• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2017.11a
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• pp.34-35
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• 2017

Under the STCW Convention, marine engineers are required to have a satisfactory level of maritime English proficiency so that they can successfully perform their duties on board or maintain and operate the various equipment and facilities installed in the ship. More specifically, the importance of the engineers' written communication skills has been highlighted since their documents (for instance, post-work records, legal, and/or internal reports) have a significant legal impact in the event of a marine casualty or maritime crime. To suggest the necessity of developing standard engineering logbook phrases (SELP), therefore, this paper will closely analyse three-month authentic marine engineers' work records written by Korean officers. From the analysis, the problems and errors in the logbook will be analysed, and considerations to be taken into account in the development of SELP will be illustrated. Finally, the future actions for this standardised written communication for the logbook entry will be sought.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.125-147
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• 2012

The primary goal of the study was to provide some preliminary validity evidence for the Vocabulary Grade Levels Test (Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education, 2009), which is designed to measure the receptive vocabulary knowledge of learners in L2. For the purpose of the current study, 327 participants at the elementary school participated in the study and were asked to take two different vocabulary tests. Namely, a Vocabulary Size Test (Nation, 2001) and a Vocabulary Grade Levels Test. The data were analyzed using correlation in order to discover the relationship between these two types of tests. Following this, the Rasch analysis was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement in question. The data analysis showed that both grade separation reliability and item separation reliability were high, indicating that the Vocabulary Grade Levels Test well discriminates learners with a wide range of proficiency levels. The findings of the study are discussed, along with further improvements in order to ascertain the validity of this particular vocabulary test.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.21-40
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• 2004

This study Questioned what happens in L2 reading comprehension of the expository text, as measured by recall and inference-making abilities, when a L2 reader was induced to develop a content schema about the topic of a target text, but the structure of that schema departs from the structure of the target text Seventy-four. Korean university students read either the same version text twice (consistent condition) or two different version texts (inconsistent condition) with a three-day interval between the two readings. The results of a verification test indicate that, for those subjects with higher L2 reading proficiency, the inconsistent condition was more beneficial than the consistent condition for the inference-making task. On the other hand, for lower-level L2 readers, the consistent condition was more favorable for the recall task. It was concluded that inducing a structurally inconsistent schema through an L2 pre-reading would be beneficial only when the reader's L2 linguistic ability is proficient enough to produce necessary propositions from the pre-reading.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.71-92
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• 2009

Europass was established in 2005 by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe as a single framework for language qualifications and competences, helping citizens to gain accreditation throughout the European Community. In addition, the 1996 Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) provides a common basis for language syllabi, curriculum guidelines, examination, and textbooks in Europe. This framework describes the required knowledge and skills, the cultural context, and the levels of proficiency that learners should achieve. In combination, Europass and the CEFR provide employers and educational institutes with internationally recognized standards. This paper proposes that current trends such as globalization and international mobility require a similar approach to accreditation in Asia. As jobs and workers become independent of national boundaries and restrictions, it becomes necessary to educate students as multilingual world citizens, using standards that are accepted around the world. It is suggested, therefore, that assessment models such as Europass and the CEFR, along with successful language teaching models in Europe and Canada, present opportunities of adaptation for the Korean education system. Finally, rigorous teacher training to internationally recognized levels is recommended, if Korea is to produce a workforce of highly-skilled, plurilingual world citizens.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.19-26
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• 2018

In an effort to investigate the effects of chatbots on English listening and reading skills, 46 college students participated in the current study. Participants consisted of first-year students who enrolled in an English class at a university in South Korea. They were randomly divided into two groups: one experimental group (n=24) and one control group (n=22). During 16 weeks, the experimental group engaged in chats with a chatbot, named Elbot, while the control group did not. There were pre- and post-tests to confirm the effects of the chatbot usage. Major findings are as follows: First, participants in both groups significantly improved listening and reading skills. On the post-listening test, however, the experimental group showed more improvements. Their listening proficiency level improved from intermediate to advanced level after engaging in chat with the chatbot. Limitations and implications for theory and practice are discussed at the end.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.15-26
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• 2013

The present study was conducted to investigate science and engineering graduate students' proficiency in technical English writing and their perceptions of research ethics. Given that graduate students in science and engineering colleges usually write journal articles as well as dissertations in English, this study examined their experience of and preparation for technical English writing, writing practices, and research ethics including plagiarism. The results of the study show that it is very necessary to intensify education on research ethics and to provide educational training in proper citation practices. These findings can be used as a basis for the development of future academic curricula and other support resources to improve science and engineering graduate students' technical English writing.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.197-216
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• 2012

This study examines spoken interlanguage of Korean learners of English, focusing on the distribution of modal verbs and devices of epistemic modality. (Semi-) spontaneous speech data were collected from four students participating in a self-organized study group for seven months, which produced a corpus of about 55,000 words. The data analysis reveals the following: 1) The frequency of the modal verbs produced by the learners was lower than that of native speakers; 1.99 vs. 2.32 tokens per 100 words. The range of the modal verbs used by the learners was also very limited, with over-reliance on can (43%). 2) The grammatical categories of the devices marking epistemic modality were in the order of adverbs, lexical verbs, and modal verbs, with a high frequency of a few items in each category. 3) Lexical items conveying certainty and modals of obligation were preferred over markers of weaker commitment, resulting in speech characterized by firmer assertions and a more authoritative tone, a potential cause for pragmatic failure. 4) A weak developmental change was observed in the frequency of modal verbs, but not in their functions over the seven month period of data collection. L1 influence, L2 proficiency, mode of communication, and instruction effects are discussed as possible variables involved in the distribution patterns observed.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.61-85
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• 2006

The purpose of the present study is to compare Korean EFL learners' speech corpus (i.e. oral productions) with their composition corpus (i.e. written productions). Four college students participated in the study. The composition corpus was collected through a writing assignment, and the speech corpus was gathered by audio-taping their oral presentations. The results of the data analysis indicate that (i) As for error frequency, young adult low-intermediate Korean EFL learners showed high frequency in determiners (mostly, indefinite articles), vocabulary (mostly, semantic errors), and prepositions. The frequency order did not show much difference between the speech corpus and the composition corpus; and (ii) When comparing the oral productions with the written productions, there were not many differences between them in terms of the contents, a style (i.e., colloquial vs. literary), vocabulary selection, and error types and frequency. Therefore, it is assumed that the proficiency in oral presentation of EFL learners at this learning stage heavily depends on how much/how well they are able to write. In other words, EFL learners' writing and speaking skills are closely co-related. It implies that the teacher does not need to separate teaching how to speak from teaching how to write. The teacher may use the same methods or strategies to help the learners improve their English speaking and writing skills. Furthermore, it will be more effective to teach writing before speaking since they have more opportunities to write than speak in the EFL contexts.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.25-45
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• 2007

In this article, I discuss an International Collaborative Writing Course on the Internet (ICWCI) that focused on the learning effectiveness Korean EFL students (KEFLSs) perceived to be necessary to exchange with international EFL students (IEFLSs). The course development was based on an internet-based instructional module, applying widely accepted EFL theories for modern foreign language instruction: collaborative learning, process writing, project-based learning, and integrated approaches. Data from online discussion forum, mid-of-semester and end-of-semester surveys, and final oral interviews are conducted and discussed. KEFLSs and IEFLSs were questioned about (a) changes in attitude towards computers assisted language learning (CALL); (b) effect of computer background on motivation; (c) perception of their acquired writing skills; and (d) attitude towards collaborative learning. The result of this study demonstrated that the majority of ICWCI participants said they enjoyed the course, gained fruitful confidence in English communication and computer skills, and felt that they made significant progress in writing skills. In spite of positive benefits created by the ICWCI, it was found that there were some issues that are crucial to run appropriate networked collaborative courses. This study demonstrates that participants' computer skills, basic language proficiency, and local time differences are important factors to be considered when incorporating the ICWCI as these may affect the quality of online instructional courses and students' motivation toward network based collaboration interaction.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.630-638
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• 2015

This study examines university students' reading strategies based on English proficiency and reading anxiety. A total of 86 university students participated in the study and completed two questionnaires related to reading strategies[9] and reading anxiety[10]. The collected data was quantitatively analyzed using SPSS 21. The results indicated that advanced and intermediate students preferred to use Problem Solving Strategies(PROB), whereas beginning level readers tended to use and Global Reading strategies(GLOB). There was no significant relationship between reading anxiety and reading strategies. However, there were some differences between two groups. High anxiety students preferred to use reading materials and textual clues and try to focus on their reading when they have a difficulty. Low anxiety students tended to adjust reading pace and try to focus on comprehension and reread when they lost their focus. Based on the results of the study, several implications and limitations were discussed.