• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.79-91
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• 2011

The purpose of this paper was to take an in-depth look at early American English around the $17^{th}$ and $18^{th}$ century when immigrants from different European countries started to move into the New World. The paper attempted to describe early American English in relation to the process of immigration and settlement from a historical perspective. With a focus on major features of early American English such as uniformity, archaism and richness of lexicon, the paper tried to answer the questions such as how settlement influenced the formation and distribution of regional dialects across the continent, why immigrants tended to show a preference for a uniform way of speaking rather than choosing a variety of regional dialects for communication, and what role foreign languages played in the development of early American English. The overall findings based on the answers to these questions showed how American English went through a variety of processes and changes at the early stages of its development to become a national language later. The paper concluded with some remarks about the implications of the findings for EFL learning and the direction of future research on early American English.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.497-506
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• 2004

This study examines the influence of early English education on children's bilingual language development to see whether the early exposure to English education affects children's competencies of both English and Korean. Based on this purpose, it attempts to examine whether it supports additive or subtractive bilingualism. The competencies of both English and Korean of the children with early English education were, therefore, compared with those of the children without it, and the relation between the two competencies was also studied. For this research, two different groups of children - one with 48 children who attend English kindergarten and the other with 60 children who attend only Korean kindergarten - took PPVT-R in Korean and in English each. The result shows that children with early English education have more English competency than those without it. No significant differences, however, are found in Korean competency between the two groups. The relation between the two competencies proves positive in children with early English education. It can thus be concluded that the effect of early English education is partially positive on children's language development, which may support the additive bilingualism that children's second language can improve without losing their native language competency. In addition, this result will be able to provide for us the direction and the guideline to the policy of foreign language education and early education.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.149-174
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• 2012

This research aims at exploring what Korean teachers of English need for their effective professional development, particularly from the perspectives of peer trainers who are school teachers as well as teacher trainers. The research is based on an assumption that despite the critical roles of peer trainers in the changing process of English education, very little attention has been paid to listening to their voices. Having an awareness of the meaningfulness of their voices in teacher education, the researcher collected and analyzed the data, employing a questionnaire responded by 32 peer trainers and in-depth group interview with 6 peer trainers who responded the questionnaire. The research findings suggest that the majority of peer trainers believe that the priority should be put on teaching practice rather than language competence for Korean English language teacher development. It has been found that they believe that teacher learning within the workplace with some support from outside experts is the most effective way of making classroom change possible and keeping teachers' professional development sustainable. Finally, the research suggests school-based professional development as an alternative strategy to satisfy their needs on effective and sustainable professional development.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.159-180
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• 2007

The present study proposes a set of activities of teaching English reading through English newspapers to narrow the gap between the English required in authentic situation and the one taught in schools. Newspapers can provide students with opportunities to review what they have studied in the classes. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to investigate how extra-curricular activities using English newspapers have an influence on the development of the three low-achieving high school students' English reading ability. The five-month study yielded that the activities using English newspapers exerted positive effects on the students' interest in English and their English scores. It suggests that using English newspapers as teaching materials may be a desirable way both to motivate students to study English harder and to develop their English reading ability.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.65-76
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• 2021

The aim of this study was to explore the use of Google Classroom as a learning management system for College English. The study targeted 34 university students. They took part in various activities, such as writing reactions to video lectures, peer-editing essays, and recording video presentations, et cetera. For the study, a t-test was conducted to evaluate the English development of the students. The two essays that each student wrote were used as the data sources. The result (t=-5.854, p=.000) indicated an improvement in their English writing proficiency. In addition, a survey was conducted to gather students' feedback regarding their perceptions towards the course. The study covered five aspects of their experience: Google Classroom, language development, Quizlet, classroom experience, and essay-writing experience. From the results, students indicated a positive response to the program. The use of Google Classroom in an online learning setting accomplishes two things; it helped the students in the development of their English proficiency, and provided activities that students find interesting, which in turn stimulates their self-learning spirit.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.291-315
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• 2010

The present study examined the role of dialogue journaling in Korean students' English writing development. Thirteen Korean middle school students participated in a five-week dialogue journal writing program. The participants' English writing skills before and after their dialogue journaling were compared in terms of holistic and analytical scores of their English essays. The study also examined the changes in the participants' language use, as manifested in their dialogue journals. The results indicated the positive influence of dialogue journal writing on the participants' English writing skills in the areas of content and lexical fluency. As for the linguistic evidence that related dialogue journaling to English writing development, the three patterns of change in language use emerged from the participants' dialogue journals: a) raised awareness on grammar conventions, b) raised awareness on discourse conventions, and c) increased depth and richness in idea development. There were also three unhelpful factors associated with little improvement of English writing: a) lack in basic writing skills, b) repetitive use of identical sentence patterns, and c) lack in grammatical and lexical awareness. Overall, the results suggested that dialogue journaling could facilitate Korean students' English writing development when it creates authentic communicative interactions between the teacher and students.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.699-710
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• 2007

The study purposes to explore the effects of individual characteristics and home environments of children on their bilingual language aquisition, that is, to examine whether their English language competency is different from their Korean language competency depending on those variables. Thus English or Korean language competency of children who had had early exposure in English learning were studied in terms of child's individual characteristics such as age, gender, exposure period to English, intelligence, and experiences of visiting English-speaking countries, and home environments such as parental age, educational level, income level, their perceived English competency, their perceived significance of English and Korean language, and the frequency of using English at home. 72 children who went to English kindergarten were tested with Peabody Pictures Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) in Korean version and in English version respectively. The results show that child's intelligence and experiences of visiting English-speaking countries influence their Korean language competency. Also child's age, exposure period to English and experiences of visiting English-speaking countries influence their English language competency. Moreover their mother's educational background, father's English fluency, mothers' English fluency, and the frequency of using English at home influence child's English language competency, whereas any variables did not influence child's Korean language competency. Accordingly, child's English and Korean language competencies are related to each other.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.129-150
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• 2009

This paper attempts to examine the effect of children's English stories on the development of Korean EFL primary school learners' listening and speaking competences and their motivation to learn English. This paper also discusses factors of English children's stories that make EFL learners' language learning efficient. Participants were 120 primary school students who attend one of the elementary schools in Chungnam province. They were randomly chosen and divided into two groups: experimental and control groups. In order to collect data, students' listening and speaking proficiency pre- and post-tests and the pre- and post-questionnaires regarding the participants' motivation to learn English were administered. The data were analyzed by ANOVA. The results indicate that the application of English children's stories to EFL learning settings can be an efficient way to improve EFL learners' listening and speaking competences and motivation to learn their target language. The findings of this study suggest that English children's stories provide language learners with interest, meaningful and authentic contexts and enjoyment. The pedagogical suggestion and implications are provided for EFL educators and teachers.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.585-599
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• 2020

This study investigated children's interests in learning English, affected by educational activities in and out of institutes, and mothers' perceptions regarding early childhood English education. We recruited, 253 mothers of 3- to 5-year-old children in either general kindergartens or English immersion institutes. They answered questions on socioeconomic status, perceived interest in English by their children, their perceptions regarding early childhood English education, and English education outside institutes. In addition, 42 English teachers provided information within institutes such as class time per week, teacher-pupil rate, and language use policy during class. The collected data were analyzed through SPSS 22 for frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The major findings are as follows. First, the two groups were in distinct learning environment. Second, mothers' perceptions and outside-institute activities were significantly different between the two groups. Third, the English interests of children at both institutes were influenced by mothers' worries and at-home English interactions. Fourth, education within institutes did not affect both group's English interests. Fifth, private education and socioeconomic status did not affect both group's English interests. Lastly, only the children's interests in English immersion institutes were affected by gender and mother's perceived necessities. Focusing children's interests, this study helps in understanding young children's affective aspects regarding learning English. The findings are expected to be a guideline for each home and institute to increase children's interest in learning English.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.171-198
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• 2009

The current study explored a pedagogical possibility of utilizing magic as a source of communicative tasks for young learners in developing their English speaking proficiency. Fifteen primary school students participated in the study, which consisted of a 17-week period of task-based English instruction and data collection. The participants were instructed to accomplish various types of magic task through collaborative group interaction. The data collected for the study pertained to the students' linguistic outputs, interactions in group and attitudes to English learning. They were analyzed for how magic tasks affect the students' English proficiency developments and group interactions. The study results suggested the significant improvement in the students' English speaking proficiencies. They revealed that magic tasks contributed to a) enhancing the motivation to speak in English, b) stimulating the creative and problem-solving processes, and c) providing the sufficient opportunity to repeat and internalize the target expressions. The study results also indicated that the students' satisfaction with their group members and tasks seemed to have positive influences on their interactions in group and English proficiency development. Further discussion and pedagogical implications are provided as well as the study limitations.