• Title/Summary/Keyword: Teaching Grammar

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Lessons Learned from Twelve Korean Teachers of College-level EFL Writing

  • Kim, Mi-Kyung
    • Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.181-210
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    • 2003
  • The purpose of the study was to investigate how Korean EFL writing instructors give feedback to their students' writing and what influences their feedback. A total of 12 Korean EFL instructors in Korean universities teaching freshman English and intermediate EFL writing courses provided their feedback given on students' writing samples and participated in interviews. Interviews were analyzed qualitatively with a constant comparative approach and some data from writing samples and questionnaires produced descriptive statistics. The first lesson from the results of the study was that grammar was still the most frequent concern in giving feedback on students' writing. Contrary to the participants' report, comments on content and organization were not produced very often. The second lesson came from the interview data. Some aspects of teacher feedback seemed mostly influenced by their beliefs on L2 writing and experience in teaching L2 writing. The final and major lesson was that teachers chose how they would give comments on students' writing depending on whether they found their feedback helpful in students learning to write. EFL writing teachers can produce effective feedback by clearly communicating their beliefs about L2 writing and criteria in their feedback to students in their EFL writing classrooms.

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Wikispaces: A Social Constructivist Approach to Flipped Learning in Higher Education Contexts

  • Ha, Myung-Jeong
    • International Journal of Contents
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    • v.12 no.4
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    • pp.62-68
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    • 2016
  • This paper describes an attempt to integrate flip teaching into a language classroom by adopting wikispaces as an online learning platform. The purpose of this study is to examine student perceptions of the effectiveness of using video lectures and wikispaces to foster active participation and collaborative learning. Flipped learning was implemented in an English writing class over one semester. Participants were 27 low intermediate level Korean university students. Data collection methods included background questionnaires at the beginning of the semester, learning experience questionnaires at the end of the semester, and semi-structured interviews with 6 focal participants. Because of the significance of video lectures in flip teaching, oCam was used for making weekly online lectures as a way of pre-class activities. Every week, online lectures were posted on the school LMS system (moodle). Every week, participants met in a computer room to perform in-class activities. Both in-class activities and post-class activities were managed by wikispaces. The results indicate that the flipped classroom facilitated student learning in the writing class. More than 53% of the respondents felt that it was useful to develop writing skills in a flipped classroom. Particularly, students felt that the video lectures prior to the class helped them improve their grammar skills. However, with respect to their satisfaction with collaborative works, about 44% of the participants responded positively. Similarly, 44% of the participants felt that in-class group work helped them interact with the other group members. Considering these results, this paper concludes with pedagogical suggestions and implications for further research.

An Analysis of Free Colloquial Discourse Produced by Female Marriage-immigrants; Focusing on Their Sociolinguistic Competence (여성 결혼이민자의 구어 자유 담화 분석 - 사회언어학적 능력을 중심으로)

  • Kim, Seon Jung;Kang, Hyun Ja
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.26
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    • pp.509-533
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    • 2012
  • The purpose of this study is to examine the sociolinguistic competence of female marriage-immigrants through analyzing their free colloquial discourse. Because previous studies on female marriage-immigrants have not been performed based on the natural illocutionary data, an accurate diagnosis of their communication method will be necessary for the efficiency of the Korean education aimed at them, and for the development of their communication ability. For this study, the colloquial discourse situation from five female marriage-immigrants from China, the Philippines and Vietnam was recorded. The sociolinguistic characteristics were analyzed centering on the use of designation, respect terms, and regional words. 'Eomma' was used as a designation for their husband's mother, which means that 'intimacy' worked for the designation of their husband's mother. The respect-word classes for others were limited to the 'haeyo' form and the 'hae' one, and the reception for listeners was often discarded. In addition, the influence of regional words was found in the vocabulary and grammar, and the more proficient the Korean language, the more frequent the regional word occurrence. Based on the above result, the teaching method of Korean for the immigrants shall be suggested as follows: the teaching has to focus on respect words positively influencing the relationship with the counterpart.

Operation and Satisfaction of Physical Computing Classes Using MODI (MODI를 활용한 피지컬 컴퓨팅 수업 운영 및 만족도)

  • Seo, Eunsil
    • Journal of Engineering Education Research
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.37-44
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    • 2023
  • Recently, the Internet of Things is attracting attention as an important key technology of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and SW education using physical computing is suggested as a good alternative to supplement the problems raised by beginners in programming education. Among the many teaching tools that can be used for physical computing education, MODI is a modular manufacturing tool that anyone can easily assemble like Lego. MODI is a teaching tool that can improve learners' achievement by linking a self-linked block-type code editor called MODI Studio to lay the foundation for programming in a relatively small amount of time and immediately check the results in person. In this paper, a physical computing education method using MODI was designed to be applied to basic programming courses for programming beginners and applied to after-school classes for middle school students. As a result, it was found that students' interest and satisfaction were much higher in physical computing classes using MODI than in text-based programming classes. It can be seen that physical computing education that allows beginners to see and feel the results in person is more effective than grammar-oriented text programming, and it can have a positive effect on improving basic programming skills by increasing students' participation.

A study of transitivity of English clause (영어절의 의미분석에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Sang-Yoon
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • no.6
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    • pp.159-178
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    • 2000
  • In systemic grammar an English clause is analysed simultaneously from the point view of its ideational function, interpersonal function and textual function. This study deals with only the ideational function of the three functions, which accounts for the underlying content of a clause. Transitivity is the subsystem of the ideational function. It specifies the different types of process that are recongnized in the language and the structures by which they are expressed. The purpose of the paper is to describe the transitivity of English clause on the basis of systemic approach. For this we analyzed the three subsystems of transitivity which are physical process, mental process and relational process in the form of features. And we described the sets of the features of the three different types of process in English clause in the framework of the system network.

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A Comparison of Two English Reading Classes: With a Focus on Cooperative Learning

  • Suh, Jae-Suk
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.79-98
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    • 2006
  • As one way of changing a teacher-fronted, grammar-based reading class into a meaningful, fun-creating one, this paper compared teacher- fronted reading with student-centered reading framed upon cooperative learning. In a study in which each type of reading method was conducted for college students in an EFL reading course for a period of one semester, data were gathered via questionnaires. The results showed that though each type of reading instruction came with its own strengths and weaknesses, student-centered reading instruction was preferred for various reasons. Most important, through an active participation in cooperative work, subjects were motivated and interested in L2 reading much, were exposed to various reading strategies and skills, and practiced them in a friendly, low-anxiety learning climate.

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The Beliefs about Language Learning of Korean College Students and Their Teachers of English

  • Kim, Kyung-Ja
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.1-24
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    • 2006
  • This study investigated differences in beliefs about English learning of 286 EFL college students and 52 English teachers in Korea. Data was collected using Horwitz's Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory and compared between students and teachers in beliefs. To address the research questions, the data were analyzed through descriptive statistics including frequencies, factor analysis, MANOVA, ANOVA, t-test, and reliability coefficients. The results showed four factors in student beliefs: Difficulty of learning English, nature of learning English, importance of correctness in learning English, and motivation and perceived importance of learning English. Clear differences were found in students and teachers' beliefs in English learning aptitude and importance of translation, error correction, and grammar rules. A few belief differences were also identified between Koreans and native-speaking English teachers related to the importance of vocabulary learning, pronunciation, and cultural knowledge. The findings of the study indicated that background variables such as gender and major field of study have an effect on student beliefs about L2 learning. The present study also provided pedagogical considerations to reduce mismatch between students and teachers beliefs and to improve the L2 planning and instruction.

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EFL Learners' Perceptions on English Writing Tasks and Teacher Feedback

  • Chin, Cheong-Sook
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.1-26
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    • 2007
  • This study aimed to investigate how EFL learners perceived English writing tasks and teachers' written feedback. The subjects were 82 mixed major college EFL students aged 19-24; the majority were freshmen females. Based on the scores estimated from the essay evaluation test, they were placed into two groups (proficienand less-proficient writers) and responded to an in-class questionnaire. The results indicated that: (1) regardless of writing proficiency, a large number of the students felt that they were just fair writers, which could be derived from low confidence and high anxiety; (2) grammar and vocabulary were perceived as the main features that determined good EFL writers and also prevented the students from performing the writing task successfully; (3) they believed that teachers' feedback contributed to the development of their English writing skills because it helped them apprehend what to improve or avoid in the future, acquire better English usage, and correct their errors; and (4) the proficient writers were more willing to correct errors themselves after being provided clues than the less-proficient writers. Implications of the findings for EFL classrooms are discussed.

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Wh-movement in the L2 Learner's Initial Syntax

  • Kim, Jung-Tae
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.10 no.2
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    • pp.1-23
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    • 2004
  • This article reports a bi-directional interlanguage study designed to investigate the initial state of L2 acquisition with regard to English and Korean wh-questions. Based on the UG system in line with the minimalist theory, it was hypothesized that the L2 initial state is characterized by the most economical form of syntax in which no overt wh-movement to Spec-CP is assumed. Results of the early interlanguage study showed that 1) L1 Korean learners of L2 English predominantly produced wh-questions with the fronted wh-word, but without productive wh-movement to the Spec-CP position; and 2) L1 English learners of L2 Korean overwhelmingly produced wh-questions with the wh-word remaining in-situ. These results were interpreted as supporting the minimalist account of the L2 initial grammar in that no overt syntactic wh-movement were adopted in early interlanguages of both English and Korean regardless of the learner's L1.

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Parameter Resetting in Reflexive Binding of Second Language Acquisition

  • Kim, Hak-Soo
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • no.4
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    • pp.207-228
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    • 1998
  • This study investigated how Korean learners of English acquired the English reflexives. There is emphasis on the effects of the GCP and PAP(Wexler and Manzini, 1987). The purpose is to examine the major hypothesis that L2 learners are still constrained by Universal Grammar (UG), despite the influence of the parameter setting of their native language as well as the non-operation of the Subset Principle. The experimental group consisted of 30 middle school students (age 14-15), 30 high school students (age 16-17), and 30 university students (age 18-19) as well as 20 ESL students (age 16) studying English in the USA. Twenty native speakers of English served as a control group. The subjects responded to a test on reflexives that used a multiple-choice grammaticality judgement task. Findings show that L2 learners transfer their L1 parameter setting and, as a result, make errors in the choice of antecedents for reflexives. Therefore, I argue that the L2 learner is still constrained by UG.

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