• Title/Summary/Keyword: English Major

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Teaching English Overseas: From EFL Instructors' Perspectives

  • Kim, Young-Sang
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.10 no.3
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    • pp.67-88
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    • 2004
  • Given the noteworthy increase in the number of native-born English-speaking. EFL instructors teaching overseas, this research examined 6 American EFL instructors who had taught English abroad with special reference to their experience as foreigner instructors in their respective host countries. With the use of interviews as the major technique employed, this research was centered on identifying conflicts or difficulties the research participants encountered as novice instructors, both internal and external to the classroom settings of their host countries. Research findings revealed that the current participants were not adequately prepared to cope with new and unfamiliar physical settings of their host countries, or to familiarize themselves with their new classroom settings and students. Studying the various the conflicts which native EFL instructors encountered, both internal and external to the classroom environment, will hopefully shed light on, and provide a more accurate portrayal of EFL professionals' teaching overseas and may provide possible insights into potential solutions to them. Furthermore, the research findings were considered and discussed in terms of acculturation theory.

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EFL Students' Beliefs and Processing Behaviors toward Writing and Teacher Response

  • Chin, Cheong-Sook
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.1-32
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    • 2007
  • This study took a cross-sectional, quantitative approach and profiled EFL students' awareness of the writing process and of teacher feedback. The subjects were 113 college students aged 19-26 years from non-English majors, who were enrolled in three sections of a required English course. According to the scores gained from the essay writing assignment, they were divided into two groups (proficient and less-proficient writers) and responded to an in-class survey. Major findings were that: (1) the vast majority of both groups did not find English writing enjoyable; (2) longer comments gave rise to substantial changes to the students' revisions; (3) the less-proficient writers were shown to benefit from revision significantly more than the proficient writers; (4) Both groups of writers utilized multiple strategies to process teacher feedback and preferred to receive teacher comments using complete sentences rather than phrases or single words; and (5) teacher's marks on grammar and vocabulary claimed to be most conducive to EFL writing development. Several important implications for EFL writing instruction and for future studies are suggested.

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A Prosodic Study of Focus in English Relative Sentences (영어 관계사 문장의 초점에 관한 운율 연구)

  • Ahn, Gil-Soon;Jeon, Pyung-Man;Kim, Hyun-Gee
    • Speech Sciences
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    • v.8 no.4
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    • pp.207-214
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    • 2001
  • This study describes the focus in nine structure types of English relative clauses (SS, SO, SP, PS, PO, PP, OS, OO, OP), classified according to the grammatical role of both the head that the relative clause modifies and the gap within the relative clause. The informants for this study are 2 middle school students, 4 high school students in four formal classroom in Korea and 2 native speakers. To obtain the accurate intonation patterns, Visi-Pitch II Model 3300 was used for data analyses. Major findings are as follows: (1) The feature of the intonation in English relative clauses showed prosodic prominence at the head, but the English learners in Korea didn't show prosodic prominence; (2) the fact that all heads have prosodic prominence says that the head in relative clauses has prosodic focus; (3) in the fact that the English learners have flat pitch in the whole sentences, the problem of intonation education is found out.

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Suggestions for the romanization education of personal names in primary schools (초등 학교의 로마자 인명 표기 교육에 대한 제언)

  • Kim, Hye-Sook
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.7 no.2
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    • pp.129-145
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    • 2002
  • This paper compares the four official romanization systems (1948, 1959, 1984 and 2000) and analyzes the third- and fourth-year primary school English textbooks and teacher's guides in terms of romanization of personal names. This study is conducted with the assumption that the inconsistent use of romanization is due to two major causes, i.e., the frequent changes of the formal romanization systems and the exclusion of the romanization system from the school curriculum. The current third- and fourth-year primary school English text books (Ministry of Education, 2001) are chosen for the analysis because they are the first primary school English textbooks to be implemented based on the 7th National Curriculum. The study found that the textbooks and teacher's guides did not state which romanization system they were following and were not consistent in romanizing personal names. This study suggests including the current official romanization system in the current primary school curriculum and outlines a strategy for teaching the romanization system which suits the curriculum.

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English Teachers' Responses to Doing Action Research

  • Yang, Tae-Sun
    • 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.

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Integrating Soft Skills into Online EFL Classrooms Using Problem-Based Learning with Challenge Questions

  • Seo, Ji-Young
    • International Journal of Contents
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    • v.18 no.3
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    • pp.58-65
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    • 2022
  • This study proposed a soft skill integration activity for online EFL classrooms and investigated student responses. Toward this end, this study recruited 54 college students taking an English Presentation and Discussion class in South Korea. Participants were assigned into high and low-proficiency groups based on the Test of English for International Communication. This study employed questionnaire, class video recordings, and interview to obtain responses. Moreover, problem-based learning with challenge questions was applied to develop soft skills in online synchronous classes. Responses were examined in terms of whether a difference existed according to English proficiency. Major findings of this study were as follows. Regardless of proficiency levels, participants reported improvements in their IT and problem-solving skills and exhibited positive attitudes toward live online presentations via Zoom. However, this study observed significant differences in communication and teamwork skills, perceived learning, and confidence. Interviews with students with low English proficiency levels revealed that they were negatively affected by the lack of non-verbal cues, mechanical skills, and socialization time provided by online classes. Based on these results, pedagogical implications and directions for future studies are discussed.

Realities and Difficulties of English Education for Young Children of North Korean Refugee Mothers (북한이탈주민 어머니의 유아기 자녀 영어교육 실태와 어려움)

  • Jo, Hye Young;Kim, Mee Kyoung;Lee, Moon Ok
    • Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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    • v.9 no.5
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    • pp.201-228
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    • 2013
  • The research goal of this study is to investigate the realities and difficulties of English education for young children of North Korean refugee mothers. The subjects of this study were 201 North Korean refugee mothers of 3-5-year-old children. They were surveyed and some of them were interviewed on their children's English education. The results of the study are as follows. First, most of the North Korean refugee mothers in this study provided their children with English education since their children were 3 years old. The major reason for the English education was their children's peer group who received English education early in their lives. Their educational interaction periods with their children were less than 10 minutes, and they had their young children study English alone, focusing solely on their assignment. Next, North Korean refugee mothers claimed that the biggest difficulties for teaching English to their children were cost, lack of information, lack of time to teach English, and unsatisfactory English education. They expressed that the cost for English education was a burden on the family to some extent.

Korean College Students' English Learning Motivation and Listening Proficiency

  • Yang, Eun-Mi
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.93-114
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    • 2011
  • The aim of this study is twofold. First, this study aimed to explore how Korean university students' English learning motivation is related to their English listening proficiency and study time. Second, it attempted to interpret the English learning motivation linking the two different motivation theories: self-determination theory and L2 motivational self system. The constructs of the students' L2 learning motivation were investigated with the data obtained through the questionnaire from 122 sophomore students. A factor analysis was conducted to extract the major factors of motivation. As a result, 6 factors were extracted: Intrinsic Pleasure, Identified Value Regulation, Intrinsic Accomplishment, Introjected Regulation, External Regulation, and Identified Regulation. The Interrelatedness among the assessment results on the L2 listening proficiency (pre and post test), listening study time, and motivation factors was measured by correlation coefficients. The statistical results indicated that pre-test scores were significantly related to Identified Regulation and Identified Value Regulation toward English learning, and post-test results had significant correlation with Intrinsic Accomplishment and Identified Regulation. However, no motivation subtypes showed statistical association with the students' listening study time. The results were attempted to be interpreted both under L2 motivational self system and self-determination framework to better illuminate the motivation theory with more explanatory power.

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Effects of Mobile Phone Use on Aviation Students' English Learning (모바일폰 사용이 항공대학 학생들의 영어 학습에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Na-Young
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.20 no.5
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    • pp.213-221
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    • 2019
  • The present study aims to investigate the effects of mobile phone use on aviation students' English language learning. Considering that affective factors have impacts on English language learning, this study focuses on confidence, motivation, and anxiety in English learning. For the current study, 46 college students were recruited. The participants were divided into one experimental group (n = 24) and one control group (n = 22) at random. During 16 weeks, the experimental group joined in chat via mobile phone while the control group did not. To understand the participants' experience of mobile phone use and to compare the attitudes towards English language learning, a survey was performed. Major findings are as follows: The experimental group showed more positive attitudes towards English learning than the control group did. Specifically, the participants who engaged in chat via mobile phone became more confident and motivated to learn English but less anxious about English learning. These results provide insights into the engagement in chat via mobile phone for aviation students' English learning. This study also suggests ways how CTL at universities can support their students' English language learning using mobile phones.