• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1-18
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• 2010

This study examined the effects of previewing and providing background knowledge on low level EFL readers' comprehension of expository texts and their responses to these treatments. 130 college freshmen were randomly placed into one of three treatment groups and read two expository texts reflecting unfamiliar cultural information. Prior to reading, one group was given previewing instruction, which included vocabulary preteaching and summaries, and a second group was provided with culture-specific background knowledge through watching videos and slides. The third group read each text without any prereading instruction. Immediately after reading a passage, subjects answered a 10-item multiple-choice test. Results showed significant positive effects of the previewing treatment and weak positive effects of the providing background knowledge treatment. Students' responses on the questionnaires revealed that the majority felt that the experimental treatments contributed to comprehension enhancement, made reading more enjoyable, and expedited their reading process. Students in the control group, however, indicated that they needed explicit prereading instruction in order to understand the texts. Pedagogical implications of the findings for EFL reading instruction are provided.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.207-229
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• 2010

The present study has sought to explore the critical issues of English immersion education through the voices of the four elementary teachers who have recently taught at immersion programs under the guidance of Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education. The interview data with three teachers and the teaching journals of one teacher were analyzed and categorized into two emergent themes: (1) current difficulties in the immersion programs and (2) possible problems with the implementations of immersion programs in all public schools. Specifically, the first issue included teachers' inadequate teaching skills for immersion programs, accumulated learning losses, and lack of immersion class hours. The second issue included workload imposed on immersion program teachers, promotion of private education, learning losses of other subjects, and administration for show. Finally, pedagogical implications are suggested.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.77-106
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• 2004

This study aims to investigate how the four college students interact with one another to discuss and construct meaning in a small reading group. Additionally, this study attempts to examine how the participants played their roles in the group. Data sources consisted of transcripts of the students' interactions, questionnaires and informal interviews, and the researchers' observation notes. The data revealed that the participants contributed fairly steadily to the interactions by checking with own grammatical knowledge, providing lexical information, understanding the micro level context, and presenting the macro level context. Several pedagogical implications are presented for the practical classroom. Findings of the study suggest effective ways to implement group activities in reading classes and a teacher's role for optimum group learning.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.151-168
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• 2009

The present study investigates the impact of trained peer feedback on the quantity and quality of revisions made by EFL students at a low-intermediate level. Peer review training was carried out in experimental group through four in-class training sessions and four peer dyad-instructor conferences after class. Students' $1^{st}$ drafts with written peer feedback and revised drafts prior to and post training were collected and analyzed. Results reveal that after training the students produced more revisions in response to their peer comments (96% of total revisions) and those revisions were counted as enhanced in quality (93% of peer-triggered revisions). In contrast, the results of paired t-test within control group indicate that there was no significant difference between two data collected from week 3 and week 16 (t = -.57, df =19, p = .577 at p < .05). The findings suggest that training as an ongoing process of teacher intervention contributes to effectiveness of the peer feedback activity. The study provides pedagogical implications for how to structure and implement peer review training for the sake of its direct strength in an EFL writing class.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.27-49
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• 2009

This study aimed to explore EFL learners' beliefs and preferences about reading tasks and to examine the reading processes that they use for making sense of text. The subjects were comprised of 107 college students who were non-English majors and aged 19-28 years. Based on scores achieved on a reading comprehension test, they were divided into two groups (more-skilled and less-skilled readers) and asked to respond to a survey in class. The results of the survey revealed that: (1) a majority rate themselves as fair readers, which might be indicative of the insecurity they feel toward L2 reading; (2) authentic texts (especially magazines) and popular media appear to be their favorite reading materials; (3) unknown vocabulary is a major impediment to their L2 reading comprehension; (4) the more-skilled readers manifest a meaning centered view of reading, whereas the less-skilled readers center on vocabulary; and (5) both groups employ a multistrategic approach to L2 reading; however, the less-skilled readers are less successful in determining the meaning of unknown vocabulary. Pedagogical implications for EFL classroom teachers are provided.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.165-171
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• 2021

The current study investigated cyber learners' use and perceptions of online machine translation (MT) tools. The results show that learners use several MT tools frequently and extensively for various second language learning (L2) purposes according to their needs. The learners' overall perceptions of using MT for English learning were generally positive. The learners reported several advantages of machine translation: ease of use, helpful feedback, effective revision, and facilitation of self-directed learning. At the same time, a considerable number of learners were aware of MT's drawbacks, such as awkward sentences, inaccurate grammar, and inappropriate words, and thus held a negative or skeptical view on the quality and accuracy of MT. These findings have important pedagogical implications for using MT in the context of a cyber university. For successful integration of MT in English classes, teachers need to provide appropriate guidelines and training that will help learners use MT effectively.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.71-76
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• 2022

The purpose of this research is to investigate the types of semantic errors made by MT in translating EFL college students' original drafts written in Korean into English. Specifically, this study attempts to find out 1) what types of semantic errors are most frequently committed by MT? and 2) how students feel about the quality of the MT-produced output? The findings from this study indicated that MT produced the errors related to accuracy (47%) the most, followed by the errors related to fluency and ambiguity (14.6% respectively). Students were well aware of the errors with accuracy and fluency but had limited ability to check the errors with ambiguity. Based on the findings, this study suggests pedagogical implications which can be implemented in L2 writing classrooms.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.58-65
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• 2022

This study proposed a soft skill integration activity for online EFL classrooms and investigated student responses. Toward this end, this study recruited 54 college students taking an English Presentation and Discussion class in South Korea. Participants were assigned into high and low-proficiency groups based on the Test of English for International Communication. This study employed questionnaire, class video recordings, and interview to obtain responses. Moreover, problem-based learning with challenge questions was applied to develop soft skills in online synchronous classes. Responses were examined in terms of whether a difference existed according to English proficiency. Major findings of this study were as follows. Regardless of proficiency levels, participants reported improvements in their IT and problem-solving skills and exhibited positive attitudes toward live online presentations via Zoom. However, this study observed significant differences in communication and teamwork skills, perceived learning, and confidence. Interviews with students with low English proficiency levels revealed that they were negatively affected by the lack of non-verbal cues, mechanical skills, and socialization time provided by online classes. Based on these results, pedagogical implications and directions for future studies are discussed.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.561-568
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• 2022

This study investigated how pre-service English teachers perceive the effects of machine teaching on their English writing competence. 35 Korean students who are majoring in English education participated in this study. The participants used machine translators for one of the required courses related to English composition. A survey and focus group interview were conducted at the end of the course. They were asked to answer to what degree they perceive the effects of machine translators on their writing in terms of lexical, sentential, and discourse levels. Furthermore, their perspectives on the effects of machine translation on English teaching including limitations of machine translators, were interviewed in more detail. The results show that the participants perceive machine translators quite positively in terms of improving their writing competence, but they also point out some critical limitations of machine translators. These findings have some pedagogical implications for English writing course instructors, English teacher educators, and program developers.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.25-42
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• 2023

The number of studies on data-driven learning (DDL) has increased in recent years, and DDL's overall effectiveness as an L2 (second language) teaching methodology has been reported to be high. However, the degree of its effectiveness in grammar instruction, particularly for the goal of correcting errors in L2 writing, is still unclear. To provide guidelines for focused grammar instruction with DDL in the Japanese classroom setting, we aimed to identify the typical grammatical errors made by Japanese learners in the Cambridge Learner Corpus First Certificate in English (CLC FCE) dataset. The results revealed that three error types (nouns, articles, and prepositions) should be addressed in DDL grammar instruction for Japanese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. In light of the findings, pedagogical implications and suggestions for future DDL research and practice are discussed.