• Human Ecology Research
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.543-556
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• 2021

This study aimed to investigate the factors that influence multicultural adolescents' proficiency in their mother's native language, or their immigrant mother's native language. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed on data from the survey answered by 1,028 multicultural adolescents aged 15 years old and whose mothers were from foreign countries for the 6th Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study(MAPS) conducted by the National Youth Policy Institute (NYPI) in 2016. The main results are as follows. First, multicultural adolescents' minority language proficiency was generally low and significant differences were observed according to their gender, parents' educational level, household income, and mother's native country. More specifically, a higher proficiency in minority language was found for girls than boys, adolescents with a higher parental educational level, adolescents with a higher income, and adolescents whose mothers were from Japan or China, compared with those from the Philippines, Thailand, or Vietnam. Second, a significant positive correlation was observed between multicultural adolescents' minority language proficiency and 1) foreign culture acceptance, 2) parent's educational support, and 3) the use of the minority language at home. Third, foreign culture acceptance, parents' educational support, and the use of the minority language at home were predictors of multicultural adolescents' minority language proficiency. The study is meaningful in that it examined multicultural adolescents' minority language proficiency, elucidating their bilingual development, whereas previous studies have only focused on their proficiency in Korean, which is the majority language.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.423-432
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• 2009

This paper focuses on gender studies with respect to language education for KFL(Korean as a foreign language) students. It also attempts to view the role of gender as exerting influence on language learning and teaching, and surveys KFL teachers' awareness of the role of gender in Korean language education. It is conceivable that teachers who are aware of differences between female and male will be able to take these into account in their teaching; in doing so they will be more effective in their teaching than if they were to teach in ignorance of these differences. The survey for the teachers' awareness of gender difference was conducted through teachers' discussion as the follow-up measure of the questionnaire. A few teachers do not have a clear idea about the importance of gender differences in language teaching, but the majority have cognizance of the matter. For this research, a questionnaire was administered to 71 subjects, consisting 37 intermediate KFL students and 34 advanced KFL students. The result of the questionnaire reveals that 50.4% subjects use their words and intonation without recognizing the gender difference, on the other hand, 49.6% subjects recognize the gender differences in Korean language use. The result should be adopted as a sociolinguistic factor for the contents of second language education.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.25-51
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• 2017

This study aimed to identify the differences in pitch perception between tonal and non-tonal language listeners. A total of 60 Korean and Chinese listeners participated in the perception test. A two-syllable nonsense word /paba/ was manipulated in five steps. The pitch height or contour on the second syllable was raised or lowered. Both groups were asked to select which of the two syllables had the higher pitch. The findings showed that the majority of Korean listeners (GK) perceived decreased pitch as each peak of the syllable was lowered and perceived increased pitch as it was raised, which means the pitch height is a primary perceptual cue for GK. However, Chinese listeners (GC) perceived sensitive pitch movements as the pitch contour changed. GC's perception may presumably be affected by the L1's tone sandhi. We found it reasonable to assume that language experience has a significant effect on the cross-linguistic perceptual differences between tone and non-tonal language listeners.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.105-126
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• 2017

Intelligibility has been widely regarded as an appropriate goal for second language pronunciation teaching. Yet there are few empirical studies that focus on the intelligibility of Korean learners' pronunciation. Therefore, this mixed-methods study examined the relationship among native-like pronunciation, intelligible pronunciation, phonological fluency and comprehensibility. Furthermore, this study investigated how native-like pronunciation and intelligible pronunciation are measured differently in terms of actual pronunciation skills. In addition, this study examined how these two pronunciation styles mutually influence each other. The results of this study show that achieving native-like pronunciation is a much more difficult goal than achieving intelligible pronunciation. It further shows that foreign accented pronunciation has little to do with comprehensibility while better intelligibility is needed for clearer comprehensibility. To achieve better intelligibility, this study recommends pronunciation teaching based on segments, suprasegmentals and fluency as the focus on suprasegmentals and fluency teaching are more important to achieve a native-like pronunciation. Besides the focus on phonology, there are other social factors which could influence the evaluation of native-like pronunciation, but are not part of this study. These findings are expected to contribute not only to a better understanding of pronunciation, but also to a more comprehensive reevaluation and informed direction of pronunciation teaching and research.

• Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.95-105
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• 2015

We developed a test of English silent word reading, following work by Mather, Hammill, Allen and Roberts (2004) and Bell, McCallum, Krik, Fuller, and McCane-Bowling (2007), in order to tap Hong Kong Chinese children's reading of English as a foreign language. We created one subtest of individual word reading and another of word reading contextualized within sentences; together, these tests require no more than 10 minutes for administration. In Study 1, we administered the entire test to 552 second grade Hong Kong Chinese children between the ages of 70 and 121 months old, from five different primary schools. The association between the subtests of English silent word reading and contextual reading was positively correlated (.78). In Study 2, 77 Hong Kong Chinese second graders were tested on our newly developed English silent word reading test, together with non-verbal IQ, an English word reading and a Chinese character recognition test (both read aloud). With age and non-verbal IQ statistically controlled, there was a significant correlation between English silent word reading and the more standard English word reading, read aloud, (.78); the association between English silent word reading and Chinese character recognition was also positively correlated (.49). This newly created test is a quick and reliable measure, suitable for both educators and researchers to use to identify poor readers who learn English as a foreign or second language.

• 중국학논총
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• no.66
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• pp.85-103
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• 2020

We use prototypes (also known as referent in semiotics) when we understand the outside world. Different language users use different prototypes to decode the same sound. When we learn Chinese language as a foreign language, during it's sound perceptual process, Korean learners' target language prototypes are different from Chinese native speakers'. The purpose of the paper is to examine the theory of speech perception and the theory of constructivism teaching, and to suggest to the Chinese language teachers to have Cunstructivist approach while they design there teaching course. For this, we concerned three things: First is to review speech perception theory and constructivism teaching theory. Second based on the preceding study, we review that learner's prototypes are different from Chinese native speaker and this cause the error of listening and pronunciation. Finally, we introduced two simple speech visualization programs developed to help us learn pronunciation.

• Korea Science and Art Forum
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.87-97
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• 2019

The study began in recent years with the aim of grasping the nation's medical status following the fast-growing trend of international medical tourism and attracting foreign patients, among other things, Busan, which ranks second in attracting foreign patients after the nation's capital, Seoul, has been highly active in the past eight years, with foreign patients rising by about 426 percent, and Russian patients entering the sea. In addition, Gimhae and Changwon, the Busan-based Gyeongsangnam-do region, ranked first and second in number of foreign residents, and are inhabited by a variety of foreign workers. Medical institutions, such as hospitals, should be able to find directions within hospitals. It is also a space where information in various languages, including Korean, English, Chinese, or Russian, must be delivered in a single medium. Based on this research, the purpose of this research is to provide converged information that helps foreigners who are not familiar with Korean language easily understand the proposed recognition system when visiting hospitals. Therefore, this paper is applied to a multi-language survey of six medical institutions (A, B, C, D, E, F) at the university hospital in Busan, and 10 medical institutions (R, J) in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province with high foreign residents. Research results and contents are as follows. First, the results of analyzing the design of the sinusoidal system show that the font uses colorless Gothic fonts, arrows, and pictograms to introduce the design of a typical hospital sign system. Second, the results of the multi-lingual situation were found to have only two languages in the system, such as Korean and English, and to have four languages, including Korean, English, Chinese, and Russian, according to their geographical location. However, it was judged that most medical institutions currently have only two languages (Korean, English) that may cause some discomfort in terms of language for foreign patients in non-English speaking countries. Based on these findings, it is necessary to propose designs that are considered by Koreans as well as foreign users in the use of multilingual hospital sign systems.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.143-148
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• 2002

This study examined the foreign accent of Korean speakers of English concerning vowel length and utterance position. It then attempts to explain the foreign accent of Koreans when they speak English. The method was to measure the sentence-initial and sentence-final vowels as spoken by Koreans. I chose these two positions, sentence-initial and sentence-final, in order to know if Korean speakers of English, compared with native English speakers, show a difference in sentence stress. I chose English diphthongs, because most Koreans have difficulty pronouncing these sounds. I found that Korean speakers of English as a second language do not know English sentence stress patterns and show a foreign accent, especially when using diphthongs.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.3-18
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• 2009

Do loanword properties emerge in the acquisition of a foreign language and if so, how? Classic studies in adult language learning assumed loanword properties that range from near-ceiling to near-chance level of appearance depending on speech proficiency. The present research argues that such variations reflect different phonological types, rather than speech proficiency. To investigate the difference between learner speech and loanword phonology, the current research analyzes the speech data from five different proficiency levels of 92 Korean speakers who read 19 pairs of English words and sentences that contained loanwords. The experimental method is primarily an acoustical one, by which the phonological cause in the loanwords (e.g., the insertion of [$\Box$] at the end of the word stamp) would be attested to appear in learner speech, in comparison with native speech from 11 English speakers and 11 Korean speakers. The data investigated for the research are of segment deletion, insertion, substitution, and alternation in both learner speech and the native speech. The results indicate that learner speech does not present the loanword properties in many cases, but depends on the types of phonological causes. The relatively easy acquisition of target pronunciation is evidenced in the cases of segment deletion, insertion, substitution, and alternation, except when the loanword property involves the successful command of the target phonology such as the de-aspiration of [p] in apple. Such a case of difficult learning draws a sharp distinction from the cases of easy learning in the development of learner speech, particularly beyond the intermediate level of proficiency. Overall, learner speech departs from loanword phonology and develops toward the native speech value, depending on phonological contrasts in the native and foreign languages.

• MALSORI
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• no.4
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• pp.20-30
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• 1982

The aim of this paper is to analyse difficulties of the pronunciation in swedish vowels encountered by Koreans learners and to seek solutions in order to correct the possible errors. In the course of the analysis the swedish and Korean vowels in question are compared with the purpose of describing differences aha similarities between these two systems. This contrastive description is largely based on the students' articulatory speech level ana the writer's auditory , judgement . The following points are discussed : 1 ) Vowel length as a distinctive feature in Swedish compared with that of Korean. 2) A special attention is paid on the Swedish vowel [w:] that is characterized by its peculiar type of lip rounding. 3) The six pairs of Swedish vowels that are phonologically contrastive but difficult for Koreans to distinguish one from the other: [y:] ~ [w:], [i:] ~ [y:], [e:] ~ [${\phi}$:], [w;] ~ [u:] [w:] ~ [$\theta$], [$\theta$] ~ [u] 4) The r-colored vowel in the case of the postvocalic /r/ that is very common in American English is not allowed in English sound sequences. The r-colored vowel in the American English pattern has to be broken up and replaced hi-segmental vowel-consonant sequences . Korean accustomed to the American pronunciation are warned in this respect. For a more distinct articulation of the postvocalic /r/ trill [r] is preferred to fricative [z]. 5) The front vowels [e, $\varepsilon, {\;}{\phi}$) become opener variants (${\ae}, {\;}:{\ae}$] before / r / or supradentals. The results of the analysis show that difficulties of the pronunciation of the target language (Swedish) are mostly due to the interference from the Learner's source language (Korean). However, the Learner sometimes tends to get interference also from the other foreign language with which he or she is already familiar when he or she finds in that language more similarity to the target language than in his or her own mother tongue. Hence this foreign language (American English) in this case functions as a second language for Koreans in Learning Swedish.