• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.341-348
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• 2022

Formulaic sequences are continuous or discontinuous series of words that are seemingly treated like single units. Formulaic sequences play a key role in language development, and formulaic sequences acquisition determines the success or failure of language development. This study proposes a reading aloud activity as a way for international students to learn formulaic sequences. A class focused on reading aloud was conducted with 41 international students taking a general English course at a university in Seoul. For 15 weeks, video lectures and real-time Zoom classes were conducted in parallel. The animated film Frozen was used as course material. In the video lectures, the teacher interpreted the movie script in easy Korean and read aloud formulaic sequences. Students were tasked with reading the sentences with formulaic sequences aloud, recording themselves reading aloud, and submitting their recordings. During real-time class meetings, students performed the activity of reading aloud the formulaic sequences they had studied in the video lectures. There was a significant increase in the interpretation and sentence writing of formulaic sequences in participants' post-evaluation compared to the pre-evaluation. Through the study's survey, students exhibited positive views in the affective domains.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.589-596
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• 2022

This study aims to investigate the effect of an educational gamification-based quiz on the recall of formulaic sequences (FS). The experiment involved 87 freshmen enrolled in general English classes at a university in Seoul. As material, EFL textbooks based on content from popular franchises, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Twilight, and Harry Potter, were used. The experiment was carried out as follows: first, vocabulary learning, second, reading comprehension, and third, writing. The fourth activity proceeded differently in two groups. The experimental group used gamification-based quiz to practice FS, whereas the comparison group summarized the reading. FS was evaluated using meaning recall and form recall. Consequently, no difference was found between the groups on meaning recall tests of FS, but the experimental group had a significantly higher average score than the comparison group on the post-test on the form recall of FS.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.38
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• pp.351-384
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• 2015

This paper is concerned with the effectiveness of songs in the acquisition of formulaic sequences in the college EFL classroom. The existing research mentions the use of songs in terms of the power of their melodies (Fonseca-Mora, 2000), linguistic features in song lyrics (Abbott, 2002), and the emotional basis of memory (LI & Brand, 2009). Learners' opinions about the use of songs has been ignored, however. In this paper, seven subjects with English ability ranging from advanced (one) intermediate-high (three), intermediate-middle (two), and intermediate-low (one) studied five different pop songs. The results showed that they did not agree with the existing research findings. Rather, they were negative about using songs in the classroom. Their complaints were the burden of using too many hours to memorize lyrics, few language expressions to learn, and too much emphasis on expressions about love and feelings. Students at all levels expressed similar negativity about the use of songs. When their complaints were discussed during interviews, however, their attitude changed from negative to positive. The case study in this paper was on a small-scale but it is suggested that through further research the use of songs could be activated in the EFL classroom. Considering college language learners disregard most existing EFL materials, it appears to be worthwhile to continue further with this kind of research.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-39
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• 2023

Recent research in usage-based Second Language Acquisition has provided new insights into second language (L2) learners' development of formulaic language (Wulff, 2019). The current study examines the use of phrase-frames, which are recurring sequences of words including one or more variable slots (e.g., it is * that), in written and oral production data from Asian learners of English across four proficiency levels (beginner, low-intermediate, high-intermediate, advanced) and native English speakers. The variability, predictability, and discourse functions of the most frequent 4-word phrase-frames from the written essay and spoken dialogue sub-corpora of the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE) were analyzed and then compared across groups and modes. The results revealed that while learners' phrase-frames in writing became more variable and unpredictable as proficiency increased, no clear developmental patterns were found in speaking, although all groups used more fixed and predictable phrase-frames than the reference group. Further, no developmental trajectories in the functions of the most frequent phrase-frames were found in both modes. Additionally, lower-level learners and the reference group used more variable phrase-frames in speaking, whereas advanced-level learners showed more variability in writing. This study contributes to a better understanding of the development of L2 phraseological competence.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.70-75
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• 2018

The purpose of this corpus-based study was to find 4-word lexical bundles in computer science research articles. As the demand for research articles (RAs) for international publication increases, the need for acquiring field-specific writing conventions for this academic genre has become a burning issue. Particularly, one area of burgeoning interest in the examination of rhetorical structures and linguistic features of RAs is the use of lexical bundles, the indispensable building blocks that make up an academic discourse. To illustrate, different academic discourses rely on distinctive repertoires of lexical bundles. Because lexical bundles are often acquired as a whole, the recurring multi-word sequences can be retrieved automatically to make written discourse more fluent and natural. Therefore, the proper use of rhetorical devices specific to a particular discipline can be a vital indicator of success within the discourse communities. Hence, to identify linguistic features that make up specific registers, this corpus-based study examines the types and usage frequency of lexical bundles in the discipline of CS, one of the most in-demand fields world over. Given that lexical bundles are empirically-derived formulaic multi-word units, identifying core lexical bundles used in RAs, they may provide insights into the specificity of particular CS text types. This will in turn provide empirical evidence of register specificity and technicality within the academic discourse of computer science. As in the results, pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.