• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.743-752
• /
• 2016

This study aims to investigate the overall effects of teaching grammar in the Korean EFL classroom. A meta-analysis of 67 research findings in 30 articles was conducted to synthesize the results of these studies by calculating the mean effect sizes. This study reviewed and analyzed the previous studies in terms of subjects, treatment period, and types of grammar teaching. The results showed that teaching grammar in the classroom had beneficial effects on learners in general (d=.907). It was found to be more effective for middle school and university students than for elementary and high school students (Q=37.065, df=3, p=.000). There was no statistically significant difference in terms of treatment period and types of grammar teaching. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for Korean EFL learners are also discussed.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
• /
• no.3
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 1997

Errors in EFL writing are very often attributable to learner's inadequate understanding of the target culture. Most of these errors are very hard to identify because they are grammatically correct notwithstanding the meaning. EFL learners almost habitually equate the meaning and usage of a linguistic item when it is present both in the native and the target languages. However, seemingly identical items in both languages sometimes prove themselves to be distinct from each other because of cultural differences. Some expressions in the native language are neither socially acceptable nor meaningful in the target language. Out of sheer ignorance, moreover, one puts a target item in the way he may use it in his native language. For instance. the primary feature of the term "friend" in Korean is [+same age group]. So, a Korean young man is not supposed to call his teacher a friend. This paper aims to clarify patterns of college level writing errors caused by interference of mother culture.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.64-78
• /
• 2007

For Korean researchers, English is essential. In fact, this is the case for any researcher who is a non-native English speaker, as recognition and success is predicated on being published, while publications that reach the broadest audiences are in English. Unfortunately, university science and engineering programs in Korea often do not provide formal coursework to help students attain greater competence in English composition. Aggravating this situation is the general lack of literature covering this specific pedagogical issue. While there is plenty of information to help native speakers with technical writing and much covering general English composition for EFL learners, there is very little information available to help EFL learners become better technical writers. Thus, the purpose of this report is twofold. First, as most Korean educators in science and engineering are not well acquainted with pedagogical issues of EFL writing, this report provides a general introduction to some relevant issues. It reviews the importance of contrastive rhetoric as well as some considerations for choosing the appropriate teaching approach, class arrangement, and use of computer assisted learning tools. Secondly, a course proposal is discussed. Based on a review of student writing samples as well as student responses to a self-assessment questionnaire, the proposed course is intended to balance the needs of Korean EFL learners to develop grammar, process, and genre skills involved in technical writing. Although, the scope of this report is very modest, by sharing the considerations made towards the development of an EFL technical writing course it seeks to provide a small example to a field that is perhaps lacking examples.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.181-197
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this study is to measure how English immersion classes affect students. This study seeks to answer two questions. First, will the young learners gain an international sense? Second, will the students learn English naturally without having to be sent abroad to an English speaking country? Several kinds of immersion programs have been designed and implemented in Korea. However, many students have felt great stress and mental pressure in the immersion programs. Students find the programs stressful because English must be used at all times. In this paper, two groups of elementary school students are compared: one being the control group and the other being the experimental group, an immersion class. The results show that the mental health problems, sensitivities, and rates of depression in the immersion group are greater than those of the students in the control group. Therefore, the immersion students' overall mental health is substandard. The negative effects of lethargy and depression are made worse when they are placed in English only environments. The results indicate more attention should be focused on respecting and understanding the students' overall mental health when teaching them English.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.291-311
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study is to investigate the English reading strategies of Korean secondary EFL learners by their personality types. The study was conducted with 112 middle school students and 100 high school students in Korea. The instrument used for personality measurement was the MBTI test. A reading strategy questionnaire was used to see how frequently each reading strategy was used while students read passages in English. The collected data was analyzed using t-test and two-way ANOVA to see the differences between high school and middle school students in terms of personality types. The results of the study demonstrated that there were significant differences in strategies used by the two groups of students and high school students used more reading strategies than middle school students. It was also found that the students exhibited some differences in reading strategy use depending on their personality types, especially between the N(Intuition) and S(Sensing) types. For example, students with N(Intuition) types used more vocabulary-comprehension, guessing, and metacogntive strategies than S(Sensing) types. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for classroom English teachers are discussed based on the results of the current study.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.17-35
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of an explicit word instruction for EFL beginning readers and their perception on the learning experience. Data were attained from 16 fourth graders who took English class as a development activity. Data include the results of pre- and post-test of high frequency sight word recognition, oral reading ability, students' survey responses, and teacher observation. The descriptive statistics were obtained for the result of the pre- and post-test. The findings from the student survey and teacher observation were also provided and interpreted to better understand the result of project and students' perception on the learning experience. The followings are the results of this study. The word recognition ability of the students was dramatically improved after the project. The students were satisfied with the overall learning experience perceiving it as helpful and fun learning. They expressed that the explicit word instruction helped their word recognition and reading ability. The results also supported that the confidence of students on their reading ability were heightened. Several suggestions are made for teachers and researchers on the word instruction for young EFL learners who are beginning readers.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
• /
• v.54 no.2
• /
• pp.189-215
• /
• 2008

This study proposes using children's literature as a means of teaching and learning English as a foreign language and suggests practical strategies on the basis of transactional theory of reading suggested by Rosenblatt (1994, 1995). This study suggests three novels written for children or young adults: On My Honor (1986) by Marion Dane Bauer, The Giver (1993) by Lois Lowry and Hatchet (1987) by Gary Paulsen. These texts were selected because of their diverse topics, easy and comprehensible language, engaging stories, and authentic and rich expressions, making them effective materials for foreign language learners. This paper is organized as follows: First, it reviews research on teaching literature in English education and response-oriented language teaching to provide theoretical background of literature-based language teaching and learning. Second, it provides the background of the texts selected for the study. Third, it develops diverse, practical strategies for instructors who intend to use children's literature in EFL teaching. We expect to guide EFL instructors in adopting children's literature in their English class by connecting theory and practice and by providing diverse methods and strategies, and sample responses by EFL university students.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.435-444
• /
• 2014

As vocabulary acquisition has become one of the emerging key issues in the foreign language education field, interest in vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) has also increased. However, little has been done to investigate the vocabulary learning strategies of young learners. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate VLS use in elementary school English language textbooks. A total of three fifth grade English textbooks and teachers' guidebooks were chosen and analyzed with the vocabulary learning strategies taxonomy suggested by Scbmitt (1997). The researcher identified there were only a limited number of vocabulary learning strategies in the textbooks and most of them were consolidation strategies. It was concluded that a variety of VLS should be introduced in multiple ways in consideration of learner preference, styles, culture and level of English proficiency. Some implications for the teaching and learning of vocabulary for EFL instruction amongst young learners are discussed.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.227-251
• /
• 2007

The development and use of computer mediated communications (CMC) as a tool for teaching and learning English has grown considerably in recent years. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors related to learners' participation, achievement, and satisfaction in EFL classes using web-based bulletin boards. The total number of 77 university students participated in this study. Three domains and eight independent variables investigated in this study were a learner-related domain (attitudes toward CMC, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, attitudes toward writing), an interaction-related domain (student-student interaction, teacher-student interaction), and an environmental domain (physical support and design of the web site). In order to determine interrelation of variables correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used. The results of this study showed that the factors predicting a learner's participation were instrumental motivation, attitudes toward writing, and teacher-student interaction. The factors explaining a learner's achievement were learner's participation and attitudes toward writing, and the factors predicting a learner's satisfaction were integrative motivation, student-student interaction, teacher-student interaction, physical support and learner's participation.

• Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.453-497
• /
• 2003

The purpose of this study is to investigate social aspects of young EFL learners' interaction at the computer. Data were taken from the interactions of three pairs of fourth-grade primary school children who worked together on English learning software. Their interactions at the computer were videotaped and then all the talk produced by the students and the utterances emitted from the computer were transcribed. As for the analytical tools, the notion of ‘contextualization cues’ (Gumperz, 1982) and the concept of ‘positioning’ (Davies & Harre,1990) were employed. The analysis reveals that the roles of the students were not tied to a certain position, but rather dynamically changed during the course of interactive work according to the situation at hand. The dynamic changes in their positions were realized through various means; their capability in solving problems, their taking responsibility or assigning it to each other, or cooperation. There were also instances of peer teaching and motivated learning. In addition, the students showed autonomy in their learning activity. These findings suggest that both students in a dyad had their own place in performing task activities, contributing to solving problems and getting benefits from peer interaction. Furthermore, students' working together on English learning software may provide an environment which can promote cooperative attitude and responsibility for learning and enhance motivation and autonomy in their learning process.