• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.233-257
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• 2009

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of 3D avatar-based Virtual Reality chatting on college students' English learning achievement. Forty college sophomore students participated at this study and the research lesson continued for 8 weeks. They were administered to take a pretest to evaluate their vocabulary knowledge and writing skills. Their progress was assessed on the basis of midterm. Finally, a post-questionnaire was administered to measure their interest and understanding toward their learning experience in 3D avatar-based Virtual chatting. The results of this study indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the control group and experimental group with respect to their midterm scores and writing. The result of the post-survey indicated the interest of English was statistically higher than the understanding of English.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.87-110
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• 2007

Past studies conducted on the students' verbal participation both in and out of class have explored and identified variables affecting the process of learning to speak English. However, little is known about the causes and effects of these variables. A survey form developed from a previous study was administered to 468 university students taking English conversation classes from native speakers of English. To better understand the causes and effects of speaking barriers, path analysis was administered as the main tool of investigation. The results of the study indicate that familiarities toward NS (Native Speaker) teachers, learner faithfulness, che-myon, NS teachers' classroom management skills, and NS teacher's trustworthiness account for 50.72% of speaking grades. These factors are causally related to learner attitudes. However, with regard to speaking grades, all of the above factors except che-myon are also causally related with each other. Therefore, it was concluded that learner attitudes can be improved by minimizing che-myon, however, che-myon itself cannot be a predictor of speaking grades. To validate the findings of the study, related research work is discussed and implications are provided.

• Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.309-339
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• 2003

This paper provides an overview of second language (L2) socialization research, some examples of recent studies addressing this topic, and finally a theoretical reconceptualization of L2 socialization. The three studies to be presented include secondary schools in an English-as-a-foreign-language context in Central Europe, mainstream classes in an English-as-a second-language school in Western Canada, and programs for English language and nursing skills for immigrant Canadians. This empirical, qualitative research does not support a linear, deterministic view of L2 socialization; such a view assumes, erroneously, that students or other novices are fully willing and able to adopt stable, monolingual, local target L2 norms and that members of the target culture are both competent and receptive to the newcomers. Some consequences and implications of these findings are discussed.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.135-148
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• 2012

This is a retrospective, quantitative review of the English Teachers Association in Korea, namely the ETAK and its journals during the period of 18 years ever since the establishment in August 1994. It examines the history of the association, its domestic and international conferences, and most importantly, its articles. The purpose was to learn how it has emerged into a full-fledged organization, what the preferred language of the article has been, how the volume size has changed, and how many foreign scholars' articles have been contributed. It also looked into the number of authors each article was written by to examine the trend of cooperative work in the field of English education. Classification of the research topic was focused on the 4 skills of the language, grammar and vocabulary, literature, linguistics and all the rest areas were categorized into others. From the results of the study, suggestions for the future ETAK in the Korean English teaching were to be given.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.23-43
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• 2012

This study investigates the effects of three different types of instruction, namely form-based, comprehension-based, and production-based on the development of Korean university students' (n=137) comprehension and production of English relative clauses (RCs). The extent of improvements was analyzed by administering pre-and post-tests consisting of two comprehension tests (selecting the right form of RCs and the right picture descriptions) and one production test (combining two sentences). Findings of this study suggest that all three types of instruction increased participants' comprehension and productions of RCs. However, there appeared differential effects by the instruction type. It was found production-based instruction was most effective in promoting comprehension, followed by comprehension-based instruction. Comprehension-based instruction worked best with the development of production, suggesting that the effects of comprehension training did not only work for increasing comprehension skills, but also transfer to production skills. The type or level of tasks employed for each instruction appeared to play an important role in causing such results. Form-based instruction displayed the lowest improvements in both comprehension and production of RCs. A sentence-combination task employed for form-based instruction appear to result in mere explicit rule explanations without chances to notice rules in context or use their knowledge in practice.

• 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.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.91-100
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to provide basic data for the selection of educational contents when developing a course for cultivating global business communication competence. Reviewing previous studies on sub-elements of global competence, the researcher selected the sub-elements of global business communication competence. A survey was conducted on 148 employees of 20 companies regarding the importance of the sub-elements of global business communication competence. As a result, it was concluded that the sub-elements of relatively high importance-English email writing, reading and understanding of English materials and documents, telephone English, business English conversation, understanding of other cultures, communication skills, business knowledge-should be included in the educational contents of a course for cultivating global business communication competence.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.220-224
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• 2022

The teacher is considered the cornerstone of the educational process; the quality of education is linked mainly to teachers who perform such a necessary process. The shift in pedagogical thinking has led to progress in looking at the teacher's roles; he is no longer transferring knowledge to learners, but instead, he has become a mentor, a mediator, a planner, an intellect, and a leader. If we analyze these missions from the perspective of mental habits, we will see that they require the teacher to develop the skills of perseverance, listening comprehension, thinking flexibly, controlling emotions, self-confidence, communication skills, and other essential skills. The current research verifies the effectiveness of an instructional program based on web quests in developing habits of the mind of English language students. The study employed a quasi-experimental design. The sample consisted of 46 male students representing two classes. They were assigned randomly into an experimental group (n=24) and a control group (n=22). They were undergraduate students majoring in the English language. The findings showed a statistically significant difference in the mean scores of the experimental and control groups favoring the experimental group. The study concludes with some recommendations to differentiate teaching techniques in EFL classrooms.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.565-571
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• 2019

This study aims to suggest more efficient ways of teaching English more related to but distinct from major English, based on the needs and awareness of the students of English Education Department. For this, interviews and surveys have been carried out targeting some English Education majors. The results show that the satisfaction level of students is relatively low, marking around the score '3'. While the satisfaction level about classroom environment including the multi-media equipment, and professors' teaching ability, quality and methods is higher compared with other factors, the improvement of English skills and interest-causing levels are lower on average. Besides, this study also includes the surveys on the needs of students for various teaching programs, differentiated classes and qualified instructors. Based on the results, this study makes three suggestions as follows; (1) the opening of some specific English classes for English-education majors (2) the development of English-conversation classes related to English-education majors (3) the development of communication-centered English reading based on English literature.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2014.06a
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• pp.101-102
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• 2014