• MALSORI
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• no.66
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• pp.41-59
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• 2008

Knowledge in linguistic rhythm of the target language plays a major role in foreign language proficiency. This study attempts to discover valid rhythm features that can be utilized in automatic assessment of non-native English pronunciation. Eight previously proposed and two novel rhythm metrics are investigated with 360 English read speech tokens obtained from 27 Korean learners and 9 native speakers. It is found that some of the speech-rate normalized interval measures and above-word level metrics are effective enough to be further applied for automatic scoring as they are significantly correlated with speakers' proficiency levels. It is also shown that metrics need to be dynamically selected depending upon the structure of target sentences. Results from a preliminary auto-scoring experiment through a Multi Regression analysis suggest that appropriate control of unexpected input utterances is also desirable for better performance.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.55-68
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• 2002

Since the introduction of literature in reading and writing during the 1970s, considerable research has attempted to determine whether literature has significantly positive effects upon enhancement of reading proficiency. It is said that literature extends our knowledge of the world. Through books, we can experience other people's thoughts, experiences, and ideas (Frye, 1964). This paper explored the role of children's literature for the teaching of reading through the literature-based instruction. It focused on why and how children's literature serves as an important context for enhancing learner's reading proficiency of English. It also discussed the authentic use of literature-based strategies for practical classroom use, and suggested the future directions for research toward the literature-based instruction in the domain of reading comprehension.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2021

Recently, corpus assisted vocabulary instruction has been attracting a lot of interest. Most studies have focused on understanding language learners' receptive vocabulary knowledge. Limited attention has been paid to learners' productive competence. To fill this gap, this study attended to learners' productive lexical development in terms of form, meaning and use respectively. This study introduced EFL learners to the corpus-based language pedagogy to learn COVID-19 theme-based vocabulary. To investigate the gains and views of 33 EFL first-year college students, a sentence completion task and a questionnaire were developed. Learners' productive performances in the three lexical knowledge aspects (i.e., form, meaning and use) were particularly targeted. The results revealed that the students achieved significant gains in all aspects regardless of their proficiency level. In particular, the less proficient students achieved greater knowledge retention compared with their highly proficient counterparts. Meanwhile, students showed positive attitudes towards the corpus-based approach to vocabulary learning.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.507-515
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• 2021

Knowledge-Worker Productivity (KWP) has been influenced by Knowledge Management Process (KMP); however, past studies derived inconsistent findings of the relationship between the two variables. Additionally, the effect of KMP on KWP in the context of universities in Sri Lanka has not been adequately studied. Therefore, this present study aims to fill that gap by examining KMP elements' effect, namely knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, and usage on KWP, specifically the timeliness, proficiency, and independence of employees. This study also examines the role of employee engagements (i.e., intellectual, social, and affective) in mediating the effect of KMP on KWP. The questionnaire survey method was utilized to collect data from relevant university employees, i.e., lecturers, senior lecturers, and professors, whereby 264 valid responses were used in the analysis. The associations between KMP, Employee Engagement, and KWP were analyzed using the path analysis and bootstrapping methods. The outcomes demonstrated positive correlations between all three variables. Employee Engagement was shown to have a partial mediating effect on the KMP-KWP association. The general conclusion is that KWP is influenced by its capacity to increase employee engagement via KMP.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.3
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• pp.203-229
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• 1997

This paper is to examine a desirable and promising approach to an effective English teaching in elementary schools. Teachers' understanding English curriculum, teaching methodology, language skills-listening and speaking, and their testing of spoken communication is necessary for students' better learning in their English classes. Thus detailed explanations of English curriculum are presented, and background knowledge of major traditional teaching methods as well as recent trends is discussed. Especially, for the purpose of developing students' English communicative proficiency. classroom teaching and testing techniques of listening and speaking are also discussed with examples.

• Journal of the International Relations & Interdisciplinary Education
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.57-83
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• 2024

This study aimed to investigate the impact of scores on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) among foreign exchange students on academic adaptation. Recruited students, approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB), totaled seven, and their interview contents were analyzed using a comprehensive analysis procedure based on pragmatic eclecticism (Lee, Kim, 2014), utilizing six stages. As a result, factors influencing academic adaptation of Korean language learners for academic purposes were categorized into three dimensions: academic, daily life, and psychological-emotional aspects. On the academic front, interviewees pointed out difficulties in adapting to specialized terminology and studying in their majors, as well as experiencing significant challenges with Chinese characters and Sino-Korean words. Next, from a daily life perspective, even participants holding advanced TOPIK scores faced difficulties in adapting to university life, emphasizing the necessity of practical expressions and extensive vocabulary for proper adjustment to Korean life. Lastly, within the psychological-emotional dimension, despite being advanced TOPIK holders, they were found to experience considerable stress in conversations or presentations with Koreans. Their lack of knowledge in social-cultural and everyday life culture also led to linguistic errors and contributed to psychological-emotional difficulties, despite proficiency in Korean. Based on these narratives, the conclusion was reached that in order to promote the academic adaptation of Korean language learners, it is essential to provide opportunities for Korean language learning. With this goal in mind, efforts should be directed towards enhancing learners' academic proficiency in their majors, improving Korean language fluency, and fostering interpersonal relationships within the academic community. Furthermore, the researchers suggested as a solution to implement various extracurricular activities tailored for foreign learners.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.237-264
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• 2009

The present study explores patterns of teachers' corrective feedback and learners' uptake in Korean EFL undergraduate classroom setting. It also examines consistencies and discrepancies in the perception of corrective feedback by teachers and learners. Teachers' and learners' preferences and perception of corrective feedback are further analyzed to determine whether or not those differ from actual practices in English language learning classrooms. The results of the study are as follows. First of all, teachers' corrective feedback type varied according to the learners' error type and English proficiency level. There was a lack of consistency between the teachers' feedback practices and the learners' error types. Second, for the phonological errors, learners' data witnessed the most frequent uptake on recast. For the other error types, however, the learners' uptake rates were high for the explicit corrective feedback. Third, the teachers' explicit knowledge of corrective feedback was rather low and the preferences differed from teacher to teacher. The teachers' feedback perception and preferences did not consistently reflect their actual practices. Finally, patterns of the learners' expectations of corrective feedback varied according to learners' proficiency level. Teachers' and learners' expectations of corrective feedback were also compared and some mismatches were detected.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.37
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• pp.335-360
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• 2014

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether high-level(level 6) essay-writing questions in Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) have been presented appropriately so as to enable foreign test-takers to display their Korean writing ability properly, and to provide some suggestions on how those questions need to be changed. To accomplish this purpose, all the essay-writing questions were collected from the 33 TOPIK tests, from the 2nd in 1998 to the 35thin 2014, and analyzed from the perspectives of their topics and formats. The results are that high-level TOPIK essay-writing questions showed a strong tendency to take as their topics Korean sociocultural structures and phenomena, or current issues in Korea, and that they frequently employed guided writing formats by providing preset ideas or/and contexts for test-takers to write in a guided way; such tendencies were analyzed to shed a negative influence on test-takers displaying their writing ability and creativity, because those topics and preset ideas or contexts provided do not allow them to express their own opinions or positions freely. It is suggested that TOPIK essay-writing questions should be changed to deal with objective and general topics which enable test-takers to write freely and logically in Korean based on their experience, because TOPIK is not a test to check whether they have enough background knowledge about the Korean society and culture, but a test to assess their Korean proficiency.

• The Journal of Korean Institute for Practical Engineering Education
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.42-48
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• 2010

For a basic engineering education Problem-Based Learning (PBL) method was adopted in order to pursuit the learner acquisition of critical knowledge, problem solving proficiency, and self-directed learning strategies by measurements of various physical and biological units, by calculation of errors in experimental data, by leraning energy conservation law and equation of motion, and, by analysis ability on data patterns through Elliptical Trainer(ET) exercise. The results show the ET may be a good experimental tool for understanding the PBL method. A sample syllabus was provided for one semester use, and by use of data obtained by self-directed and creative learning, the results of three groups for the PBL problems proposed by using ET were (1) the slope of angle was 23.5o in the diagram of energy exhaustion against velocity (GROUP A), (2) the angle range between the maximal and minimal energy exhaustion against weight loss was 15.0o ~ 26.5o (GROUP B), and finally (3) the angle was varied by 51.0o in the diagram of weight loss against distance (GROUP C).

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.125-147
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• 2012

The primary goal of the study was to provide some preliminary validity evidence for the Vocabulary Grade Levels Test (Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education, 2009), which is designed to measure the receptive vocabulary knowledge of learners in L2. For the purpose of the current study, 327 participants at the elementary school participated in the study and were asked to take two different vocabulary tests. Namely, a Vocabulary Size Test (Nation, 2001) and a Vocabulary Grade Levels Test. The data were analyzed using correlation in order to discover the relationship between these two types of tests. Following this, the Rasch analysis was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement in question. The data analysis showed that both grade separation reliability and item separation reliability were high, indicating that the Vocabulary Grade Levels Test well discriminates learners with a wide range of proficiency levels. The findings of the study are discussed, along with further improvements in order to ascertain the validity of this particular vocabulary test.