• Title/Summary/Keyword: English ability

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A Study on Promoting Early Reading Ability through an Explicit High-frequency Sight Word Instruction

  • Huh, Keun
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.17-35
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    • 2011
  • The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of an explicit word instruction for EFL beginning readers and their perception on the learning experience. Data were attained from 16 fourth graders who took English class as a development activity. Data include the results of pre- and post-test of high frequency sight word recognition, oral reading ability, students' survey responses, and teacher observation. The descriptive statistics were obtained for the result of the pre- and post-test. The findings from the student survey and teacher observation were also provided and interpreted to better understand the result of project and students' perception on the learning experience. The followings are the results of this study. The word recognition ability of the students was dramatically improved after the project. The students were satisfied with the overall learning experience perceiving it as helpful and fun learning. They expressed that the explicit word instruction helped their word recognition and reading ability. The results also supported that the confidence of students on their reading ability were heightened. Several suggestions are made for teachers and researchers on the word instruction for young EFL learners who are beginning readers.

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Effects of small group transcription activities on university students' English listening comprehension (소집단 협동 전사활동이 대학생의 영어듣기 능력 향상에 미치는 영향)

  • Han, Sang-Ho
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.12 no.1
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    • pp.257-286
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    • 2006
  • This paper investigates the effects of small group collaborative transcription activities on the improvement of university students' English listening ability. Based on the results of pre-tests, a class of 42 students was subdivided into 11 small homogeneous groups of three to four students. Each group was provided with 7 different news items to be transcribed. Means were compared between pre-test and post-test scores, followed by comparison of transcription errors in content and function words. Finally, students' perception and attitudes about the use of small group transcription for improving listening skills were qualitatively analysed and compared with pre- and post test results. It was found that post test scores highly correlated with improvement of listening ability. It was also found that groups of high degree of collaboration showed improvement in listening ability while lack of collaboration contributed to loss of interests in listening. Students who see process more important were found to make more contribution to the group success than those who place more emphasis on the results.

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The effects of using multimedia in English classroom on ADHD-prone elementary school students (ADHD 경향 초등학생의 영어 학습에 멀티미디어 활용 수업이 미치는 효과)

  • Choi, Hyo-Jung;Lim, Jeong-Wan
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.247-270
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    • 2011
  • The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of multimedia-assisted language learning on vocabulary learning and attention for elementary school students who are ADHD-prone. Among thirty-three students attending a private English academy in Daegu, four students who were prone to develop ADHD were chosen for this study. They were observed in a multimedia-assisted language learning class for four months and they were given a series of tests designed to measure their attention period and vocabulary ability. The results of the study are as follows. First, studying English by using multimedia was effective in improving the attention of those children prone to develop ADHD. Second, studying English through multimedia was effective in improving their vocabulary ability. Based on the findings, some pedagogical suggestions have been made for further study.

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A comparative study of English test items of college entrance examinations in Korea, China, and Japan (한국.중국.일본의 대학입학 영어시험 문항 비교 연구)

  • Jeon, Byoung-Man
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.10 no.2
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    • pp.113-132
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    • 2004
  • This study aims to suggest desirable directions through analyzing English test items of college entrance examinations(CEE) in Korea, China, and Japan. To achieve this, English test items of Scholastic Ability Test(SAT) in Korea were compared with those of CEE in China and Japan, and test items of TOEFL and IELTS. It was found that there were not many items for testing productive skills relatively to the tests of other countries including TOEFL and IELTS. Especially, there were integrated items for writing test in China. In case of speaking test, all the other country adopted direct ways like interview and oral test, not indirect test as in the SAT in Korea. It is suggested that there need to be included test items comprising long passages in order to measure extensive reading ability. It can be suggested that doze test be adopted for testing integrated proficiency of English.

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Improving English communicative competence through individualized WBI (WBI 수준별 수업을 통한 영어 의사소통능력 향상 방안)

  • Jeon, Young-Joo;Kahng, Yong-Koo;Sohng, Hae-Sung
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.12 no.4
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    • pp.117-138
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    • 2006
  • The purpose of this study is to increase students' interest in the subject of English, which has been led by some mannerism, and to improve the students' basic scholastic ability and self-controlled problem solving, through adopting an individualized Web Based Instruction(WBI) as a concrete and practical learning method. In order to achieve this, an individualized Web Based Instruction(WBI) homepage has been developed to be applied experimentally to the field of middle school education for 8 months, and a research has been made on its effects on the students' interest in English along with the improvement of English. Two groups which showed almost the same interest were selected as a controlled group and an experimental one. Individualized Web Based Instruction was applied to the experimental group, while the controlled group was not instructed according to student ability. The controlled group was taught using CD added with the textbook. As a result of T-test, the students in the experimental group showed more improvement in communicative competence than those in the controlled group.

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The Effects of a Phonological Awareness Instruction with Phonetics on the Oral and Aural English Proficiency

  • Bae, Chulwoong;Kahng, Yong-Koo;Sohng, Hae Sung
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.18 no.1
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    • pp.1-22
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    • 2012
  • This study explores the effects of phonological awareness instruction with phonetics on listening comprehension and speaking. For the test of measuring the improvement of listening comprehension, two nationwide listening comprehension tests were used for pre-test and post-test. To find out the improvement of speaking ability, students were required to take the Level-3 NEAT speaking tests. There was a notable correlation between phonological awareness instruction with phonetics and listening ability. Also a significant correlation between phonological awareness instruction with phonetics and speaking ability was found. The group with phonological awareness class with phonetics received higher scores in listening and speaking test than the group without phonological awareness class with phonetics in the post-test. This study implies that phonological awareness class with phonetics is helpful for the improvement of listening and speaking ability. With this research, we can also say that students' communicative competence increased.

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Effects of Presentation Classes in English Language Curriculum: Focusing on Phonetics/Phonology and Syntax

  • Mi Sook Park
    • International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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    • v.12 no.1
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    • pp.20-25
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    • 2024
  • The qualitative effect of class is influenced by the instructor's class design and operation method, but it comes from motivating students to actively participate in class and utilizing potential qualities that lead to student-centered learning. Students' activities and the quality development of class participation can be utilized in presentation-based classes. This could be confirmed through the presentation classes in English language curriculum applied to English major students in Korea. In other words, with presentations conducted in language-theoretic classes such as phonetics/phonology, and syntax, it turned out that immersion in learning, concentration on class, and motivation for learning can be improved, developing systematic self-directed learning ability and cooperative mutual communication ability. Instructors need to lead the direction and design of the classes, but the actual educational effect depends on how students accept the academic tasks, how well they understand the learning contents, and how well they can systematically transmit them to others. In this respect, this study aims to investigate that learner-centered presentation classes contribute to making learners develop their competencies in class design, data utilization, imparting knowledge, and communication, which would bring about the improvement of learning quality and educational effects.

A Teacher-Initiated Action Research in a Middle School

  • Chang, Kyung-Suk;Song, Young-Ja
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.1-19
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    • 2001
  • The current status of in-service teacher development shows that teachers' awareness can be enhanced through critical reflection. This study shows how an English teacher improved her own teaching situation through action research. It reports back the action research the teacher-researcher carried out in the EFL classroom setting. Aiming to improve the pupils' English speaking ability, the teacher introduced 'Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)' to the English class. The teacher and the pupils took part in the evaluation process of learning and teaching. It was found that the new approach to teaching speaking helped the pupils improve speaking ability and take an active role in learning process. It is further suggested that teacher-initiated action research can be done in collaboration with colleagues, administrators and researchers.

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On Improving the Listening Ability of Middle School Students Using Verbotonal Method (Verbotonal 법을 이용한 중학생 영어 학습자의 듣기 능력 향상에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Hyun-Gi;Kim, Ok-Jin;Kang, Sung-Kwan;Jeon, Byoung-Man
    • Speech Sciences
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.21-29
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    • 2007
  • The necessity for improving the English listening ability of Korean learners has been emphasized since the ultimate goal of English education converted to CLT(Communicative Language Teaching) in Korea. Verbotonal Approach as an auditory-based strategy has been proved to be effective substantially in maximizing the listening skill of spoken foreign language. The purpose of this study is to find out an efficient way of improving listening ability for Korean middle school students by employing OFH(Optimal Frequency of Hearing) using Tonality Word Sentence Test, before & after using Listen II Verbotonal training unit based on VTS(Verbotonal System). The results of the listening tests showed that the listening ability of the subjects increased by 16.7% on the words and by 5.5% on the sentences after using Listen II, compared with before using Listen II and that the improvement rate of listening ability on the level of words is much higher than that on the level of sentences. From the results, we can come to a conclusion that training the listening skill with words in mid-tonality and low-tonality based on OFH might give a great positive effect in improving listening ability for Korean learners of English.

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Design and Implementation of Web based System for Improving of English Reading Ability (효과적인 영문 독해능력 향상을 위한 웹 기반 시스템 설계 및 구현)

  • 이원섭;이상희
    • Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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    • v.5 no.3
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    • pp.58-63
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    • 2000
  • Since some methodologies of using Internet on English reading have been appeared, most of them have just led students to find some articles on the Internet and translate them into their first language. However, these methodologies have been criticized in that they can not provide naturalistic environment for practical English reading. There are some problems in using Internet for practical English reading. First, the level of vocabularies and grammar of articles from the Internet has not been proved to be appropriate for students. Usually, their level is too high for most students. Second, it needs computer using ability as well as English proficiency if a student successfully finds an article which he or she wants to on the Internet in a limited time. Finally, a teacher should be trained to lead students to participate in a classroom discussion to get, appropriate gists of articles. With all these problems, it is difficult only to use articles from the Internet for successful English reading. Therefore, this study tries to find out some critical problems and solve them, and construct English reading courseware system on the Internet.

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