• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.274-274
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• 1996

This presents the preliminary results from work in progress of a paired study of the acquisition of voiceless stops by Spanish speakers learning English, and American English speakers learning Spanish. For this study the hypothesis was that the American speakers would have no difficulty suppressing the aspiration in Spanish unaspirated stops; the Spanish speakers would have difficulty acquiring the aspiration necessary for English voiceless stops, according to Eckman's Markedness Differential Hypothesis. The null hypothesis was proved. All subjects were given the same set of disyllabic real words of English and Spanish in carrier phrases. The tokens analyzed in this report are limited to word-initial voiceless stops, followed by a low back vowel in stressed syllables. Tokens were randomized and then arranged in a list with the words appearing three separate times. Aspiration was measured from the burst to the onset of voicing(VOT). Both the first language (Ll) tokens and second language (L2) tokens were compared for each speaker and between the two groups of language speakers. Results indicate that the Spanish speakers, as a group, were able to reach the accepted target language VOT of English, but English speakers were not able to reach the accepted range for Spanish, in spite of statistically significant changes of p<.OOl by speakers in both groups of learners. A closer analysis of the speech samples revealed wide variability within the speech of native speakers of English. Not only is variability in English due to the wide range of VOT (120 msecs. for English labials, for example) but individual speakers showed different patterns. These results are revealing for the demands requied in experimental designs and the number of speakers and tokens requied for an adequate description of different languages. In addition, a simple report of means will not distinguish the speakers and the respective language learning situation; measurements must also include the RANGE of acceptability of VOT for phonetic segments. This has immediate consequences for the learning and teaching of foreign languages involving aspirated stops. In addition, the labelling of spoken language in speech technology is shown to be inadequate without a fuller mathematical description.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.451-459
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• 2017

This study investigates the usage of smartphones in English listening activities. 71 students answered the 10-item questionnaire after doing listening activity using their own smartphone for one semester in the course of Practical English listening and reading. The findings show that listening activity done with smartphone enhanced students' interest in English listening and improved their English listening skills because smart phones made customized learning possible. However, the major limitation of using smart phone is that students are distracted during activity by smart phones' other functions such as SMS and messenger. To reduce such distraction, I suggest that individual listening activity with smart phones be mixed with instructor-led activity using a classroom computer in about 50 to 50 ratio. The ratio might vary depending on the level of students' English listening skills. These findings will make a contribution to the boost of digital convergence English learning.

• 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.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.161-180
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• 2011

This study aims to illustrate the value of teaching English drama in the course of teaching primary English and suggests a model for primary English drama in an English camp for Children. Drama is the world of assumption where language is used just like in real life. It has a positive effect on foreign language learning by encouraging the operation of certain psychological factors which facilitate oral communication. Dramatic techniques such as storytelling, role play, chant, song and games can be used in the EFL classroom to help bring about such results. Meanwhile, making a primary English drama in an English camp for Children would be practical mode to attain the essential purpose of EFL teaching particularly to get over the drawbacks of Korean students' communicative competence under the school's inflexible EFL education curriculum. In this paper, I will present the effectiveness of English drama and the skills for using it with ESL students and suggest some notes that can be used to reinforce the goals set out from the position of the teacher, student and teaching material. It is confirmed that the trained leader, students' affirmative attitude and systematic teaching materials are needed to maximize the effects of drama activities. In addition to that, there will be showed a model of instruction targeted to the primary students learning English in an English camp for Children.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.167-186
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• 2006

We live in a global village that requires a language with a genuinely global status as a means of communication. During the twentieth century, English has clearly emerged as the lingua franca owing to both past British political imperialism and the more recent superpower status of the United States. Further contributing to world domination of the English language is the fact that the computer and Internet sprang from the US. Whether you like it or not, you are destined to learn English at least to some extent in order to live in this global village. For the last two decades, one of the most mistaken ideas a number of Korean English teachers have had is that speaking and listening are the primary forms of language, while reading and writing are secondary. In fact, reading is regarded as a skill of much consequence to us since it provides us with access to a huge quantity of information on the Internet, of which at least 80% is written in English. Writing, too, deserves a great deal of attention because we are increasingly called upon to use standard English expressions. As diligent learners of English, we had better not forget the place accorded to language not only as a medium for exchange and constructing information but as a tool for thinking. So we should try to think in English to the point where we have thinking-in-English as a habit, thereby leading to increased familiarity with the language. Such familiarity entails, above all, possessing a command of English.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.185-210
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• 2006

This study has two purposes. First, it aims to suggest an appropriate approach to English writing education for Korean high school students in a cooperative learning situation. It also aims to suggest what type of learner grouping, either homogeneous or heterogeneous, is appropriate by comparing the learners' writing abilities and the changes of their affective factors after being exposed to cooperative EFL writing instruction. Two homogeneous classes were selected and instructed to write in English for 11 weeks. One was composed of homogeneous small groups based on the students' writing scores, and the other was composed of heterogeneous small groups, again based on the students' writing scores. The results showed that the improvement between the two class types was quite different across different proficiency levels. For example, although there is little difference between the homogeneous and the heterogeneous classes of low and intermediate-level learners in writing ability improvement, high-level students showed a significant difference between the classes. In addition, it was found that class participation correlated significantly to writing ability improvement. Cooperative learning was proved to be an effective writing instructional approach to encourage learners' interest and increase their self-confidence; however, the results did not show any significant differences in learners' affective domain between the homogeneous and the heterogeneous classes. Similarly, the learners' grouping preference was not affected by the grouping method.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.235-245
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• 2013

Recent national attention on English conversation continued, smartphone game has emerged into the mainstream of game industry. In this study, smartphone serious game that combines english conversation learning and smartphone game for learning english conversation was designed and implemented. English sentence patterns separated words, phrases, and sentences was able to learn step-by-step and repeatedly. Also, Throughout the game of different type by stage was to provide interested. Test results were discovered the problem not causing continuous user interest. To compensate for this, study of a game changes element and difficulty adjusting will be followed.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.141-159
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• 2011

This study examined the effects of collocation-based instruction on L2 vocabulary acquisition and learners' interests in it. Fifty one students were randomly assigned to the experimental group (collocation-based instruction group) and to the control group. The participants' English vocabulary capacity was checked through pre and post tests, and two surveys were used to probe the learners' vocabulary learning behaviors and their interests in English vocabulary learning respectively. To better understand the participants' opinions and feelings on the collocation-based learning, follow-up interviews were also carried out. The results showed that second language (L2) learners' vocabulary capacity was significantly improved through collocation-based instruction. However, the participants' degree of interest in vocabulary learning did not reach our expectation partly because of external factors such as the Test for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and lack of familiarity of collocations. Such results indicate that the high school students' rooted perception of putting importance on test-based language learning could not be easily changed since it is closely related to their immediate needs. Based on the results, this study suggested how to implement collocations into L2 classrooms effectively.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.49-55
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• 2019

In the age of information, newly produced knowledge is mostly written in English. Therefore, there has been a strong demand for English language learning in the EFL context. However, most EFL learners possess a lack of interest and motivation in the text-based reading class. In this educational context, film is one of the most widely used materials in English reading classes considering that modern learners are predominantly familiar with various audiovisual materials. The purpose of this study is to investigate how Korean EFL learners experienced in the film-based reading class. Specifically, this study aims to analyze the EFL students' perceptions about the class and learning strategies that they used during the class. In order to comprehensively interpret the EFL learners' experiences in the classroom, a coding system consisting of five categories was developed: report, emotion, reflection, evaluation, future plans. The results of data analysis showed that the use of movies in English reading classes had positive effects on reading comprehension and inference of word meaning. The most frequently used learning strategies were affective strategies which helped them control their emotion, attitude, motivations and values, whereas memorization strategies were rarely used. In this respect, this study suggests that the use of movies in the EFL reading classroom encourage students' attention and help them obtain and activate schema which is useful in gaining a better understanding of text-based reading materials.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.133-140
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• 2016

This paper suggests designing how to acquire English vocabularies on the smart devices based on the research that a ground-breaking English Vocabulary Learning Contents needs developing. The method makes it possible to develop the contents which helps the learners to master English vocabularies effectively on the smart phone. The core idea of this paper is as in the following: 1) English learners learn 30 vocabularies for three minutes 10 times (one is for a new learning and the other nine ones are for reviews about the first learning) a day. 2) Considering Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve, the reflection study proposes to provide the learners with three times' reviews: one day, 10days, and 30days later from which they learn the first 30 vocabularies. This contents is mainly made up of 5 developing sections (1)to generate App ID, (2)to access App, (3)to set up Alarm, (4)to process Word learning, and (5)to monitor the result of learning. This proposed idea is optimized to enhance the memory by Ebbinghaus Periodic Repetitive Method, which makes the learners satisfied with their English vocabulary learning.