• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.49-78
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• 2017

This study aims to analyze the effect of attitudes of Korean residents in Japan towards learning the Korean language and their motivational intensity on their Korean proficiency. Data for this study came from a survey on language use of Korean residents in Japan which was conducted in 2016, and questionnaire items referred to language attitude, language use and the degree of understanding language; language use; language learning and Korean ethnic identity. The main results are as follows. First, there were significant differences in Korean language proficiency depending on age, education levels and generation. Second, the control for socio-demographic characteristics, the influence of attitudes towards Korean language on Korean proficiency was statistically significant. However, Korean proficiency was not significantly influenced by motivational intensity. Lastly, moderated effects of immigrant generation in the relation between Korean language attitudes and Korean proficiency were significant. Therefore, the effect of Korean language attitudes on Korean proficiency was more influential on second and third generation Korean-Japanese learners than first generation Korean-Japanese learners. Based on these results, this study suggests that in order to promote Korean language education for Korean residents in Japan, it is required to build positive attitudes toward Korean language, and to consider immigrant generation as a major factor.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.41-55
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• 2023

In data-driven learning (DDL), learners explore a corpus to understand vocabulary and grammar. Although many studies have emphasized the role of DDL in second language (L2) acquisition, L2 light verbs have been largely under-explored. To bridge this gap, this study focused on the learning outcomes of L2 light verbs among 29 intermediate-level Japanese university students. The research zeroed in on six prevalent light verbs in English: "make," "do," "take," "have," "give," and "get." Over nine weeks, the participants engaged with verb-noun collocations using worksheets that juxtaposed Japanese translations of the target collocations with their English equivalents, with the verbs omitted. With the aid of Wordbanks Online, they filled in the blanks and constructed accurate sentences. Before this activity, a 20-minute tutorial was given to the participants on how to interpret the concordance lines. The effectiveness of the DDL method was evaluated using pre-tests, immediate post-tests, and delayed post-tests. The results showed that DDL significantly improved the participants' knowledge of the target collocations of light verbs and nouns; the post-test and delayed post-test scores were significantly higher than the pre-test scores. The results showed that, overall, DDL contributed to memorizing the collocations of light verbs and nouns; however, DDL had different effects on the memorization of collocations across different light verbs. The extent of work on the worksheet is not the only factor in its retention, and observing concordance lines may promote learners' memorization of light-verb collocations.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.179-187
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• 2019

As the globalization process progresses more rapidly and widely, there has been a ever-growing demand for multilingual learning. Compared with the study of Second Language Acquisition, studies on the Third Language and even Multilingual Acquisition have attracted a relatively poor attention. At the same time, considering current educational environments for ethnic colleges and universities, the effects of college English teaching for minority students can be said to have been 'generally poor.' In this situation, when we try to find ways to improve college English studies for minority students most of whom already can speak two languages or even more, it would not be the best idea to keep following the experiences of traditional Second Language Acquisition. It is necessary first to find out whether there are positive or negative effects in acquiring multiple languages, and then to conduct a profound research on L3 (third language and even multilingual) Acquisition in order to employ more efficient teaching methods for multilingual learners. After conducting a Japanese-teaching experiment on two groups of learners with mono-lingual and bilingual backgrounds, it has been found that there is a positive transfer between different languages. In this paper, following the recent research findings on Language teaching for multilingual learners, I try to show with further supports that when it comes to language education for learners with multilingual backgrounds, we should focus on the advantages they may earn in order to conduct more effective language acquisition.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.149-154
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• 1996

Since the 1980s, a number of professionals in the ESL/EFL field have investigated the role of pronunciation in the ESL/EFL curriculum. Applying the insights gained from the second language acquisition research, these efforts have focused on the integration of pronunciation teaching and learning into the communicative curriculum, with a shift towards overall intelligibility as the primary goal of pronunciation teaching and learning. The present study reports on the efficacy of audio-visual aids and hyper-pronunciation training method in teaching the productions of English consonants to Japanese college students. The talk will focus on the implications of the present study, and the presenter makes suggestions to teaching pronunciation to Japanese learners.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.57-74
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• 2023

Having a firm grasp of technical terms is essential for learners of Japanese for Specific Purposes (JSP). This research aims to analyze Japanese nursing care vocabulary based on objective corpus-based frequency and subjectively rated word familiarity. For this purpose, we constructed a text corpus centered on the National Examination for Certified Care Workers to extract nursing care keywords. The Log-Likelihood Ratio (LLR) was used as the statistical criterion for keyword identification, giving a list of 300 keywords as target words for a further word recognition survey. The survey involved 115 participants of whom 51 were certified care workers (CW group) and 64 were individuals from the general public (GP group). These participants rated the familiarity of the target keywords through crowdsourcing. Given the limited sample size, Bayesian linear mixed models were utilized to determine word familiarity rates. Our study conducted a comparative analysis of word familiarity between the CW group and the GP group, revealing key terms that are crucial for professionals but potentially unfamiliar to the general public. By focusing on these terms, instructors can bridge the knowledge gap more efficiently.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.45-52
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• 2018

This study investigates the effect of Japanese (L1) on the production of the Korean rhythmic structure. Korean and Japanese have typologically different rhythmic structure as a syllable-timed language and mora-timed language, respectively. This rhythmic difference comes from the different phonological properties of the two languages. Due to this difference, Japanese speakers that are learning Korean may produce a different rhythm than native Korean speakers' rhythm. To investigate the influence of the native language's rhythm on the target language, we conducted an acoustic analysis using acoustic metrics such as %V, VarcoV, and VarcoS. Four Korean native speakers and ten advanced Japanese Korean learners participated in a production test. The analyzed material consisted of six Korean sentences that contained various syllable structures. The results showed that KS and JS's rhythms are different in %V as well as in VarcoV. In the case of VarcoS, significant rhythmic difference was observed in the VC and CVC syllable, in which the coda segment is nasal sound. This study allowed us to observe the influence of L1 on production of L2 rhythm.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.1-36
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• 2017

This study investigated the correlation between learners' psychological and social factors and their syntactic complexity of speaking. The study collected samples of Korean spoken production of 61 learners with English, Chinese, Japanese and other L1 backgrounds and applied mini-TOPIK, mini-AMTB, and SASIQ for 70 minutes. The study found that: (i) integrative motivation showed positive correlation with a number of simple complex clauses, but instrumental motivation correlated negatively with a number of adverbial clauses, indicating that high motivation hindered producing highly complex clauses although it triggered producing simple complex clauses, (ii) social contact with L2 native speakers showed positive correlation with general L2 development and a number of simple complex clauses, but revealed negative correlation with double or triple complex clauses, (iii) hours of L2 listening showed very strong positive correlation with producing triple complex clauses and general proficiency, but indicated negative correlation with a number of simple complex clauses. The study reported that high motivation toward Korean learning and active social activities with Korean native speakers helped produce simple complex clauses while hours of listening to Korean helped produce triple complex clauses.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.123-159
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• 2012

This study investigates relationships between TOPIK ratings and measures of grammaticality judgement competence in the acquisition of Korean as a second language. Data were collected on the linguistic abilities of learners' at 3 to 6 on the TOPIK scale, focusing on perception in grammar-mostly morphology and syntax, some lexis, and a few of collocation. The results show that (i) proficiency and grammaticality judgement competence show high correlation, (ii) individual accuracy scores correlate strongly with levels on the TOPIK proficiency scale on most linguistic features in the test, and (iii) Japanese speakers outperform Chinese speakers at the same levels of proficiency on most linguistic features. The findings indicate that global proficiency scales like the TOPIK can be deconstructed using grammaticality judgement test that provides detailed measures of learners' control of linguistic features.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2000.07a
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• pp.7-16
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• 2000

It is a great honour for me to speak to you today on the Korean's problems in learning English pronunciation. First of all I would like to thank Prof. H. B. Lee, President of the Phonetic Society of Korea for calling upon me to make a keynote speech at this International Conference on Phonetic Sciences. The year before last when the 1 st Joint Summit on English Phonetics was held at Aichi Gakuin University in Japan, the warm hospitality given to me and my colleagues by the English Phonetic Society of Japan was so great that I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the members of the English Phonetic Society of Japan and especially to Prof. Masaki Tsuzuki, President of the Society. Korean learners of English have a lot of problems in learning English pronunciation. Some vowel problems seem to be shared by Japanese learners but other problems, especially in consonants, are peculiar to Koreans owing to the nature of phonological rules peculiar to the Korean language. Of course, there are other important problems like speech rhythm and intonation besides vowels and consonants. But they will not be included here because of limited time.

• MALSORI
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• no.60
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• pp.47-66
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• 2006

This study examined the effect of English-language experience on Korean- and Japanese-English late learners' production of English unstressed vowels in terms of four acoustic phonetic features: F0, duration, intensity and vowel reduction. The learners manifested some improvement with experience. The native-like attainment of a phonetic feature, however, was related to the phonological status of that feature in the speakers' native language. The results suggest that the extent to which the non-native speakers' production of English unstressed vowels improved with English-language experience varied as a function of their native language background.