• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.201-223
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to observe the effects of text modification by comparing differences in Korean reading comprehension levels that arise from differences in vocabulary levels in texts. This study intends to use simplified texts with the vocabulary difficulty adjusted differently from the original text to measure reading comprehension levels of Korean learners and analyze the result. To measure reading comprehension, the researcher divided 55 Korean learners of intermediate to advanced level of fluency into two groups; the control group read the original text and the treatment group read a simplified text in which complex vocabulary were substituted with easier words of medium difficulty. Then the two groups were tested with the same questionnaire to measure comprehension levels of each group. The result showed that the groups that read simplified texts scored higher than the control group; this suggests that the reading comprehension level was increased in the treatment group. The experiment confirmed that unknown vocabulary density has direct impact on Korean reading comprehension. The result shows that the proportion of unknown vocabulary should be reduced for meaning-focused reading. It also demonstrates that comprehension of the learner was enhanced with lexical simplification rather than structural simplification i.e. simplification of grammar or sentences. Thus, diverse reading materials adjusted to the learners' level of fluency should be developed to enable reading for learning Korean. By reducing the burden of understanding the meaning of each vocabulary, learners will be able to achieve the initial goal of reading.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.75-90
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• 2024

This study analyzed the vocabularies presented in the 1st to 2nd grade elementary school mathematics field review textbook according to the 2022 revised curriculum using a 9th grade vocabulary system and improved them. The result of the analysis shows that the frequency of vocabulary that was not appropriate for the students' level was found to be 6.67% in the first semester of the first year and 12.17% in the second semester of the first year. For the first semester of the second year, it was 11.73%, and for the second semester of the second year, it was 14.19%. This shows that the frequency of vocabulary that may be difficult for students gradually increases. Based on the analysis results, vocabulary that had a high difficulty level but was not essential in the textbook was deleted, and essential vocabulary or vocabulary that was difficult for students was presented with pictures added or revised in more detail. In addition, words that can be modified with similar words with low lexical difficulty were replaced and presented. In this way, research on vocabulary difficulty can identify aspects of vocabulary used in textbooks and can help develop high-quality textbooks by appropriately modifying vocabulary for effective mathematics learning.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2016

Background: Elements of informed consent including capacity, disclosure, understanding, voluntariness, and permission of the participant, are all crucial for clinical trials to be legally and ethically valid. During the informed consent process, the patient information leaflet is an important information source which prospective research subjects can utilize in their decision-making. In the adequate provision of information, KGCP guideline necessitate 20 specific items, as well as the use language that individuals can understand. This study measures the vocabulary level of patient information leaflets in an effort to provide an objective evaluation on the readability of such material. Methods: The word difficulty of 13 leaflets was quantitatively evaluated using Kim kwang Hae's vocabulary grading framework, which was compared to the difficulty level of words found in the $6^{th}$ grade Korean textbook. The quantitative outcomes were statistically analyzed using chi-squared tests and linear by linear association for ordinal data. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the vocabulary level and frequency of words in leaflets and the 6th Korean textbook. The leaflets were on average 260 sentences and about roughly 15 pages long, including lay language (easier or equal to language used in primary school) of around 12% less; technical language of around 4.5% more. As the vocabulary grades increase, there was a distinct difference in vocabulary level between Korean textbook and each information leaflet (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Patient information leaflets may fail to provide appropriate information for self-determination by clinical trial subject through the difficulty level of its wording. Improvements in the degree of patients' understanding and appropriate use of information leaflets are collaboratively equipped to strengthen patient's autonomy and therefore guaranteeing participant's rights.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.151-160
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• 2015

This paper presents English vocabulary memorization system using forgetting curve to automatically adjust the vocabulary difficulty to match learner's level. Our system will decide the appropriate repetition cycle, depending on the number of memorizing words through the forgetting curve, then requires an iterative learning. No matter what learners know or do not know, words are reviewed. To save time by reviewing some words which have the highest probability that learners forget. And it provides vocabulary based on learner level, which makes learner maintain their interest and achievement. A general system provides vocabularies which difficulty matches with evaluated ones, or randomly provides some vocabularies without consideration of users' level. But we apply the "Glicko" system which is being used in the online chess game ranking system to adjust the vocabulary's difficulty. We utilize the system used in the one-by-one player system to our vocabulary-human system. As a result, learners's level and the vocabularies's difficulty is measured in the review process. Moreover it maximizes the performance of English vocabulary memorization by applying feedbacks from practice testing and distributed learning.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.255-294
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• 2018

The Buckwheat Season, evaluated as the best of Lee Hyo-seok's literature, is one of the short stories that represent Korean literature. However, vivid literary expressions such as lyrical and beautiful depictions, figurative expressions and dialects, which show the Korean beauty, rather make learners have difficulty and become a factor that fails in reading comprehension. Thus, it is necessary to revise and present the text modified for the learners' language level. The methods of revising a literary text include the revision of linguistic elements such as cryptic vocabulary or sentence structure and the revision of the composition of the text, e.g. suggestion of characters or plot, or insertion of illustration. The methods of revising the language of the text can be divided into methods of simplification and detailing. However, in the process of revising the text, many depend on the adapter's subjective perception, not revising it with objective criteria. This paper revised the text, utilizing by the Academy of Korean Studies, , and the by the National Institute of Korean Language to secure objectivity in revising the text.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.293-305
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• 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 Mathematical Education
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.263-282
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze the implementation of 2015 revised mathematics curriculum. This study focused on issues raised from the implementation. The teaching-learning methods for enhancing mathematical competencies, the amount and difficulty of mathematics in the 1st and 2nd grade, the level of vocabulary and sentence for students in the textbooks, and the support for successful implementation of the curriculum were collected and analyzed through questionnaires and interviews. As a result of the research, most of the teachers tried to improve the teaching and learning method considering mathematical competencies, but had difficulty in connecting contents and competencies. They also recognized that the amount and difficulty in the 1st and 2nd grade math, and the level of vocabulary and sentences presented in math textbooks were generally appropriate. However, they pointed out that the textbooks were over-emphasized in various ways out of basic calculation methods, and that the long sentences, which are not easy to read and understand by students who are not familiar with reading Korean, are included in the . They recognised that there is a large difference in level of reading Korean and understanding math among students. So we suggest that more active support is needed for the students who are learning slowly and the students who are having difficulty in reading Korean.

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

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.1-23
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• 2005

This paper is a qualitative and quantitative study. The main purpose of the paper is to diagnose what makes English communication difficult at the Korean EFL adult level. In order to obtain data, this study employed interviews and a questionnaire. We identified thirty three factors blocking pathways to oral communication. Qualitative analysis repeatedly revealed patterns such as lack of grammar, lack of vocabulary, lack of background knowledge, and peer pressure, but quantitative analysis yielded somewhat different results: lack of colloquial expressions, lack of vocabulary, lack of various topics, problems in the educational system, difficulty in using existing knowledge, and lack of grammar. Findings which were common to both qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest that lack of linguistic knowledge and lack of background knowledge are major barriers learners encounter in communication. On the basis of the results, suggestions are made for overcoming these barriers.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1-22
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• 2009

This case study aimed to explore proficient EFL readers' perceptions and experiences about reading tasks and how those perceptions and experiences influence their reading processing behaviors, and to examine how the cultural background of a text affects their reading strategies and comprehension. Three college students who were non-English majors participated in this study. Three data sources were employed: questionnaires, interviews, and think-alouds. The results showed that: (1) the participants emphasized comprehension as the goal of reading and considered themselves good EFL readers; (2) their reading purposes were closely associated with personal pursuits; (3) they preferred to read materials that deal with areas of interest but did not try to take a risk in terms of level of difficulty and/or length; (4) they implemented a multistrategic approach to reading in that the majority of their strategy use was in conjunction with their concern about meaning construction; (5) they were able to develop useful understandings of unknown vocabulary; and (6) their clear awareness of the cultural background presupposed in the text helped them invoke prior knowledge and reduce unknown vocabulary hindrances which contributed to comprehension. Pedagogical implications for EFL reading instruction are provided.