• ETRI Journal
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.89-99
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• 2013

The problem of the sentence-based pronunciation evaluation task is defined in the context of subjective criteria. Three subjective criteria (that is, the minimum subjective word score, the mean subjective word score, and first impression) are proposed and modeled with the combination of word-based assessment. Then, the subjective criteria are approximated with objective sentence pronunciation scores obtained with the combination of word-based metrics. No a priori studies of common mistakes are required, and class-based language models are used to incorporate incorrect and correct pronunciations. Incorrect pronunciations are automatically incorporated by making use of a competitive lexicon and the phonetic rules of students' mother and target languages. This procedure is applicable to any second language learning context, and subjective-objective sentence score correlations greater than or equal to 0.5 can be achieved when the proposed sentence-based pronunciation criteria are approximated with combinations of word-based scores. Finally, the subjective-objective sentence score correlations reported here are very comparable with those published elsewhere resulting from methods that require a priori studies of pronunciation errors.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.189-194
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• 2014

Objective: This study aims to investigate the speech rate, the length of a pause, habitual pitch, and voice intensity of motherese. Subjects and Methods: The research participants comprised 20 mothers (mean age 33 years). Speech data were collected and analyzed using the Real-time Pitch software (KayPENTAX(R)). Results: The average speech rate was 5.33 syllables per second without their infant present and 4.26 syllables per second with their infant present. The average pause length was 1.09 s without their infant present and 1.56 s with their infant present. The average habitual pitch was 199.79 Hz without their infant present and 227.15 Hz with their infant present. The average voice loudness was 61.09 dB without their infant present and 64.49 dB with their infant present. Conclusion: This study presented clinical information for efficiently managing the speech therapy issues of infants and children. This includes proper acoustic and phonological information to recommend to main caregivers.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.77-88
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• 2011

Foreign accent in second language production depends heavily on the transfer of features from the first language. This study examines acoustic variations in segments and suprasegments by native and nonnative speakers of English, searching for patterns of the transfer and plausible indexes of foreign accent in English. The acoustic variations are analyzed with recorded read speech by 20 native English speakers and 50 Korean learners of English, in terms of vowel formants, vowel duration, and syllabic variation induced by stress. The results show that the acoustic measurements of vowel formants and vowel and syllable durations display difference between native speakers and nonnative speakers. The difference is robust in the production of lax vowels, diphthongs, and stressed syllables, namely the English-specific features. L1 transfer on L2 specification is found both at the segmental levels and at the suprasegmental levels. The transfer levels measured as groups and individuals further show a continuum of divergence from the native-like target. Overall, the eldest group, students who are in the graduate schools, shows more native-like patterns, suggesting weaker foreign accent in English, whereas the high school students tend to involve larger deviation from the native speakers' patterns. Individual results show interdependence between segmental transfer and prosodic transfer, and correlation with self-reported proficiency levels. Additionally, experience factors in English such as length of English study and length of residence in English speaking countries are further discussed as factors to explain the acoustic variation.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.1057-1085
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• 2009

This paper addresses the question of why prepositions are particularly difficult forEFL learners. The first reason for such difficulty lies in the distinction between seemingly equivalent prepositions such as to and with, as in compared to and compared with. Most monolingual learners' dictionaries regard these two phrases as virtually synonymous. Yet, the results of the corpus analysis conducted in this study indicate that there are differences between the two. A second reason why EFL learners have problems with prepositions is that there are often variations in the inputdata. For example, although from generally follows different, in American English different than is also used. On the other hand, in British English, different to is the second most commonly used construction. This type of regional variation, confirmed in the corpus findings of the present paper, causes confusion in students of English. A learner who is not accustomed to British English may be puzzled by the expression different to. Finally, L1 negative transfer is responsible for the incorrect use of expressions such as discuss about. An error of this sort is the result of interference from the learner's mother tongue. The English verb discuss is not subcategorized for a preposition, whereas the equivalent Korean verb, for example, requires a noun phrase combined with the postposition.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.61-70
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• 2020

Background and Objectives: To assess the academic performance, communication skills, and psychosocial development of prelingual deaf children with cochlear implants (CIs) attending mainstream schools, and to evaluate the impact of auditory speech perception on their classroom performance. Subjects and Methods: As participant, 67 children with CI attending mainstream schools were included. A survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire on academic performance in the native language, second language, mathematics, social studies, science, art, communication skills, self-esteem, and social relations. Additionally, auditory and speech performances on the last follow-up were reviewed retrospectively. Results: Most implanted children attending mainstream school appeared to have positive self-esteem and confidence, and had little difficulty in conversing in a quiet classroom. Also, half of the implanted children (38/67) scored above average in general academic achievement. However, academic achievement in the second language (English), social studies, and science were usually poorer than general academic achievement. Furthermore, half of the implanted children had difficulty in understanding the class content (30/67) or conversing with peers in a noisy classroom (32/67). These difficulties were significantly associated with poor speech perception. Conclusions: Improving the listening environment for implanted children attending mainstream schools is necessary.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.62-78
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• 2021

This ethnographic multiple case study, based on Zappa-Hollman and Duff's construct of individual networks of practice (INoPs), explored English as a second language (L2) competence development and socialization process of a group of English-major undergraduates through their social connections and interactions at a public university located in an underdeveloped city in Northwest China. The study lasted for one academic semester and three students were selected as primary participants. Semi-structured interviews, student observations in English-related micro-settings, and associated texts were used to collect data. These data were coded to identify the thematic categories, and then data triangulation and member checking were conducted to select the most representative evidence to provide an in-depth description of students' perspective about mediating their English L2 socialization by their INoPs. Findings showed that factors in the formation of students' INoPs, including intensity, density, and nature, played significant roles in their academic or affective returns from their English learning, both of which had a substantial influence on the students' English L2 socialization. Considering that the macro-setting was a non-English, underdeveloped monolingual society, both educational institutions and individual students need to seek and create more English-mediated interactional opportunities to develop their English proficiency and adapt to local English learning communities.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.61-70
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• 2020

Background and Objectives: To assess the academic performance, communication skills, and psychosocial development of prelingual deaf children with cochlear implants (CIs) attending mainstream schools, and to evaluate the impact of auditory speech perception on their classroom performance. Subjects and Methods: As participant, 67 children with CI attending mainstream schools were included. A survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire on academic performance in the native language, second language, mathematics, social studies, science, art, communication skills, self-esteem, and social relations. Additionally, auditory and speech performances on the last follow-up were reviewed retrospectively. Results: Most implanted children attending mainstream school appeared to have positive self-esteem and confidence, and had little difficulty in conversing in a quiet classroom. Also, half of the implanted children (38/67) scored above average in general academic achievement. However, academic achievement in the second language (English), social studies, and science were usually poorer than general academic achievement. Furthermore, half of the implanted children had difficulty in understanding the class content (30/67) or conversing with peers in a noisy classroom (32/67). These difficulties were significantly associated with poor speech perception. Conclusions: Improving the listening environment for implanted children attending mainstream schools is necessary.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.325-330
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• 2022

This paper conducts the collection and experiment of datasets for deep learning research on sign language such as sign language recognition, sign language translation, and sign language segmentation for Korean sign language. There exist difficulties for deep learning research of sign language. First, it is difficult to recognize sign languages since they contain multiple modalities including hand movements, hand directions, and facial expressions. Second, it is the absence of training data to conduct deep learning research. Currently, KETI dataset is the only known dataset for Korean sign language for deep learning. Sign language datasets for deep learning research are classified into two categories: Isolated sign language and Continuous sign language. Although several foreign sign language datasets have been collected over time. they are also insufficient for deep learning research of sign language. Therefore, we attempted to collect a large-scale Korean sign language dataset and evaluate it using a baseline model named TSPNet which has the performance of SOTA in the field of sign language translation. The collected dataset consists of a total of 11,402 image and text. Our experimental result with the baseline model using the dataset shows BLEU-4 score 3.63, which would be used as a basic performance of a baseline model for Korean sign language dataset. We hope that our experience of collecting Korean sign language dataset helps facilitate further research directions on Korean sign language.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.566-574
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• 2005

In spite of recent increase in the use of avatar in Web and Virtual Reality, there has not been a service that allows users to control directly the avatar behaviors. In addition, the conventional behavior control languages required a lot of complicated information for controlling the avatar motions. Moreover, in order to apply written languages to a different task domain, it was necessary to modify or rewrite the languages. In this paper, we define Task-Level Behavior Description Language and Motion Representation Language for more simple control of the avatar behavior. The first thing allows describing the avatar behaviors in each task domain, and The second thing enables writing detailed data for motion control. And in this paper, we developed an interpreter which can automatically change the Behavior Description Language to the Motion Representation Language. So this system allow users control the avatar behavior simply with only use the Behavior Description Language. The system was applied to shopping mall and the Task-level Behavior Description Language was compared with conventional languages to see how it was more effective in behavior description.

• 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.