• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.17-33
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• 2003

College going students who are non-native speakers of English enrolled in English language programmes are not acquiring the needed academic writing skills. Many of these students do not have positive attitudes towards writing, thus forcing language instructors to look for ways of motivating students to write in order to improve writing skills. This action research project investigates the use of portfolio writing to improve writing ability among pre-university students. Research on the use of portfolio writing suggests that it is a useful way for developing interest in writing and for developing effective writing skills over a period of time. Portfolios support the best thinking in composition pedagogy in that it encourages process writing. Although the portfolio is considered a writing product, as a whole it is evidence of the students writing process. An important feature in using portfolios is that students are able to focus on their writing without constantly worrying about grades. Instructors have noticed that students make greater improvement in their writing when their focus is shifted from punitive feedback through letter grades to constructive feedback in the form of suggestions for further revision. This paper describes the use of writing portfolios as an effective means of teaching writing. The findings revealed that writing portfolios helped develop confidence in writing and decreased anxiety towards writing. (217 words)

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.10 no.8
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• pp.317-326
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• 2012

The study aims at analyzing and comparing the effect of video teleconferencing English class with native speakers on class satisfaction and self-efficacy of elementary school students according to grades. Revised Kim's self efficacy and researcher's class satisfaction measuring tools were used for this. Grade 3 got the highest score and grade 6 had the lowest one in class satisfaction. In post-testing on self efficacy, average score was lower than in pre-testing except grade 3. Grade 3 got the highest score and grade 6 had the lowest one in self efficacy. I conclude that as students' grade goes up, their interests decrease in teleconferencing class and native speaker teachers.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.319-338
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• 2003

The aim of this paper is to examine the sentence final tonal patterns of English wh-questions through phonetic experiments, based on Intonational Phonology, and to explain the meaning of the final phrase tones of English wh-questions. Pierrehumbert and Hirschberg (1990) suggested that it is pitch accents rather than boundary tones which play a crucial role in the meaning of a sentence, and that most of the general questions have H-H% tonal patterns in the sentence final. However, they could not explain why wh-questions had final falling tonal patterns (L-L%). While Bartels (1999) suggested that L phrase tone has the meaning of 'ASSERTION' and it could be applied to the explanation of the meaning of wh-questions' final tonal patterns. However, her suggestions are only theoretical explanation without any experimental support. In this paper, based on Bartels (1999), the data was classified into the following three classes: 1) echo wh-questions, 2) reference questions, and 3) common wh-questions. Using this data, a production test by three English native speakers was conducted. The results show that reference questions and common wh-questions have L phrase tones in the sentence final at a high rate, and echo wh-questions have H phrase tones in the sentence final at a high rate.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.33-51
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• 2008

Difference of learner speech and loanword phonology is investigated in terms of Korean learners' speech and their loanword adaptation of English words with a post-vocalic word-final stop. When we compared the speech of 12 Korean learners in mid-intermediate level with that of eight English speakers, the learner speech did not reflect loanword phonology of the vowel insertion after a voiced word-final stop (e.g., rib$[\dotplus]$, bad$[\dotplus]$, gag$[\dotplus]$ vs. tip[=], cat[=], book[=]), but, instead, the target phonology of vowel lengthening before a voiced word-final stop (e.g., rib[r.I:b], CAD$[k{\ae}:d]$, bag$[b{\ae}:g]$ vs. rip[rI.p], cat$[k{\ae}t]$, back$[b{\ae}k])$. A longitudinal study of learner speech before and after instruction showed some development toward the acquisition of target phonology. The results indicate that learner speech departs from loanword phonology, and approaches to target speech in a faster rate than direct ratio. Thus, native phonology predicts loanword phonology, but lends little support to learner speech. Our results also indicate that loanword phonology is constant, while learner speech changes toward the acquisition of target phonology.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.113-130
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• 2002

Measurements were made of pressure rise time (PoRT), voice cessation time, flattened peak intraoral air pressure (Po), pressure static time (PoST), pressure-fall time and the duration of oral closure as four English speakers uttered isolated nonsense $V_{1}CV_{2}$ words containing /b/ and /p/ ($V_{1}=V_{2}$ and the V was /$\alpha$/), with stress on either $V_{1}orV_{2}$ alternately. The hypothesis tested was: The tense stop consonant. will be characterized either by a higher Po or a longer PoST, and/or by both against lax. Findings: (1) PoRT was significantly greater in /b/ than /p/, (2) the voiceless stop /p/ produced generally greater mean Po, averaged across five tokens, than its voiced counterpart /b/, but statistically insignificant, and (3) altogether, across stress, tokens and subjects, the difference in the calculated pressure static time (PoSTc), i.e., PoST + PoRT, between /p/ and /b/ was highly significant (p $\leq$ 0.003). Although further investigations remain to be taken, the results strongly supported the linguistic hypothesis of tense-lax distinction, with /b/ being lax and /p/ tense. Airflow resistance at the glottis and supraglottal air volume are assumed to be responsible for much of difference in PoRT between /p/ and /b/. The PoSTc reflecting, although indirectly, the respiratory efforts during the oral closure of a stop, was a convincing phonetic parameter of the consonantal tenseness based on respiratory efforts. The effects of stress on Po and PoSTc were inconsistent, and the shorter PoRT than consonantal constriction interval was always accompanied by Po and PoST.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2019

Formant trajectories reflect the continuous variation of speakers' articulatory movements over time. This study examined formant trajectories of English vowels produced by ninety-three American men and women; the values were normalized using the scale function in R and compared using generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs). Praat was used to read the sound data of Hillenbrand et al. (1995). A formant analysis script was prepared, and six formant values at the corresponding time points within each vowel segment were collected. The results indicate that women yielded proportionately higher formant values than men. The standard deviations of each group showed similar patterns at the first formant (F1) and the second formant (F2) axes and at the measurement points. R was used to scale the first two formant data sets of men and women separately. GAMMs of all the scaled formant data produced various patterns of deviation along the measurement points. Generally, more group difference exists in F1 than in F2. Also, women's trajectories appear more dynamic along the vertical and horizontal axes than those of men. The trajectories are related acoustically to F1 and F2 and anatomically to jaw opening and tongue position. We conclude that scaling and nonlinear testing are useful tools for pinpointing differences between speaker group's formant trajectories. This research could be useful as a foundation for future studies comparing curvilinear data sets.

• Lingua Humanitatis
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• v.8
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• pp.409-427
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• 2006

This paper deals with the various conceptual metaphors of 'mind' in Korean and English within the Cognitive Semantics. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the metaphorical expressions of the concept 'mind' represented andunderstood in various ways in Korean and English, to find out the linguistically-universal conceptual metaphors underlying the uses of the metaphoric expressions. In addition, this paper discusses the differences in linguistic realization of the concept 'mind' between Korean and English from the socio-cultural background. In the traditional view, metaphor was thought only as the linguistic matters and a deviance from literal or normal use. However, within the Cognitive Linguistic view such as Lakoff and Johnson(1980), metaphor has been considered as a means of understanding and conceptualizing world. According to them, metaphor is found in everyday life because it is not only as a matter of language but also as a nature of human conceptual system controlling cognition, thought and behavior. Conceptual metaphor is suggested as a device to understood abstract and less familiar things through concrete and more familiar things. Conceptual metaphors may be realized linguistically as well as non-linguistically, in the form of movies, arts or behavior. To define the concept 'mind' shared among the Koreans, conceptual metaphors used to represent 'maum(mind)'in Korean are examined. Then they are compared with the ones used to represent 'mind' in English. This is based on the idea that conceptual metaphors represented in linguistic expressions naturally reflect the speakers' concept and conceptualization is a universal irrespective of language. This paper exemplifies the Korean sentences as well as English sentences to utilize some conceptual metaphor such as Johnson(1987)'s THE MIND IS THE BODY and shows many other conceptual metaphors used in Korean and English to represent the same concept 'mind'. What are some metaphors shared by two languages and what is specific to one of them will be shown, too. This paper also suggests that the different conceptualization or lexicalization is partly due to the effect of the oriental cultural background that is more interested in the mental world than the physical world.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.43-51
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• 2013

English native listeners have a tendency to treat strong syllables in a speech stream as the potential initial syllables of new words, since the majority of lexical words in English have a word-initial stress. The current study investigates whether Korean (L1) - English (L2) late bilinguals perceive strong syllables in English continuous speech as word onsets, as English native listeners do. In Experiment 1, word-spotting was slower when the word-initial syllable was strong, indicating that Korean listeners do not perceive strong syllables as word onsets. Experiment 2 was conducted in order to avoid any possibilities that the results of Experiment 1 may be due to the strong-initial targets themselves used in Experiment 1 being slower to recognize than the weak-initial targets. We employed the gating paradigm in Experiment 2, and measured the Isolation Point (IP, the point at which participants correctly identify a word without subsequently changing their minds) and the Recognition Point (RP, the point at which participants correctly identify the target with 85% or greater confidence) for the targets excised from the non-words in the two conditions of Experiment 1. Both the mean IPs and the mean RPs were significantly earlier for the strong-initial targets, which means that the results of Experiment 1 reflect the difficulty of segmentation when the initial syllable of words was strong. These results are consistent with Kim & Nam (2011), indicating that strong syllables are not perceived as word onsets for Korean listeners and interfere with lexical segmentation in English running speech.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.225-243
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• 2009

This study investigates the use of different speech act of apology strategies between male and female EFL college students by comparing the components of intensity, stylistic competence, and semantic formulas. The data was collected from 37 participants who were studying freshmen English reading course at the Department of English Education of C University in Seoul. Most students were English majors taking pre-teacher course of teaching English for secondary school students. The participants were divided into two gender groups of male and female. The discourse completion test (DCT) which was revised from the speech act of apology by Olshtain and Cohen (1990) was provided with the participants after the researcher explained the speech act of apology in ten situations. The speech act of apology depends on situation variables: social solidarity, severity of offense, and social status. The results show that in the preference of intensity, male and female have almost the similar ratio in high (female: 24.7%, male 24%) and low intensity (female: 75.3%, male: 76%). In the use of stylistic competence, male group (21%) expresses more diversely formal features than female group (12%), while female (87%) use more informal features than male (66%). Most of participants show a limitation in the use of speaking four types of semantic formulas: expression of apology (APOL), acknowledgment of responsibility (RESP), offer of repair (REPR), and promise of forbearance (FORB). As nonnative speakers, the participants cannot conduct the semantic formula in some situations regardless of the tasks provided. The results suggest that English teachers should recognize pragmatic variations in which students feel difficulty in appropriate speaking strategies on apology. This study also contributes to teaching learners the strategies and speaking patterns in the course of various apology situations.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.5
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• pp.49-62
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• 1999

Education systems throughout the world encourage their students to learn languages other than their native one. In Australia, our Education Boards provide students with the opportunity to learn European and Asian languages. French, German, Chinese and Japanese are the most popular languages studied in elementary and high schools. This choice is a reflection of Australias European heritage and its geographical position near Asia. In most non-English speaking countries, English is the foreign language most readily available to students. In Korea, the English language is actively promoted by the Education Department and, in less official ways, by companies and the public. It is impossible to be anywhere in Korea without seeing the English language alongside or intermingled with Korean. When I ask students why they are learning English, I receive answers that include the word globalization and the importance of English throughout the world. When I press further and ask why they personally are learning English, the students mention passing exams, usually high school tests or TOEIC, and the necessity of passing the latter to obtain a good job. Seldom do I ever hear anything about communication: about the desire to talk with other people in English, to read novels or poetry in English, to understand movies or pop-songs in English, to chat on the Internet in English, to search for information on the Internet in English, or to email pen-pals in English. Yet isnt communication the only valid reason for learning a language? We learn our native language to communicate with those around us. Shouldnt we set the same goal for learning a foreign language? In my opinion communication, whether it is reading and writing or speaking and listening, must be central to language learning. Learning a language to pass examinations is meaningless unless those examinations are a reliable indicator of the ability of the student to communicate. In previous eras, most communication in a foreign language was through reading novels or formal letters. This required a thorough knowledge of grammar and a large vocabulary. Todays communication is much less formal. Telephone conversations, tele-conferences, faxes and emails allow people to communicate regularly and informally. Reading materials are also less formal as popular novels and newspapers are available world-wide. Movies and popular songs have added to the range of informal communication available. Finally travel has ensured that people from different cultures will meet easily and regularly. This informal communication requires less emphasis on grammar and vocabulary and more emphasis on comprehension and confidence to speak. Placing communication central to language learning has important implications for the Education system and for teachers.