• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.87-108
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• 2007

Given that various classroom contextual factors influence the nature of writing instructional practices, it would be worthwhile to explore these factors to generate better environment for learning to write. Among many factors, this study examined teachers' beliefs and knowledge, which would operate as a very influential contextual factor in that changes in principles and methods of teaching writing would be the results of their underlying beliefs and knowledge related to teaching writing. Three professional teachers who teach second- and third-grade English language learners (ELLs) were interviewed, and the analysis of teacher interviews was conducted. The research findings indicated that basically all of the teachers perceived the role of writing in second language learning as very important, sharing the belief that the ultimate goal of teaching writing is to have their students gain fluency in writing and that some of instructional methods such as integration of writing and other language aspects, content-based writing, and providing scaffolding are important. In addition, some beliefs that two ESL teachers shared included the importance of ample and continuous opportunities to write, vocabulary knowledge, and explicit instruction about writing. Other beliefs, including the importance of creating a comfortable writing environment and opportunities for writing for varied purposes and genres were represented.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.116-136
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• 2009

Since there are differences in the content, structure and functions of interpersonal communication during the practice of school science classes, it needs to articulate the difference of the modality of pedagogical practice in order to understand science teaching in detail. These characteristics of science teaching can be investigated by further insightful analysis on language in the science classroom. In this study, classroom discourse language codes using Bernstein's code theory were analyzed in the case of a middle school science class on the unit of minerals. The discourse language code was identified by the value of classification, which revealed power relations to the contexts of discourse and participants of discourse. It was also identified by the value of framing, which showed hierarchical relation between teacher and students as discourse subjects, and discursive control on the initiative of discourse. The results addressed that six types of discourse language codes were constructed and that those language codes reflected diverse modalities of science teaching from student-centered instruction to teacher-centered instruction in relation to classroom discourse. The modality of science teaching according to the transition tendencies of discourse language code showed dynamic variations of 'controlled student-centeredness inducing teaching' - 'positional student-centeredness permissive teaching' - 'controlled students' participation permissive teaching' - 'controlled student-centeredness facilitative teaching' - 'student-centeredness enhancing teaching'. In addition, results released that discursively and hierarchically weak control of discourse is necessary for enhancing student-centeredness of science teaching. Moreover, teaching practice enhancing student-centeredness can be accomplished by the harmony of a teacher's perception of discourse language code and his/her orientation to constructivist teaching and student-centered teaching.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.83-102
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• 2007

A math class in Korean university was taught in English for one semester and the students' improvement was measured in math content and English proficiency. Pre and post test in 9 week intervals showed that math content loaming in the immersion class was superior to the non-immersed class. Especially, the immersion class showed remarkable improvement in difficult problems among math content test problems. The immersion class improved in math-related English, but not in general English. It is discussed that the particular English expressions for math are hardly separable from the math content knowledge in English because understanding and using those expressions correctly means the students' understanding of math concept in English and thus the math concept itself.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2004

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the applicability of content and formal schemata for processing the scientific texts which encompass the human knowledge of the physical world. In general, schema theory is based on the culture-oriented background of a text. From this point of view, the problem as to whether both content and formal schemata are applicable to the comprehension of a scientific text deserves a focal attention in terms of information processing modes. The results of empirical study indicate that whereas the universality of general knowledge content about the natural world attenuates the tenets of schema theory, the rhetorical organization of scientific texts encourages the application of the schema-based approach; the reader's familiarity with the structural patterns of a text facilitates his reading comprehension.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.267-290
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to analyze the writing tasks included in the newly developed high school English textbooks in the aspects of genre, rhetorical structure, task type, and authenticity in order to find out whether these tasks could contribute to improving Korean EFL students' writing skills. A total of nine textbooks were selected for the study and every writing task in each textbook was analyzed. The results show that various types of genres were incorporated in the tasks, but very few opportunities were provided for students to acquire characteristics of specific genres. In terms of rhetorical structure of text, narration, illustration, and transaction were required most, whereas not a single writing task asked students to use classification or cause and effect. Many of the writing tasks analyzed offered linguistic and/or content support through the use of models, which displays traces of the product-based approach to teaching writing. Lastly, most of the tasks lacked authenticity represented by explicit discussion of purpose and audience. Implications for L2 writing task development and writing instruction in the Korean EFL context are discussed.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.93-112
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to deal with vocabulary in KFL. As a result of this study, learners learned vocabulary on average 43 points through contextual inference and introduction of the class to activate background knowledge. In particular, the implicit method showed the highest learning rate of 52 points, and the thematic method had a 41 point-learning rate. In contrast, the semantic method was the lowest with a 25 point-learning rate. There was no significant difference in the improvement rate of upper vocabulary learners, but in the case of the lower learner, there was significant difference in the improvement rate. The difference was not significant in the post-test relative gain rate of upper learners, but there was significant in lower learners. In the delayed test relative gain rate, the difference was significant in all groups. There was correlation between vocabulary difficulty and score, but there was no correlation with the thematic method. And there was no correlation between vocabulary difficulty, improvement rate and relative gain rate in all three classes. However, content understanding, lexical grade, improvement rate, and relative gain rate showed a significant correlation.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.1-24
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to analyze teachers' questions in the actual general Korean classroom for academic purposes and identify types of questions. The results of the question analysis by type identified 713 teacher's questions in total: echoic questions made up 41% while epistemic questions were 19.3% and expended question turned out to make up 39.7%. 'Comprehension check questions' were 29%, which was a major part in the echoic question. 'Referential questions' were a major part in the epistemic question. Also, the research discovered that 'knowledge integration' questions held the largest majority in expended questions. Since the teacher-led lecture was often conducted in the problem-presentation stage, the percentage of Echoic question was high; and moreover, the problem-solving stage promoted to come up with more improved solutions of the problem. In the outcome and presentation stage, it was discovered that the questions aimed to check understanding of content in the subject and expand thoughts. Therefore, it is necessary to develop strategies for teacher's questions by phase and further conduct research on the interaction between learners and teacher's questions in the future.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.207-229
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• 2010

The present study has sought to explore the critical issues of English immersion education through the voices of the four elementary teachers who have recently taught at immersion programs under the guidance of Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education. The interview data with three teachers and the teaching journals of one teacher were analyzed and categorized into two emergent themes: (1) current difficulties in the immersion programs and (2) possible problems with the implementations of immersion programs in all public schools. Specifically, the first issue included teachers' inadequate teaching skills for immersion programs, accumulated learning losses, and lack of immersion class hours. The second issue included workload imposed on immersion program teachers, promotion of private education, learning losses of other subjects, and administration for show. Finally, pedagogical implications are suggested.

• Smart Media Journal
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.24-32
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• 2016

Recently, the development of electronic teaching materials and the demand of digital learners have led the needs on the education contents that replace learning from character information and the change of an information design method for this. Chinese character education in the traditional schooling mainly focuses on writing and memorization (semantic memory). This way that the stories do not exist has brought the learners' recognition that Chinese character is difficult to learn. Meanwhile, for a language study such as English, cross-media development between printed materials and audio-visual materials has been actively introduced. The method that extends episode memories along with memorization through a story is widely used. Therefore, this content suggests a prototype, which is broken away from an existing way of learning Chinese character that mainly focuses on writing, one sided instruction and information cramming. This makes learners learn through a story from printed materials and animation. Furthermore, it suggests a method that extends episode memories through Chinese education contents based on IoT explaining the principle of Chinese character by combining IT technology (information and communications, IoT) and education contents on block toys.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.24-32
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• 2013

This paper determined students' ranks of difficulty on the use of materials in terms of 1) understanding the layout of the learning materials, 2) reading comprehension of the learning materials, and 3) realization on relevance to needs of the learning materials. It also determined students' 4) rank and frequency of attitude on the materials. With the data gathered through 128 survey questionnaires, 7 focused group discussions, and 10 interviews, the results were found out that there was an inappropriate assessment procedure set by this particular university. The researcher concludes that: 1) design of four types of classes by just using the two textbooks with their respective workbooks is grammar-based with limited conversation activities; 2) placement for these students in one big class size was implemented without considering their common interest and motivation and language levels; and, 3) qualification of teachers teaching these EFL students did not support students' real needs and the language program itself. Content professors who were made to teach may have the ability to input learning, but their teaching styles may differ from the ones who are real English teachers. This paper then recommends that teachers and school administration should have an appropriate placement exam before students attend the class, especially in a big class size. There could only be a few problems among students in one big class size when students' level of competence is proportioned. With this, topics and conversation activities can even be more flexible with the maneuver of art of questioning, various dimensions of thinking, strategic competence, learning attitude or behavior, etc. to ensure sustenance of communicative mode and level of interest and motivation in the classroom. Grammar-based instruction can only be taught when a need arises. Thus, the course description of each class will be able to transact the objectives ready for developing students' communication competence. Moreover, proper measurement can be utilized to validly assess the amount of students' learning and the progress of language curriculum design in terms of materials selection and teaching approach.