• Journal of Korean language education
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.325-344
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to summarize PWIM (Picture Words Inductive Model) which is one of learner-centered vocabulary teaching-learning models, and suggest ways to implement them in Korean language education. The pictures that are used in the Korean language education field help visualize the specific shape, color, and texture of the vocabulary that is the learning target; thus, helping beginner learners to recognize the meaning of the sound. Visual material stimulates the intrinsic schema of the learner and not only becomes a 'bridge' connecting the mother tongue and the Korean language, but also reduces difficulty in learning a foreign language because of the ambiguity between meaning and sound in Korean and all languages. PWIM shows commonality with existing learning methods in that it uses visual materials. However, in the past, the teacher-centered learning method has only imitated the teacher because the teacher showed a piece-wise, out-of-life photograph and taught the word. PWIM is a learner-centered learning method that stimulates learners to find vocabulary on their own by presenting visual information reflecting the context. In this paper, PWIM is more suitable for beginner learners who are learning specific concrete vocabulary such as personal identity (mainly objects), residence and environment, daily life, shopping, health, climate, and traffic. The purpose of this study was to develop a method of using PWIM suitable for Korean language learners and teaching procedures. The researchers rearranged the previous research into three steps: brainstorming and word organization, generalization of semantic and morphological rules of extracted words, and application of words. In the case of PWIM, you can go through all three steps at once. Otherwise, it is possible to divide the three steps of PWIM and teach at different times. It is expected that teachers and learners using the PWIM teaching-learning method, which uses realistic visual materials, will enable making an effective class together.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.37-47
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study was to research the effects of Korean beginner learners' perception of vocabulary learning and comparison of vocabulary learning methods between the use of vocabulary application Classcard and rote learning with writing. This experiment was conducted by 24 beginner Korean learners who were at the 1st and 2nd level in Institute of Korean Language of D University. These students were dividing into 2 groups for the test - 12 in the control group and 12 in the experimental group. They took the vocabulary tests which were designed for examining the differences between before and after learning. Study results showed that vocabulary learning using the application Classcard significantly improved learners' vocabulary scores which were statistically significant. These results demonstrated that the method using Classcard has a greater learning effect than the method of rote learning with writing. Furthermore, the survey showed that learners did not feel uncomfortable in learning vocabulary using the application Classcard, and they thought it was one of the ways to learn vocabulary easily, which means that vocabulary learning using this application has a positive effect on learners' learning achievement. This study is significant in that it suggested a vocabulary learning method that can increase learners' interest and vocabulary by proving the effect of vocabulary learning using applications.

• Journal of Korean language education
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.1-24
• /
• 2017

This article explores the developmental history of TOPIK over the last 20 years and its recent trends. Over the last two decades, TOPIK underwent two major systematic reforms, achieving both quantitative and qualitative growth over the course of its 52 testing sessions. TOPIK has utilized a six-level evaluation system from its inception to the present. The evaluation system was amended from the earlier six-test set - whereby each level corresponded with a separate test (1997~2005: the $1^{st}{\sim}9^{th}$) - to the three-test set (2006~2014: the $10^{th}{\sim}34^{th}$), and finally to the two-test set (2014~present: the $35^{th}{\sim}42^{nd}$). In the earlier exams, abilities in Vocabulary Grammar, Writing, Listening, and Reading were assessed. However, beginning with the $35^{th}$ TOPIK, abilities in Listening, Reading, and Writing (only in TOPIK II) were assessed and the evaluation of the writing section was changed to a task-based process, improving TOPIK into a more qualified analysis of proficiency. Over the last 20 years, the number of countries TOPIK is administered in has greatly increased from 4 to 73 countries, and the annual number of test-takers has also significantly increased from 2,692 to 250,141. The distribution of proficiency levels of the test-takers has shifted over time - initially "Beginner>Intermediate>Advanced" in the earlier exams, to "Intermediate>Advanced>Beginner" after the mid 2000s - as the number of those studying the Korean language for specific purposes and continuing education increased. Test-takers have indicated a shift in their purpose for taking the exam, initially citing "to assess proficiency" and more recently selecting "to study abroad," and this could also correlate with changes in the proportion of test-takers' proficiency level. In general, 85~95% of beginner, 50~65% of intermediate, and 45~60% of advanced test applicants passed the respective proficiency level. To date, no practices have yet been implemented to standardize the difficulty level longitudinally across test sets.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.293-305
• /
• 2016

Objective: This study aims to measure cognitive load levels by analyzing the EEG of Koreans and foreigners, when they read a Korean text with care selected by level from the grammar and vocabulary aspects, and compare the cognitive load levels through quantitative values. The study results can be utilized as basic data for more scientific approach, when Korean texts or books are developed, and an evaluation method is built, when the foreigners encounter them for learning or an assignment. Background: Based on 2014, the number of the foreign students studying in Korea was 84,801, and they increase annually. Most of them are from Asian region, and they come to Korea to enter a university or a graduate school in Korea. Because those foreign students aim to learn within Universities in Korea, they receive Korean education from their preparation for study in Korea. To enter a university in Korea, they must acquire grade 4 or higher level in the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK), or they need to complete a certain educational program at each university's affiliated language institution. In such a program, the learners of the Korean language receive Korean education based on texts, except speaking domain, and the comprehension of texts can determine their academic achievements in studying after they enter their desired schools (Jeon, 2004). However, many foreigners, who finish a language course for the short-term, and need to start university study, cannot properly catch up with university classes requiring expertise with the vocabulary and grammar levels learned during the language course. Therefore, reading education, centered on a strategy to understand university textbooks regarded as top level reading texts to the foreigners, is necessary (Kim and Shin, 2015). This study carried out an experiment from a perspective that quantitative data on the readers of the main player of reading education and teaching materials need to be secured to back up the need for reading education for university study learners, and scientifically approach educational design. Namely, this study grasped the difficulty level of reading through the measurement of cognitive loads indicated in the reading activity of each text by dividing the difficulty of a teaching material (book) into eight levels, and the main player of reading into Koreans and foreigners. Method: To identify cognitive loads indicated upon reading Korean texts with care by Koreans and foreigners, this study recruited 16 participants (eight Koreans and eight foreigners). The foreigners were limited to the language course students studying the intermediate level Korean course at university-affiliated language institutions within Seoul Metropolitan Area. To identify cognitive load, as they read a text by level selected from the Korean books (difficulty: eight levels) published by King Sejong Institute (Sejonghakdang.org), the EEG sensor was attached to the frontal love (Fz) and occipital lobe (Oz). After the experiment, this study carried out a questionnaire survey to measure subjective evaluation, and identified the comprehension and difficulty on grammar and words. To find out the effects on schema that may affect text comprehension, this study controlled the Korean texts, and measured EEG and subjective satisfaction. Results: To identify brain's cognitive load, beta band was extracted. As a result, interactions (Fz: p =0.48; Oz: p =0.00) were revealed according to Koreans and foreigners, and difficulty of the text. The cognitive loads of Koreans, the readers whose mother tongue is Korean, were lower in reading Korean texts than those of the foreigners, and the foreigners' cognitive loads became higher gradually according to the difficulty of the texts. From the text four, which is intermediate level in difficulty, remarkable differences started to appear in comparison of the Koreans and foreigners in the beginner's level text. In the subjective evaluation, interactions were revealed according to the Koreans and foreigners and text difficulty (p =0.00), and satisfaction was lower, as the difficulty of the text became higher. Conclusion: When there was background knowledge in reading, namely schema was formed, the comprehension and satisfaction of the texts were higher, although higher levels of vocabulary and grammar were included in the texts than those of the readers. In the case of a text in which the difficulty of grammar was felt high in the subjective evaluation, foreigners' cognitive loads were also high, which shows the result of the loads' going up higher in proportion to the increase of difficulty. This means that the grammar factor functions as a stress factor to the foreigners' reading comprehension. Application: This study quantitatively evaluated the cognitive loads of Koreans and foreigners through EEG, based on readers and the text difficulty, when they read Korean texts. The results of this study can be used for making Korean teaching materials or Korean education content and topic selection for foreigners. If research scope is expanded to reading process using an eye-tracker, the reading education program and evaluation method for foreigners can be developed on the basis of quantitative values.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.650-660
• /
• 2017

This study aims to research the indication way and contents description of grammar presented in Korean textbooks. Therefore we examine the common elements of grammar in four Korean textbooks and the transcription, notation methods and meaning descriptions the books use to present grammar items. After analyzing Korean textbooks for the beginner level, we found just 20 similar items among a total of 100-150 grammar items. Advanced researches required to examine the selection and classification of grammatical items in Korean education. The results show that it used as the same name "grammar" expressed in Korean textbooks compared to using different names in the past. We consider that just 20 grammar items are the same because the range of grammar items in every textbook is different including vocabulary, sentences etc. The study found that grammar items are expressed differently in the type of indication way, order of arrangement, and marks. We suggest that it is better to indicate the style of representation used in grammar items because an additional problem such as type of indication way, order of arrangement is removed by doing so. The study also found grammar items are expressed differently in the meaning description and grammar range of explanation of Korean textbooks. This study suggests that morphological information, restriction information and meaning should be described at a basic level. This study allows us to consider the indication way and contents description of grammar are presented in Korean textbooks.