• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.245-259
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate English teachers' perceptions about doing their own action research to find out the benefits of involvement in action research. I believe that teachers should engage in curriculum research and development because it relates to their own classrooms and because a primary aim for teacher education program is to give teachers ways of exploring their own classrooms. I focused on 17 graduate students who had undertaken action research during the fall semester of 2007 and administered a questionnaire about their perceptions of doing action research. The results revealed that their perceptions of doing action research fell into the following two categories, positive and negative aspects. For positive aspects, they experienced a sense of personal and professional growth and they underwent identity transformation from passive, etic-oriented, and uncritical to active, emic-oriented, and critical teachers. However, many of them expressed that major obstacles to doing action research were time constraints and lack of skills or training in conducting action research. Thus, it is suggested that both pre- and in-service teachers should consider conducting a language teaching diary study, doing collaborative action research, and acquiring all the necessary skills for conducting action research.

• Educational Technology International
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.229-254
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• 2018

Universities in Korea have driven universities' new attempts to adopt more learner-centered and active learning in English. Problem-based Learning (PBL) is one of the well-known constructive teaching and learning methodologies in higher education. Our research goal was to design and develop the optimal PBL practices for a college physics course taught in English to promote learning and course satisfaction. For four semesters, we have tried and adjusted PBL components, and looked at the trend of the exam scores and group work achievement in each semester. We found that the number of problems and the duration of problem solving are the critical factors that influence the effect of PBL in a college physics course taught in English by going through iterative implementation. The iterative process of applying, designing, and constructing PBL to physics classes was meaningful not only in that we have found the optimal PBL model for learning a college physics course, but also in that we have been reflecting on the continuous interaction with learners during the course.

• Educational Technology International
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.59-78
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• 2009

Language Capital is one of the most important academic abilities and competencies for new era of globalization worldwide. In Europe and Asia where English is not the native language, it is necessary to encourage higher education to improve language competency from both qualitative and quantitative aspects. In so far as online university concerned, it appears of significance to prepare for globalization from the perspective of cross border education, and it needs to focus on how to design and develop English-medium teaching (EMT) or in other words English mediated instruction(EMI) for both teachers and students. In order to provide supportive programs of English-mediated class for teachers and students, the study examined and analyzed what abilities are needed for teachers based on DACUUM approach, suggesting teachers' competency as well as strategies for online- EMT. Based on literature review, DACUUM analysis, focus group interview with teachers and students who experienced online EMT, online programs supporting both teachers and students for online EMI were developed. This program expects to play roles of practical guidelines and reference for both teachers and students online in an extension of language capital improvement.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.403-413
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• 2021

This paper emphasizes the effect of using poetry in the University General English education and suggests the teaching method of English education with a Frost's poem, "Out, Out- ." These days, learner-centered English education and integrative study of four linguistic functions, reading, listening, speaking and writing are considered important in the University General English class. Poetry is very effective text for the education purposes. Poetry techniques like a visual image, rhythm, rhyme, or repetition are actually mnemonics and strongly connected to the enhancement of memory and oral linguistic function. This paper suggests the specific education methods in the poetry selection, pre-reading step, reading step and after- reading step with concrete examples of "Out, Out-." These education methods through the 'oral text' can be a good and sustainable model for learner-centered education.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2009

This experiment, on the method of teaching English for left brain dominated engineering college students, was carried out through two groups, the experimental group which was composed of the engineering college students and the controlled group. The experimental group undertook dictogloss tasks in English class during the period of eight weeks from July to August, 2008. As a result, the effect of learning on experimental group showed significantly being high compared to that of the controlled group in the TOEIC test, an English ability test. This means that dictogloss is an effective learning activity which can be used in English class for left brain dominated engineering college students, and more improvement in English ability can be expected when appropriate levels and durations to learners are applied.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.582-590
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• 2020

This paper aims to analyze and introduce the primary English curriculum of North Korea reformulated according to the New Educational Program. Sources for analysis are the 4th and 5th primary school English syllabus based on the New Educational Program, explanations of the New Educational Program appeared in People's Education and Kim, Jeong-Il's selected writings. The analytical sources are classified into characteristics, objectives, contents, methods and evaluation. The findings are as follows: The primary English education aims to reach to the basis of middle school English by learning English alphabets and basic English expressions. 4th graders learn basic oral English such as pronunciation, stress and intonation for the first semester and learn English alphabets and their sounds for the second semester. 5th graders learn familiar topics in English and repeatedly practice the important components of English such as pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. The method is to maintain students' interests in English and encourage students to use classroom English. Also, structural practice is an important part of the method. Evaluation is primarily process-oriented and must motivate students to excel in English rather than fail in English.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.33-37
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• 2018

Korean students with much exposure to the relatively slow and clear speech used in most English classes in Korea can be expected to have difficulty understanding the casual style that is common in the everyday speech of English speakers. This research attempted to investigate an effective way to utilize casual speech in English education, by exploring the way different speech styles (clear vs. casual) affect Korean learners' comprehension of spoken English. Twenty Korean university students and two native speakers of English participated in a listening session. The English utterances were produced in different speech styles (clear slow, casual slow, clear fast, and casual fast). The Korean students were divided into two groups by English proficiency level. The results showed that the Korean students achieved 69.4% comprehension accuracy, while the native speakers of English demonstrated almost perfect results. The Korean students (especially the low-proficiency group) had more problems perceiving function words than they did perceiving content words. Responding to the different speech styles, the high-proficiency group had more difficulty listening to utterances with phonological variation than they did listening to utterances produced at a faster speed. The low-proficiency group, however, struggled with utterances produced at a faster speed more than they did with utterances with phonological variation. The pedagogical implications of the results are discussed in the concluding section.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.480-486
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• 2014

This study aims to assure the positive influence of publishing English newspapers on improving English communicative ability and explores possibilities of enforcing an explicitly collaborative and independent learning atmosphere through a cooperative project-based publishing process. The project of publishing first KSA English newspapers has completed with a series of processes adopted from project-based learning and teaching strategies. The project involves the initiative process of selecting student editors based on their English abilities and commitment levels followed by planning subjects, themes and materials, distributing tasks and articles, and integrating and editing the outcome. Throughout the whole process volunteers participated independently and collaboratively with minimum supervision. The survey shows that the successfully published English Newspaper resulted in facilitating volunteers' positive self awareness and independent learning attitude as well as improving general English ability. The study discusses possibilities and advantages of publishing newspapers and magazines not for limited language education only, but for integrated project-based learning and teaching with suggestions for further related studies.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.5
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• pp.49-62
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• 1999

Education systems throughout the world encourage their students to learn languages other than their native one. In Australia, our Education Boards provide students with the opportunity to learn European and Asian languages. French, German, Chinese and Japanese are the most popular languages studied in elementary and high schools. This choice is a reflection of Australias European heritage and its geographical position near Asia. In most non-English speaking countries, English is the foreign language most readily available to students. In Korea, the English language is actively promoted by the Education Department and, in less official ways, by companies and the public. It is impossible to be anywhere in Korea without seeing the English language alongside or intermingled with Korean. When I ask students why they are learning English, I receive answers that include the word globalization and the importance of English throughout the world. When I press further and ask why they personally are learning English, the students mention passing exams, usually high school tests or TOEIC, and the necessity of passing the latter to obtain a good job. Seldom do I ever hear anything about communication: about the desire to talk with other people in English, to read novels or poetry in English, to understand movies or pop-songs in English, to chat on the Internet in English, to search for information on the Internet in English, or to email pen-pals in English. Yet isnt communication the only valid reason for learning a language? We learn our native language to communicate with those around us. Shouldnt we set the same goal for learning a foreign language? In my opinion communication, whether it is reading and writing or speaking and listening, must be central to language learning. Learning a language to pass examinations is meaningless unless those examinations are a reliable indicator of the ability of the student to communicate. In previous eras, most communication in a foreign language was through reading novels or formal letters. This required a thorough knowledge of grammar and a large vocabulary. Todays communication is much less formal. Telephone conversations, tele-conferences, faxes and emails allow people to communicate regularly and informally. Reading materials are also less formal as popular novels and newspapers are available world-wide. Movies and popular songs have added to the range of informal communication available. Finally travel has ensured that people from different cultures will meet easily and regularly. This informal communication requires less emphasis on grammar and vocabulary and more emphasis on comprehension and confidence to speak. Placing communication central to language learning has important implications for the Education system and for teachers.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.149-174
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• 2012

This research aims at exploring what Korean teachers of English need for their effective professional development, particularly from the perspectives of peer trainers who are school teachers as well as teacher trainers. The research is based on an assumption that despite the critical roles of peer trainers in the changing process of English education, very little attention has been paid to listening to their voices. Having an awareness of the meaningfulness of their voices in teacher education, the researcher collected and analyzed the data, employing a questionnaire responded by 32 peer trainers and in-depth group interview with 6 peer trainers who responded the questionnaire. The research findings suggest that the majority of peer trainers believe that the priority should be put on teaching practice rather than language competence for Korean English language teacher development. It has been found that they believe that teacher learning within the workplace with some support from outside experts is the most effective way of making classroom change possible and keeping teachers' professional development sustainable. Finally, the research suggests school-based professional development as an alternative strategy to satisfy their needs on effective and sustainable professional development.