• English Language & Literature Teaching
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.1-22
• /
• 2009

This case study aimed to explore proficient EFL readers' perceptions and experiences about reading tasks and how those perceptions and experiences influence their reading processing behaviors, and to examine how the cultural background of a text affects their reading strategies and comprehension. Three college students who were non-English majors participated in this study. Three data sources were employed: questionnaires, interviews, and think-alouds. The results showed that: (1) the participants emphasized comprehension as the goal of reading and considered themselves good EFL readers; (2) their reading purposes were closely associated with personal pursuits; (3) they preferred to read materials that deal with areas of interest but did not try to take a risk in terms of level of difficulty and/or length; (4) they implemented a multistrategic approach to reading in that the majority of their strategy use was in conjunction with their concern about meaning construction; (5) they were able to develop useful understandings of unknown vocabulary; and (6) their clear awareness of the cultural background presupposed in the text helped them invoke prior knowledge and reduce unknown vocabulary hindrances which contributed to comprehension. Pedagogical implications for EFL reading instruction are provided.

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

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.249-265
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of reading framework on writing for reflection when applied to inquiry-based Science Writing Heuristic approach. This study was conducted with 67 3rd grade middle school students. Thirty-two out of 67 students were assigned to R-SWH (Reading framework-Science Writing Heuristic) group while the other 35 students were assigned to SWH (Science Writing Heuristic) group. The R-SWH group has consistently used reading framework which the SWH group has not used when the inquiry-based science writing heuristic approach were carried out. The result of this study indicated that the R-SWH group showed a higher proportion of students who made writing for reflection by learning from reading materials than the SWH group. The R-SWH group used reading materials in order to understand the idea comprehensively and concept related to the topic the most, while the SWH group also used them for the same purpose as the R-SWH group but the ratio was less than the R-SWH group. In addition, as the learning activity has progressed, the R-SWH group showed that the proportion of students who transferred the science concept from reading materials into writing for reflection and the number of transferred concepts were higher than those of the SWH group. Therefore, the reading framework applied to inquiry-based science writing heuristic approach can facilitate a meaningful activity on reading and writing as a scaffolding to develop conceptual understanding.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.333-343
• /
• 2011

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the suitability and readability of printed educational materials for patients with hypertension in Korea. Methods: A total of 33 written educational materials related to hypertension were collected from public health centers, hospitals, and internet web site. Among them, we analyzed 19 materials which fit the inclusion criteria: leaflets (n=9), booklets (n=3), and guide book (n=7). Two trained nurses evaluate the materials using suitability assessment tool (SAM; Doak, Doak, & Root, 1996) and graded lexical items for teaching Korean (Kim, 2003). Results: Overall, 14 (73.7%) of 19 materials scored adequate, and 5 (26.3%) scored inadequate. On the average, the education materials contained 36.1% to 50.5% of 1st grade reading level words and 12.9% to 21.6% of 4th grade level and over. Conclusion: The reading level of the materials was higher than a 6th grade reading level. It is proposed that the written educational materials should be developed by health professionals according to suitability and quality by taking the target group's literacy capacity into consideration.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.22-31
• /
• 2002

This research was designed to verify the effects of reading materials about scientists on the attitude toward science and images of scientists. The studies have been conducted for students in the tenth grade science class. In experimental group, students were instructed to read the reading material regarding the role models of five female scientists in class, while a control group were furnished with those of male scientists. Before and after instruction, the pre- and post-test about attitudes toward science and images of scientists were administered. In general, it was found that they successfully cast away the stereotyped images of scientists with the aid of the reading materials. There were significant differences between two groups in gender of a scientist (p = .000). Namely, more students in the experimental group had drawn the pictures of female scientists than those in the control group. In addition, test score in attitude toward science have shown significant differences between pre- and post-test (p < .001). And, the experimental group score is higher than control group (p < .05). Accordingly, this research has verified that the reading materials about scientists, especially of female scientists, can have favorable influence on the attitudes and images of scientists.

• Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.191-200
• /
• 2006

Our research team has developed diagnosis papers which diagnose reading ability of students, reading materials and guidance of reading method which are proper for reading ability and various appreciation expression activities in the leveled reading supporting system applying the multimedia techniques, which is developed as a previous research for reading education that considers the reading ability and level of elementary school students. However some difficulties have been raised in activities after reading proper for level because we suggested them all the same regardless of level though we proposed the reading methods and reading materials by level, We tried to develop the leveled activities post-reading applying multimedia techniques which are proper for reading ability of students and exam the effects of leveled reading supporting system considering the subordinate goal of 7th Korean curriculum of elementary school and the ICT standard of the Education Ministry on this thesis for promoting an interest in reading of students. The leveled activities after reading which are applying multimedia techniques could be guided and applied on the web, and helped develop the reading ability and self-leading learning ability by raising the interest and concern of students in the activities after reading because the multimedia elements, instead of existing text, were added to the expression.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.1-4
• /
• 2011

In this letter, we propose a novel tag antenna that has low performance degradation with nearby dielectric material. We obtained a stable reading performance and a broad matching bandwidth on nearby dielectric materials by employing a T-matching network with thick line width and capacitively slot-loaded arms. We then built the proposed antenna and measured the tag sensitivity to examine the reading characteristics with nearby dielectric materials. The measured results clearly demonstrate stable tag sensitivity with various nearby dielectric materials, such as foam, acrylic-plastic, glass, and ceramic plates. To more closely observe the antenna characteristics with nearby dielectric materials, we also examined the impedance variation and surface current distribution with respect to the dielectric constant of nearby target objects, which ranged from $1{\times}{\varepsilon}_0$ to $16{\times}{\varepsilon}_0$.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.31-46
• /
• 2004

This study of 322 elementary school children examined the interrelatedness of internet preference, frequencies of internet activities, usage of children's popular internet sites, knowledge of internet sites, and children's reading abilities. Usage of children's popular internet sites and knowledge of internet sites are interrelated with decoding and comprehension. Age, knowledge of internet sites, and sex predicted children's reading abilities. The extent of exposure to various internet activities differentiated children's reading comprehension. Results show that processes of reading text information and multimedia materials through the internet involve not only the skills of reading traditional printed texts but also new reading strategies.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.295-318
• /
• 2010

Recently a reading education system has been developed to manage the accumulated reading activities and past records of individuals under the web environment using computers. And the reading education system, where we can have comprehensive reading education, has been developed and been applied to schools. The reading records in the reading education system can contribute to the improvement of reading activities and reading comprehension, the extension of thinking ability, and the cultivation of insight and character of the readers. The system will provide basic data for reading education for the teachers. The reading education system will accumulate the reading records of individuals. This system is not restricted by time and space. Also the system can support the reading education of children and students effectively. The menu of the reading education system is composed of a test of reading level, reading materials, activities after reading, reading certification, reading record management and instruction of teachers.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.193-210
• /
• 2003

For the sake of activating web-based reading education in the public libraries, This study examine the practical use of web-based reading education and research into its activation. Web-based reading, red the book at any time/where with librarian and user, is to achieve the goal of reading education. The methods are to set up Home page of reading education through Internet, to guide user in various web-based reading materials and reading planning at any time. In addition, It is to be completed interactive action such as book review, reading dicussion through E-mail, a bulletin board, chatting etc. with librarian or user.