• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-27
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• 2006

This study investigated how EFL readers critically read texts which are written in English. Although critical reading has been discussed in advanced EFL and ESL contexts there has not been much research on the critical reading of beginning EFL learners. Many educators are recommending that a critical perspective be adopted so that L2 learners can become empowered rather than indoctrinated. In this study, the researcher has examined the critical reading practices of five beginning level EFL readers in Korea and five first language readers of English in the United States as they read a news editorial article. The significant findings were discussed related to critical reading practice of L2 readers. The findings of the study can help the educators in English education in improving the curriculum, the teaching methodology and the learning theory for EFL reading for critical reading.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.569-580
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• 2013

This study examined how a Structured Reading Framework (SRF) is related to improving students' critical thinking ability in an argument-based inquiry approach, called the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach. A total of 75 $8^{th}$ graders participated in the study, with 34 in the control group and 41 in the treatment group. The gains in critical thinking skills were compared between two groups, and relationships among the components of the reading framework and the critical thinking skills were explored at the group level. Result indicates that the treatment group who used the SRF had larger gains in critical thinking scores than control group who used the Original Reading Framework (ORF). In addition, results show that the correlations between Reading Framework (RF) components and critical thinking scores are statistically significant in the treatment group, while no correlations exist in the control group. It appears that using the SRF have an impact on developing students' critical thinking ability by providing a scaffold to assist argumentation practice.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.89-112
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• 2004

This article examines the ways in which language can be exploited in the manipulation of the reader's interpretation of a text to make him/her take certain lines of thought according to the writer's persuasive intents. Such functions of language provide valid foundations to support the teaching of critical reading skills and to explore an adequate approach to discourse analysis. A pilot study was conducted to find out the extent to which the reader can be coaxed into thinking in some fashions guided by specific linguistic devices employed for ideological texts. Forty-seven subjects divided into two groups (humanities majors and natural science majors at undergraduate level) joined the two-fold questionnaire surveys intended to look at their critical reading abilities. The empirical results indicate that college students whose majors are humanities were more inclined to take a holistic approach in processing commercial advertisement texts and their abilities for critical interpretation appeared to be lower than those of the subjects whose majors are natural sciences, who showed a relatively high tendency to take an analytical approach in decoding the textual facts. As a consequence, pedagogic implications for increasing critical reading abilities have resulted in a set of analytical procedures concerning ideological texts which is linked with instructional guidelines to emphasize the importance of the reader's logical and analytical reasoning power, entirely accepted as a general prerequisite for cracking the covert language gambits.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.161-175
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• 2011

This paper examines Korean EFL high school students' reader responses on an expository text and a narrative text with the same topic. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether they have different reading models depending on the two genres and whether there are any differences depending on the learners' proficiency levels. The analysis focuses on textual, critical, and aesthetic reading models in the reader responses written in English by science-gifted high school students (N=30). The results show that the participants have different reading models in reading an expository text and a narrative text. They tend to read the expository text in a more critical way while reading the narrative text in a more personal and emotional way. Moreover, regardless of the proficiency levels, they wrote longer responses on the narrative text than the expository text. However, the proficiency level of English does not support any significant differences in the types of reading models. The findings provide Korean EFL high school students' characteristics in L2 reading and suggest the pedagogical implication to pursue linguistic development as well as reading for pleasure.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.129-152
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• 2021

Regardless of previous educational attempts in youth career education, there are not specific methods for reading to improve career maturity yet. This study aims to identify the reading method based on cognitive aspect which impacts career maturity and the mediation effect of self-efficacy in this process. This study tries to understand the roles of reading by applying the various reading methods suggested in the 2015 Revised National Curriculum. Data was collected through interviews and statistical analysis from a survey completed by middle school students. Findings showed that critical reading affected the decisiveness as well as the confidence of career maturity. Also, emotional reading and creative reading influenced the preparation of career maturity. Critical reading impacted all subvariables of self-efficacy - confidence, self-regulating efficacy, and task difficulty preference. Findings also showed that emotional reading affected self-regulating efficacy. Ultimately, the confidence of self-efficacy partly mediated critical reading and decisiveness. This study contributes to guiding reading instructions for practitioners and school curriculums to develop career maturity and self-efficacy.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.43-77
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to analyze the critical factors that have made Koreans such poor readers. What is the factors in make poor progress in reading of the Korean. The emphasis was put on identifying some indigenous barriers against buiding ‘good’ reading habits. Especially investigated are the following three aspects: historical, socio-educational, and psychological. This study suggested the policies and strategies for correcting and improving the poor reading of Korean.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.179-207
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• 2022

This study was performed in order to find implications for further activating the reading discussion program by conducting a Havruta-based reading discussion program for elementary school students in the library, by measuring and analyzing the effect on the participants. The results of the study are as follows: First, as a result of comparative analysis between the pre- and post-scores on the effectiveness of the Havruta reading discussion program, it was found that the average score of the post-test was high. Second, as a result of analyzing the differences in the changes in the results of the pre-survey compared to the post-survey according to the general characteristics of the participants, it was found that there were significant differences in the characteristics of 'interest in reading' for the 'critical thinking ability' factor, the characteristics of 'average monthly reading capacity' for the 'critical thinking ability' factor, the characteristics of 'academic performance' for the 'research ability' factor, and the characteristics of 'gender', 'academic performance', and 'interest in reading' for the 'persuasive ability' factor. Third, as a result of analyzing how the effects of the Havruta reading discussion program are affected by the constituent factors of reading and discussion ability, it was found that the factors 'critical reading ability' and 'critical thinking ability' had an effect. As a result, it was identified that there are effects and advantages of the Havruta-based reading discussion program in the library.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.209-234
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• 2006

In this study, I examined the current situation of the reading instruction policy and the entity of the arguments and criticism surrounding the reading instruction policy. In addition, on the basis of this research I analyzed the problems of the reading instruction policy. Moreover, I suggested for the desirable direction and alternative of the reading instruction policy and the reading instruction.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.391-393
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• 2014

• Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.73-85
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• 2016

Speech-print mapping awareness is defined as the awareness of the principles underpinning how speech sound is matched to print symbols. Chinese is unique in that it follows the one syllable one character mapping principle. The present study examined the predictive power of speech-print mapping awareness in young children's word reading. Seventy-four Hong Kong children from the first and second kindergarten years were tested with phonological awareness, visual skills, syllable-level mapping awareness, and Chinese reading ability at Time 1. Chinese reading abilities were tested again 1 year later. It was found that syllable-level mapping awareness predicted Chinese word reading abilities 12 months later. Further, it seemed that the link of syllable mapping to Chinese reading is particularly significant for beginning readers. The findings suggest that understanding the language-specific speech-print mapping principle is critical for reading acquisition at the early stage of reading development.