• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.139-160
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• 2011

This study examines correlations between affective variables and English learners' achievement in native teachers' classes. Specifically, it aims to study the relationships among Korean college students' English learning motivation, anxiety, WTC (willingness to communicate) and their English achievement scores. For the purpose, the questionnaire surveys were conducted, and the students' English scores were analyzed and compared. The participants were 216 university students taking the general English courses as a requirement for graduation. The results indicated that although the students had high level motivation to learn English, especially for social reasons, their WTC in and outside the classroom was low. Also, unlike the previous studies on foreign language anxiety, their anxiety level was not significant. Anxiety and motivation were negatively correlated; WTC and motivation were positively correlated. However, according to the regression analysis, the explanatory power of the three affective variables was not significant for the students' achievement scores. Several possible reasons and some pedagogical implications are provided in the conclusion.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.153-169
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• 2012

This study reviews an English enhancement course implemented for medical and nursing college students of 2011 to improve their standardized English test scores. A total of 117 first-year students underwent the pre-test and the post-TOEIC in November 2011. After the pre-test, lectures on listening enhancement strategies and problem solving tactics on reading comprehension were supplemented with 4 times of enhancement-tests. Their pre- and post-TOEIC results were compared to see if such enhancement strategies were effective to improve their TOEIC scores. It was further to investigate, through survey questionnaires, how the subjects felt about a number of pre-test-type TOEIC exercise with what-to-listen and how-to-infer listening strategies and pattern-drill practices for reading comprehension. It was found that the scores of listening comprehension improved significantly for both major students whereas reading scores showed slight decrease among nursing majors. It is concluded that administering numerous pre-test-type-TOEIC exercise is effective for students to improve their listening scores supplemented with listening strategies Also, students' response showed positive toward the enhancement course.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.23-27
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to find how English vowels /a, e, i, o, u/ affect the production of English labials /p, b, f, v/ by Korean learners of English. Sixty syllables were composed by five vowels and four labials in the syllable types CV, VC, and VCV. The nonsense syllables were produced three times by nine subjects. The major results show that (1) in inter-vocalic position, the subjects had higher scores in producing /v/ composed with /a, e, o/ and /u/, while subjects had lower scores in producing /p/ with /i/ and /o/, (2) in post-vocalic position, the subjects had higher scores in producing /v/ and /f/ with /a, e/, and /o/, while subjects had lower scores in producing /b/ with /e/ and /i/, and (3) in pre-vocalic position, the subjects had higher scores in producing /v/ with /e, o, u/ and /f/ with /u/, while subjects had lower scores in producing /b/ with /e/, /i/ and /u/. The results suggest that on the whole, Korean learners of English have much difficulty in producing /p/ with /i/ in inter-vocalic condition and /b/ with /i, /e/ in pre-vocalic position.

• Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.229-252
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• 2004

The TOEIC has widely used to evaluate business English proficiency in Korea, but those who achieved high scores still often face difficulties in performing their duties in English at work. This implies that the test may not evaluate business English proficiency effectively enough. With an ultimate goal of proposing an effective way of assessing business English proficiency, therefore, his study analyzed the predictive validity of the TOEIC. A correlation analysis was conducted between TOEIC scores of 64 office workers of multinational companies and their working skills in English evaluated by themselves, and their colleagues and seniors. Its results illustrated a significant correlation between their listening and reading scores and their working skills measured by all the groups, but not between their scores and their working skills in speaking and writing. In addition, the study did a delphi study to identify working skills in English to be assessed in business English tests and a contents analysis of the TOEIC. The results suggest business English tests should be able to assess working skills by work types and more direct testing of working skills in speaking and writing is needed.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.31-38
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• 2008

The aim of this study was to find how English vowels affect the pronunciation of English sibilants /$d_3,\;{_3}$, z/ by Korean learners of English. Fifteen nonsense syllables composed by five vowels /a, e, i, o, u/ were pronounced six times by twelve Korean learners of English. Test scores were measured from the scoreboard made by a speech training software program, which was designed for English pronunciation practice and improvement. Results show that 1) the subjects had the lowest scores in /a_a/ position, and 2) subjects had lower scores in the /i_i/ position than in /e_e/, /o_o/ and /u_u/ positions when they pronounced $/d_3/,\;/{_3}/$, and /z/ in their respective inter-vocalic position. This study found that for the group studied Korean learners of English have more difficulty in pronouncing sibilants in /a_a/ and /i_i/ positions than in the other positions.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.33-40
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• 2010

This study aims at investigating the linguistic and educational factors affecting TOEFL scores, focusing on three OECD countries, Korea, Japan, and Finland. The data comprise document analysis on curriculums, websites, and literature. The findings reveal that the number of Korean test-takers and their TOEFL scores gradually increased year by year. Finnish test-takers consistently gained greatly high scores, and Japanese examinees showed the lowest scores. The languages Korean, Japanese, and Finnish are all far distant from English and receive little support on historical grounds from the Indo-European family tree. In Finland, however, Swedish which belongs to Indo-European languages is still used as an official language with Finnish. Korea and Finland adopt English education from Year 3 in primary school, whereas English is not an official subject in primary school at present in Japan. Finnish students are taught a foreign language in addition to English from primary school. These seem to support the result of the high TOEFL scores of Finnish test-takers. This study concludes that social context which includes linguistic and educational environments are the main factors which affect TOEFL scores.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.153-171
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• 2003

The scores of TOEFL, TOEIC, and TEPS have been increasingly used for many purposes in Korea. In particular, these test scores are being used as a predictor for determining readiness for and success in college work, or as a measure of the testees' overall English proficiency. Nonetheless, studies have rarely proposed that the validity of the test scores is used for either purpose. As a preliminary step to explore the predictive validity of the test scores, we collected the scores of TOEFL, TOEIC, and TEPS from thirty students of a university as well as their cumulative grade point averages (GPAs). The correlations between the test scores and GPAs show that TOEFL will be most likely to have the highest validity coefficient as a predictor for determining success in college work as well as a measure of overall English proficiency. Although this study has a few limitations such as the small number of participants, their homogeneousness as a group, etc., it provides some insight into the use of the three tests for college admissions and measurement of overall English proficiency and suggests need for conducting further validation studies in these areas.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.213-241
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• 2003

As an attempt to characterize the English test section of CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) and to get some suggestions, this study raised the research questions, as 'What are the main factors that affect students' English test scores in CSAT, and how big influences do they have?' It has been hypothesized that among main factors are the L1 competence, represented by the Korean test scores in CSAT, background knowledge or intelligence, represented by the "total" scores in CSAT, and the two types of L2 knowledge (vocabulary and grammar on one hand and prosody m the other hand), measured by the test devised specially for this study. The individual effect of the L2 vocabulary and grammar (one kind of L2 knowledge) was 70%, that of background knowledge or intelligence 61%, that of the L1 competence 50%, and that of the L2 prosody knowledge (the other kind of L2 knowledge) 32%. According to the stepwise regression, the whole effect of these four factors was 74%. The findings suggest that first, although CSAT is based on the top-down model of comprehension, the bottom-up model of learning should be more emphasized in our English class. Also, since background knowledge or intelligence is the second most influential factor, the top-down model of learning that helps students learn to understand by activating their various schemata must also be very effective.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.11-15
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• 2009

The aim of this study was to identify production difficulties of Korean learners of English in their articulation of English bilabial stops /p, b/ and labiodental fricatives /f, v/. Sixty non-sense syllables and twelve words were produced three times by nine graduate students. Test scores were measured from the score board made by FluSpeak, a speech training software program, which was designed for English pronunciation practice and improvement. Results show that 1) the subjects had lower scores in producing /p, b/ than /f, v/ from all positions, and 2) subjects had lower scores in medial (inter-vocalic) position than in initial (pre-vocalic) position and in final (post-vocalic) position when they produced /p/, /b/, /f/, and /v/. The results suggest that on the whole, Korean learners of English have much difficulty in producing /b/ and that they also have more articulatory problems in intervocalic than in the other positions when they produce these bilabial stops and labiodental fricatives.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.57-69
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• 2005

There have been changes throughout the past 100 years of English education in Korea. The Ministry of Education revised the English curriculum numerous times. From the 6th national curriculum, communicative competence became an essential objective in English learning. The study is to see if E University students' TOEIC results show any significant difference between the two groups under the 5th and 6th national curriculum. Another objective of this research is to see if recruiting medical students with high scores of the standardized English tests is suitable to select the best candidates who can fulfill medical studies. For these two purposes, sophomore students' TOEIC results in 2000 & 2004 and non-resident-status students' cumulative GPA were analyzed. The study shows that there is no significant difference in the two groups. Moreover, the current recruiting policy to select the best fit medical candidates based on their high TOEIC or TOEFL scores does not seem to be an appropriate measure since such students' GPA reveals poor academic performance amid their high scores in English.