• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.171-187
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• 2012

This study aims to investigate the effects of learning strategy-based early reading instruction for English underachieving students. For this purpose of the study, sixteen learning strategies were driven from the review of previous related literature and the result of the survey conducted to the students and the teachers. Strategy integrated early reading instruction was implemented to nine students for thirteen weeks. The word recognition test was conducted before and after the instruction to examine whether the instruction had effects on the increase of their early reading skill. In addition, in order to investigate certain change in students' affective aspects after the instruction. The research conducted survey to the students. A teacher's field note and students' class journal were also analyzed to verify the results from the quantitative test. The results indicated that the instruction led to the increase of students' early reading skills. It was also found that the instruction motivated the underachieving students to devise a strategy for their learning process.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.585-599
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• 2020

This study investigated children's interests in learning English, affected by educational activities in and out of institutes, and mothers' perceptions regarding early childhood English education. We recruited, 253 mothers of 3- to 5-year-old children in either general kindergartens or English immersion institutes. They answered questions on socioeconomic status, perceived interest in English by their children, their perceptions regarding early childhood English education, and English education outside institutes. In addition, 42 English teachers provided information within institutes such as class time per week, teacher-pupil rate, and language use policy during class. The collected data were analyzed through SPSS 22 for frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The major findings are as follows. First, the two groups were in distinct learning environment. Second, mothers' perceptions and outside-institute activities were significantly different between the two groups. Third, the English interests of children at both institutes were influenced by mothers' worries and at-home English interactions. Fourth, education within institutes did not affect both group's English interests. Fifth, private education and socioeconomic status did not affect both group's English interests. Lastly, only the children's interests in English immersion institutes were affected by gender and mother's perceived necessities. Focusing children's interests, this study helps in understanding young children's affective aspects regarding learning English. The findings are expected to be a guideline for each home and institute to increase children's interest in learning English.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.79-91
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• 2011

The purpose of this paper was to take an in-depth look at early American English around the $17^{th}$ and $18^{th}$ century when immigrants from different European countries started to move into the New World. The paper attempted to describe early American English in relation to the process of immigration and settlement from a historical perspective. With a focus on major features of early American English such as uniformity, archaism and richness of lexicon, the paper tried to answer the questions such as how settlement influenced the formation and distribution of regional dialects across the continent, why immigrants tended to show a preference for a uniform way of speaking rather than choosing a variety of regional dialects for communication, and what role foreign languages played in the development of early American English. The overall findings based on the answers to these questions showed how American English went through a variety of processes and changes at the early stages of its development to become a national language later. The paper concluded with some remarks about the implications of the findings for EFL learning and the direction of future research on early American English.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.133-143
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• 2019

The purpose of this paper was to analyze the differences in executive function according to type of early English learning experience. The subjects were 75 5-years-old who had immersive early English learning in language school, and daycare center. The measurement tools were stroop, DCCST, memorize numbers, pattern fluency, and maze. We conducted covariance analysis with total intelligence as the covariates. In the results, there were significant differences in attention control and cognitive flexibility, but weren't significant differences in information processing and goal setting according to type of early English learning experience. This study suggests that experience of immersive early English learning positively affected attention control and cognitive flexibility, and didn't affect information processing and goal setting.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.127-142
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• 2004

This paper examines the relationship between children's English proficiency in grade three and English learning environment and experiences before entering elementary school. In English learning environment and experiences, three influences consisting of children, home environment, and environmental influences of English learning are used to find out which influences contributed to children's English proficiency in grade three of elementary school. The result of this study shows that children with high interest in English have higher proficiency in all language skills reading, writing, listening, and speaking than that of children with low interests. For parents' influences, parents' high interests toward their children's English leaning and high monthly income result in children's high English proficiency. For English environmental influences, children who start at the early age and continue studying English have higher English proficiency.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.283-300
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• 2009

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a model for an English learning web-site using Korean folktales to stimulate the interest of beginners learning English, (elementary and early middle school ages) and suggest an integrated way of teaching 4 skills. The study first reviews the theoretical and historical backgrounds of storytelling using Korean folk tale, WBI (Web Based Learning), and learner-centered learning. Storytelling using Korean folk tale is an interactive way of teaching English through the use of words and actions from Korean traditional culture. The students can take pride in their own culture while learning a foreign language since they are familiar with the stories and the culture. Nowadays multicultural education is one of the big features of global education. Therefore there are benefits of studying English through Korean folktales. The websites can help students learn English ubiquitously with a learner-centered focus. For the study, we analyzed several digital English storytelling websites. The paper concludes that digital English story books need to improve their interactive ways of teaching for more effective learning. The authors created an integrated English learning website model using Korean folktales for beginners. We hope to introduce this type of learning through the website for higher level students in middle school. Further study should be conducted in order to make the websites more meaningful and useful for Korean students learning English.

• Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2012

Research has shown that mothers' attitudes towards early English language and literacy learning are important for children's English language development. Some researchers have indicated that in Taiwan most parents have a positive attitude towards English instruction and are motivated to teach English at home to their preschoolers. There is, however, little current data available to explain the motivations behind such parents' decisions to teach English to their child in the home before the commencement of formal schooling. We conducted a thematic analysis of the written survey responses of 263 Taiwanese mothers who explained why they taught their preschool children English at home. The findings indicate that English is highly valued for children's school readiness, future career opportunities, and because of its status as a global language. The mothers' motivations for teaching English include the desire to cultivate the child's interest, a belief in 'the earlier the better" for second language learning, and a belief in the need to review and practice English. These findings have the potential to inform educational policies and implementation strategies, as they can reveal whether mothers' motivations align with national priorities for English language education.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.699-710
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• 2007

The study purposes to explore the effects of individual characteristics and home environments of children on their bilingual language aquisition, that is, to examine whether their English language competency is different from their Korean language competency depending on those variables. Thus English or Korean language competency of children who had had early exposure in English learning were studied in terms of child's individual characteristics such as age, gender, exposure period to English, intelligence, and experiences of visiting English-speaking countries, and home environments such as parental age, educational level, income level, their perceived English competency, their perceived significance of English and Korean language, and the frequency of using English at home. 72 children who went to English kindergarten were tested with Peabody Pictures Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) in Korean version and in English version respectively. The results show that child's intelligence and experiences of visiting English-speaking countries influence their Korean language competency. Also child's age, exposure period to English and experiences of visiting English-speaking countries influence their English language competency. Moreover their mother's educational background, father's English fluency, mothers' English fluency, and the frequency of using English at home influence child's English language competency, whereas any variables did not influence child's Korean language competency. Accordingly, child's English and Korean language competencies are related to each other.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.103-124
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• 2002

For the current study, five Asian English teachers participated in their case studies to investigate an in-depth understanding of their beliefs about teaching and learning English as a foreign language. Data were collected through structured and unstructured interviews, written documents, observations of teacher-participants' micro teaching, a research methodology journal and a self-reflection journal. This study described the beliefs that Asian English teachers brought to the teacher preparation program and examined to see if these teacher-participants who were involved in case studies perceived change in their beliefs. The study found that formal and informal learning experiences greatly shaped the way teacher-participants' beliefs about the way learning and teaching ought to be. In addition, early experiences of learning and teaching influenced teacher-participants' change in beliefs.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.6
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• pp.219-239
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• 2000

There has been a growing enthusiasm in Korea for the early education of English as a foreign language (EFL). The present study examined the validity of the Critical Period Hypothesis in terms of the Universal Grammar (UG), in three different types of learning contexts - first language (L1), second language (SL), and foreign language (FL) learning contexts. While previous research findings in L1 and SL learning contexts suggest that UG principles and parameters are accessible to language learners only for the early years of lifetime, this article argues that their results - and even the methods - cannot be applied to EFL settings and that independent studies on the EFL context are, required. It also proposes the recent UG notion of functional categories as the most appropriate subject in the discussion of Korean EFL learners' access to UG. Findings on foreign language contexts, including the author's own, strongly indicate that UG is not sensitive to learners' starting ages in FL settings. If young children in FL contexts cannot develop their interlanguage grammar based on UG, the existing teaching methods for young children should be revised.