation. The frequency of using metacognitive strategies was the highest. There was no difference in learning motivation corresponding to Korean language proficiency, but there was a correlation in the use of social strategies for learners in levels 3, 4 and 5. Based on these research results, I proposed a teaching and learning method for Chinese learners. Further research should be conducted by comparing the learning motives and learning strategies of learners in the beginner-level group and learners in the middle and high-level group.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.37
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• pp.335-360
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• 2014

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether high-level(level 6) essay-writing questions in Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) have been presented appropriately so as to enable foreign test-takers to display their Korean writing ability properly, and to provide some suggestions on how those questions need to be changed. To accomplish this purpose, all the essay-writing questions were collected from the 33 TOPIK tests, from the 2nd in 1998 to the 35thin 2014, and analyzed from the perspectives of their topics and formats. The results are that high-level TOPIK essay-writing questions showed a strong tendency to take as their topics Korean sociocultural structures and phenomena, or current issues in Korea, and that they frequently employed guided writing formats by providing preset ideas or/and contexts for test-takers to write in a guided way; such tendencies were analyzed to shed a negative influence on test-takers displaying their writing ability and creativity, because those topics and preset ideas or contexts provided do not allow them to express their own opinions or positions freely. It is suggested that TOPIK essay-writing questions should be changed to deal with objective and general topics which enable test-takers to write freely and logically in Korean based on their experience, because TOPIK is not a test to check whether they have enough background knowledge about the Korean society and culture, but a test to assess their Korean proficiency.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.1-24
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• 2017

This article explores the developmental history of TOPIK over the last 20 years and its recent trends. Over the last two decades, TOPIK underwent two major systematic reforms, achieving both quantitative and qualitative growth over the course of its 52 testing sessions. TOPIK has utilized a six-level evaluation system from its inception to the present. The evaluation system was amended from the earlier six-test set - whereby each level corresponded with a separate test (1997~2005: the $1^{st}{\sim}9^{th}$) - to the three-test set (2006~2014: the $10^{th}{\sim}34^{th}$), and finally to the two-test set (2014~present: the $35^{th}{\sim}42^{nd}$). In the earlier exams, abilities in Vocabulary Grammar, Writing, Listening, and Reading were assessed. However, beginning with the $35^{th}$ TOPIK, abilities in Listening, Reading, and Writing (only in TOPIK II) were assessed and the evaluation of the writing section was changed to a task-based process, improving TOPIK into a more qualified analysis of proficiency. Over the last 20 years, the number of countries TOPIK is administered in has greatly increased from 4 to 73 countries, and the annual number of test-takers has also significantly increased from 2,692 to 250,141. The distribution of proficiency levels of the test-takers has shifted over time - initially "Beginner>Intermediate>Advanced" in the earlier exams, to "Intermediate>Advanced>Beginner" after the mid 2000s - as the number of those studying the Korean language for specific purposes and continuing education increased. Test-takers have indicated a shift in their purpose for taking the exam, initially citing "to assess proficiency" and more recently selecting "to study abroad," and this could also correlate with changes in the proportion of test-takers' proficiency level. In general, 85~95% of beginner, 50~65% of intermediate, and 45~60% of advanced test applicants passed the respective proficiency level. To date, no practices have yet been implemented to standardize the difficulty level longitudinally across test sets.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2021.11a
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• pp.1223-1226
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• 2021

본 논문은 비대면 한국어 회화 시험 연습용 안드로이드 애플리케이션을 제안한다. 한국어 학습에 대한 수요가 증가함에 따라 효과적인 한국어 회화 학습을 위해선 시·공간의 제약이 없는 학습 환경에서 사용자에게 구체적인 평가 지표를 제공할 필요성이 있다. 본 연구는 자연어 처리 기술을 활용하여 사용자의 한국어 회화 능력을 평가하는 알고리즘과 개인의 취약점을 보완할 수 있는 비대면 학습 플랫폼을 제시하였다는데 의의가 있다. 본 논문의 결과를 통해 회화 학습의 비용을 절감하고, 효율적인 언택트 학습 지원이 가능할 것으로 기대한다.

• Journal of the International Relations & Interdisciplinary Education
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.57-83
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• 2024

This study aimed to investigate the impact of scores on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) among foreign exchange students on academic adaptation. Recruited students, approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB), totaled seven, and their interview contents were analyzed using a comprehensive analysis procedure based on pragmatic eclecticism (Lee, Kim, 2014), utilizing six stages. As a result, factors influencing academic adaptation of Korean language learners for academic purposes were categorized into three dimensions: academic, daily life, and psychological-emotional aspects. On the academic front, interviewees pointed out difficulties in adapting to specialized terminology and studying in their majors, as well as experiencing significant challenges with Chinese characters and Sino-Korean words. Next, from a daily life perspective, even participants holding advanced TOPIK scores faced difficulties in adapting to university life, emphasizing the necessity of practical expressions and extensive vocabulary for proper adjustment to Korean life. Lastly, within the psychological-emotional dimension, despite being advanced TOPIK holders, they were found to experience considerable stress in conversations or presentations with Koreans. Their lack of knowledge in social-cultural and everyday life culture also led to linguistic errors and contributed to psychological-emotional difficulties, despite proficiency in Korean. Based on these narratives, the conclusion was reached that in order to promote the academic adaptation of Korean language learners, it is essential to provide opportunities for Korean language learning. With this goal in mind, efforts should be directed towards enhancing learners' academic proficiency in their majors, improving Korean language fluency, and fostering interpersonal relationships within the academic community. Furthermore, the researchers suggested as a solution to implement various extracurricular activities tailored for foreign learners.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1067-1078
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• 2017

Previous research on university life of Chinese students studying in Korea has been conducted on students in Korea, but Chinese students have a sense of belonging and university prejudice against Korean universities, so the objectivity of research is not clear. This paper conducted a survey of the Chinese people in China and conducted a media search for attracting foreign students. Not all foreign students are proficient in Korean language. Even students who have completed more than one year of education in the Korean language institutes or passed advanced level of Test of Proficiency in Korean(TOPIK) have difficulties in everyday life and acquiring a degree. According to the results of this study, until foreign students who lack sufficient Korean language skills are able to adapt to culture and acquire information in Korea, it is desirable to prepare multilingual content services so that they can obtain academic information or daily information necessary for studying in their native language.