• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.351-360
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• 2020

If various unreasonable safety standards are preemptively and effectively readjusted, the risk of accidents can be reduced. In this paper, we proposed a machine reading comprehension-based safety standard Q&A system to secure supporting technology for effective search and analysis of safety standards for integrated and systematic management of safety standards. The proposed model finds documents related to safety standard questions in the various laws and regulations, and then divides these documents into provisions. Only those provisions that are likely to contain the answer to the question are selected, and then the BERT-based machine reading comprehension model is used to find answers to questions related to safety standards. When the proposed safety standard Q&A system is applied to KorQuAD dataset, the performance of EM 40.42% and F1 55.34% are shown.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.771-781
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• 2019

We propose the VS³-NET model to solve the task of question answering questions with machine-reading comprehension that searches for an appropriate answer in a given context. VS³-NET is a model that trains latent variables for each question using variational inferences based on a model of a simple recurrent unit-based sentences and self-matching networks. The types of questions vary, and the answers depend on the type of question. To perform efficient inference and learning, we introduce neural question-type models to approximate the prior and posterior distributions of the latent variables, and we use these approximated distributions to optimize a reparameterized variational lower bound. The context given in machine-reading comprehension usually comprises several sentences, leading to performance degradation caused by context length. Therefore, we model a hierarchical structure using sentence encoding, in which as the context becomes longer, the performance degrades. Experimental results show that the proposed VS³-NET model has an exact-match score of 76.8% and an F1 score of 84.5% on the SQuAD test set.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.21-32
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• 2021

The current study investigates how Malaysian ESL learners' L2 (English) speaking fluency is reflected in advanced L2 reading and what difficulties they encounter in reading comprehension. Nine Malaysian students attending a Korean university participated in qualitative research using in-depth and semi-structured interviews. The data revealed that L2 was a very familiar language, and their speaking fluency in L2 reduced the anxiety of L2 reading in general. However, it did not play a significant role in reading at an advanced level. Their difficulties in reading were mainly due to a lack of vocabulary knowledge. However, insufficient background knowledge and interest also frustrated their reading tasks. These factors lowered their reading comprehension, causing inaccurate interpretations or discouraging their endeavors to find messages from the given text. Thus, these findings should be carefully addressed in reading classes for Korean L2 learners as well as international students.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.153-169
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• 2012

This study reviews an English enhancement course implemented for medical and nursing college students of 2011 to improve their standardized English test scores. A total of 117 first-year students underwent the pre-test and the post-TOEIC in November 2011. After the pre-test, lectures on listening enhancement strategies and problem solving tactics on reading comprehension were supplemented with 4 times of enhancement-tests. Their pre- and post-TOEIC results were compared to see if such enhancement strategies were effective to improve their TOEIC scores. It was further to investigate, through survey questionnaires, how the subjects felt about a number of pre-test-type TOEIC exercise with what-to-listen and how-to-infer listening strategies and pattern-drill practices for reading comprehension. It was found that the scores of listening comprehension improved significantly for both major students whereas reading scores showed slight decrease among nursing majors. It is concluded that administering numerous pre-test-type-TOEIC exercise is effective for students to improve their listening scores supplemented with listening strategies Also, students' response showed positive toward the enhancement course.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.43-65
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• 2004

In the comprehension of English texts, Korean students generally try to translate English into Korean in accordance with the word order of Korean language. As a result, the comprehension of English texts is made in a regressive way, which results in slower reading. In order to enhance the reading speed, it is necessary for students to practice progressive reading. Also, while reading English texts, most readers' eyes tend to look at one word at a time, which actually cuts down on the reading speed. Reading by the sense group of as many words as possible at a glance, however, can help a reader more efficiently in less time. This research aims at developing the Powerpoint program for progressive reading by the sense group according to the student's level. In this program, as for methodology, the technique of rooking it fade-away is introduced to force a reader's eyes to move fast. Through this technique, it is possible to make a line of the texts disappear on the screen and make another line appear, which enables a reader to sweep the words across each and every line of the reading material smoothly without regression.

• Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.47-63
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to develop a screening test for children at risk of reading underachievement and to investigate the effectiveness of the early-stage intervention program. In the first part of the study, we recruited 155 elementary first grade students for a screening test. Phonological deletion, digit naming, object naming, and sound-letter correspondence knowledge of a screening test, all assessed at the beginning of the school year, predicted the reading ability at the end of the school year. In the second part of the study, we analyzed the difference in the reading ability between fourteen children who participated in the intervention program and eighteen non-participating children. Reading ability was assessed by evaluating word recognition, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, and pseudo-word recognition. The reading ability of intervention group improved more compared to control group, and the difference between two groups accentuated over time. However, final analysis conducted in November revealed that two groups did not differ significantly in oral reading fluency. This suggests that, unlike word recognition and comprehension, fluency might not dramatically improve in a short period.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.173-185
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• 1994

The purpose of this study was to investigate children's perception of reading. The researchers interviewed 120 children aged 5 to 7 (40 for each age group) by using a specially designed interview format. The study of Johns (1973) was referred to as a guide in preparing the format. Responses of the children were classified in accordance with criteria worked out on the basis of the researchers' previous studies and analyzed in terms of frequencies and percentiles by age group. ${\chi}^2$ test was used to analyze the data. The findings of the study were: (1) The younger the children, the higher the rate of showing no response or of responding only to concrete incidents or things. Older children in general showed higher responses relevant to reading comprehension than younger ones. (2) Older children were more inclined than younger ones to regard the process of reading as a skill-oriented, teacher-based process. (3) Children in these age groups showed little perception of reading's objectives of comprehension and communication.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1-25
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• 2011

This research primarily aimed to investigate proficient and less proficient EFL readers' awareness and experiences about learning to read and reading in English. The secondary purpose was to explore the participants' reading strategies, and to discover how the genres of English texts influence their reading processing behaviors. The participants consisted of four college students in engineering aged 21-25 years. Three data sources were employed: questionnaires, interviews, and think-alouds. The findings revealed that: (1) the proficient EFL readers judged themselves to be good readers, while the less proficient EFL readers judged themselves to be fair readers; (2) unknown vocabulary was perceived to be the major impediment to reading comprehension; the think-aloud data, however, demonstrated that unknown vocabulary did not significantly interfere with their reading comprehension; (3) regardless of the genre of the text, the participants employed similar reading strategies; (4) the participants were more likely to tolerate ambiguity and predict the content when reading the narrative text than the expository text; (5) there was no set of strategies that distinguished proficient EFL readers from less proficient EFL readers; and (6) when identifying problems, the proficient EFL readers used fix-up strategies more effectively and were better able to provide satisfactory solutions than their counterparts. Pedagogical implications for EFL reading instruction are discussed.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.345-364
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• 2009

This study attempts to provide a comprehensive framework for listening strategy use among university students in Korea in relation to TOEIC listening scores. In particular, this study tests whether motivation, based on the self-determination theory, mediates listening strategy use on listening comprehension (LC) process and whether reading comprehension ability moderates the use of listening strategy in LC achievement. One hundred seventy six freshmen students participated in the study during their first semester required English course. Self-report questionnaires were used to assess students' motivation and LC strategy use. The responses were statistically analyzed via the moderator and mediator model. The results indicate that internalized motivation mediates the use of listening strategy in LC achievement; however, reading comprehension skill doesn't affect students' use of listening strategies in relation to listening skill achievement. In other words, students who have internalized motivation were able to utilize listening strategies effectively in terms of achievement of the TOEIC listening skills. The findings of the current study offer in-depth understanding of the relationship among use of LC strategies, intrinsic motivation, and listening skill achievement shared by the mediator and moderator models.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.197-215
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• 2021

This study analyzed experimental studies of intervention programs provided to improve reading comprehension of elementary school students using a systematic review research method. Cochrane's handbook was applied, and key questions were formulated according to the PICOTS-SD. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to 1,610 papers searched in KCI, and the final 18 cases were selected for analysis. The risk of bias was evaluated using the 'RevMan5' tool provided by Cochrane. As a result of the evaluation, the risk of bias was low in most areas. And for the qualitative analysis of these papers, a data summary table was prepared. As a result, the types of intervention programs were diverse, and in many cases, upper grade students were applied. The size of the experimental group ranged from 6 to 29, and there were more QED-based studies than RCT-based studies. The most mediation time was 40 minutes, and the number of mediation sessions was 8 to 24. And in all studies, the intervention programs were found to be effective in improving reading comprehension.