• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.49-66
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• 2003

This paper explores the language acquisition mechanism within a recent theoretical nativist framework that assumes some computational principles. We will review previous accounts of the logical problem of language acquisition, arguing that language acquisition is part of general cognitive mechanism or at least associated with maturation of cognitive skills. For a theoretical framework, we will adopt the minimalist program and its principles. To support our theoretical argument, we will introduce empirical evidence from ESL (English as a Second Language) and SLI (Specific Language Impairment) data. The two types of data will illustrate that there might be some relationship between the development of language skills and that of the cognitive skills.

• Language and Information
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.87-99
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• 2003

This paper investigates the role of input frequency in the acquisition of verb argument structures based on distributional information of a corpus of utterances derived from the English CHILDES database (MacWhinney 1993). It has been widely accepted that children successfully learn verb argument structures by innate language mechanisms, such as linking rules which connect verb meanings and its syntactic structures. In contrast, an approach to language acquisition called “statistical language learning” has currently claimed that children could succeed in acquiring syntactic structures in the absence of innate language mechanisms, making use of distributional properties of the input. In this paper, I evaluate the feasibility of the statistical learning in acquiring verb argument structures, based on distributional information about locative verbs in parental input. The naturalistic data allow us to investigate to what extent the statistical learning approach can and cannot help children succeed in learning the syntax of locative verbs. Based on the results of English database analysis, I show that there is rich statistical information for learning the syntactic possibilities of locative verbs in parental input, despite some limitations in the statistical learning approach.

• Korean Journal of Geomatics
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.85-93
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• 2001

Geospatial database, which is the basis for Geo-Spatial Information Systems, is produced by conventional mapping methods. Recently, with increased demand for digital forms of the geospatial database, studies are carried out to automate its production. The automated mapping system is composed of the image acquisition subsystem, positioning subsystem, point referencing subsystem and the visualization subsystem. The image acquisition subsystem is the most important part of the overall production line because it is the starting point and will affect all subsequent processes. This paper presents a software analysis and design of the image acquisition subsystem. The design was carried out using the Unified Modeling Language which is a modeling method used extensively in the software engineering field.

• Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-21
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• 2002

In this paper, a persistent L1 influence on L2 argument structure acquisition is observed in terms of complement and adjunct PPs. Since the distinction between these two PPs in L1 seems not as sharp as in L2, overgeneralization is anticipated in the L2 acquisition due to L1 transfer. Result of an experimental study shows that Korean learners of English do not successfully acquire L2 verb meanings as to which locative PP is obligatory and which is not. Generally, learners transfer the L1 properties when asked to judge grammaticality. Some possible source of constraints in L2 acquisition, such as input frequency and noticing ability is proposed as possible explanations of data. Finally, pedagogical implications in language classroom for vocabulary acquisition are discussed.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.27-36
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• 2014

This study provided longitudinal examination of the Chinese learners' acquisition of Korean vowels. Specifically, I examined the Chinese learners' Korean monophthongs /i, e, ɨ, ${\Lambda}$, a, u, o/ that were created at the time of 1 month and 12 months, tried to verify empirically how they learn by dealing with their mother tongue, and Korean vowels through dealing with pattern of the Perceptual Assimilation Model (henceforth PAM) of Best (Best, 1993; 1994; Best & Tyler, 2007) and the Speech Learning Model (henceforth SLM) of Flege (Flege, 1987; Bohn & Flege, 1992, Flege, 1995). As a result, most of the present results are shown to be similarly explained by the PAM and SLM, and the only discrepancy between these two models is found in the 'similar' category of sounds between the learners' native language and the target language. Specifically, the acquisition pattern of /u/ and /o/ in Korean is well accounted for the PAM, but not in the SLM. The SLM did not explain why the Chinese learners had difficulty in acquiring the Korean vowel /u/, because according to the SLM, the vowel /u/ in Chinese (the native language) is matched either to the vowel /u/ or /o/ in Korean (the target language). Namely, there is only a one-to-one matching relationship between the native language and the target language. In contrast, the Chinese learners' difficulty for the Korean vowel /u/ is well accounted for in the PAM in that the Chinese vowel /u/ is matched to the vowel pair /o, u/ in Korean, not the single vowel, /o/ or /u/.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.137-156
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• 2009

This case study examines language learners' oral interactive practices and what they learn along with these practices. Language learners who study abroad take on the challenge of living in a foreign place and undergo difficulties in communicating and interacting with people in their new country. These difficulties, caused by cultural differences, are experienced most particularly in their daily interactions. Language learners' trials and efforts to learn English while dealing with a different culture and the difficulties are mainly observed for this paper. The process of learning a second culture is closely related to the process of learning a second language. Oral interactive practices can give the study abroad language learners opportunities to learn their target culture. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss how participating in interactive practices assists the learners in understanding their target culture while they deal with their difficulties inherent in studying abroad. This study adds weight to the notion that culture is an essential and major factor in learning a language, and that only active participation in interactions can be effective in learning both a language and its culture.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.131-141
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• 2003

Recently, researchers have been debating whether Korean children exhibit a verb bias or not. Since verbs are perceptually and structurally more salient in Korean language, it has been questioned whether these differences in the Korean make a difference in the pattern of noun and verb acquisition of Korean children. Although language structures may vary between Korean and English, universal cognitive constraints play an important role in early vocabulary acquisition. Several recent studies have examined the noun and verb acquisition of Korean children. However, their conclusions regarding the noun versus verb bias have still been inconclusive. In this paper, previous studies investigating Korean children's noun versus verb bias are examined. Methodological issues are mentioned and results were reinterpreted as favoring the noun bias for one-year-old Korean children.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Language and Information Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.375-384
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• 2007

This paper describes a method for automatic acquisition of wide-coverage treebank-based deep linguistic resources for Japanese, as part of a project on treebank-based induction of multilingual resources in the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG). We automatically annotate LFG f-structure functional equations (i.e. labelled dependencies) to the Kyoto Text Corpus version 4.0 (KTC4) (Kurohashi and Nagao 1997) and the output of of Kurohashi-Nagao Parser (KNP) (Kurohashi and Nagao 1998), a dependency parser for Japanese. The original KTC4 and KNP provide unlabelled dependencies. Our method also includes zero pronoun identification. The performance of the f-structure annotation algorithm with zero-pronoun identification for KTC4 is evaluated against a manually-corrected Gold Standard of 500 sentences randomly chosen from KTC4 and results in a pred-only dependency f-score of 94.72%. The parsing experiments on KNP output yield a pred-only dependency f-score of 82.08%.

• Annual Conference on Human and Language Technology
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.281-281
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• 1995

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.203-224
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to justify the effects of role play with respect to speaking and listening functions and to provide the strategic methodology for improving English communicative competence of fifth grade primary school students. We can expand role play as a strategic teaching method to develop English learning models, so that English can be more easily acquired to the students who are in the critical language acquisition period. Strategic role play reflects the events and experiences of many kinds of people in everyday life. It is suggested that one of the best methods to improve English communicative competence in the primary classroom is through role play. Students can develop meaning for language patterns by portraying situations in which these instances in language would be used. This study proposes to facilitate English communicative ability using various student-centered role play strategies. It is concluded that the student-centered activities using strategic role play help the students to improve their English communicative competence. This is done by deriving their own creative dialogues and presenting the role play with their interests in learning English and with subsequently positive learning effects.