• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.67-77
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• 2014

This study investigated (1) whether Korean learners of English use discourse-level prosody in L2 production as native speakers of English do, and (2) whether discourse-level prosody is also found in the Korean language, as is evident in the prosody of native speakers of English. The study compared the production of the same 15 sentences in two types of reading materials, sentence-level and discourse-level. This study analyzed the onset pitch, sentence mean pitch and pause length to examine the paratone (intonational paragraph) realization in discourse-level speech. The results showed that in L2 discourse-level prosody, the Korean speakers were limited in displaying paratone and did not made significant difference between sentence-level and discourse-level prosody. On the other hand, in L1 discourse-level text, both English and Korean participants demonstrated paratone using pitch. However, there were differences in using prosodic cues between two groups. In using pauses, the ES group paused longer before both the orthographically marked and not marked topic sentences. The KS group paused longer only before the orthographically marked topic sentence in both L1 and L2 text reading. In the comparison of sentence-level and discourse-level prosody, the topic sentences were marked by different prosodic cues. English participants used higher sentence mean pitch, and the Korean participants used higher onset pitch.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.135-143
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• 2012

Discourse is regarded as an important component of communication assessment, but studies about the discourse characteristics of the elderly are scant. The purpose of this study was to confirm the effects of aging, gender, and educational level on discourse in elderly people with normal cognitive function. Forty normal elderly and forty young people participated in this study. A picture description task (Boston Cookie-Theft picture) was used to examine discourse function. The description task was analyzed for both productivity (total number of sentences, total number of syllables, and syllables per sentence) and semantics (CIU ratio). The results were as follows: 1) Only CIU ratio differed significantly according to age. 2) In the total number of syllables and syllables per sentence, females demonstrate a higher number than males. 3) The CIU ratio differed significantly according to educational level. These results suggest that impairment of communicative function is an aspect of cognitive impairment that can be related to aging. Also, discourse performance in the elderly is associated with their gender and educational level.

• Language and Information
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.91-103
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• 2002

The temporal structure of events on the discourse level has long been of great interest in both theoretical and computational linguistics. In this paper, we offer a unified approach to the temporal relationships related to a hierarchical discourse structure. We apply the method of pronoun resolution to the interpretation of tense. It is based on an analysis within the framework of the controlled information packaging theory. A unique aspect of our account is that temporal interpretation across discourse segments in global discourse is subject to the same principles as the interpretation of global anaphora, and that there is thus no need to postulate independent principles to account for the discourse behaviour of tense. In this way, we can neatly explain the general view that tense parallels the anaphoric nature of pronouns.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.179-217
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• 2011

This paper discusses the type of discourse associated with mental illness and individuals with mental illness in the context of TV documentary. Discourse is an linguistic product which prescribes and interprets the reality and reconstructs the reality systematically. Therefore, TV documentary contents illuminate the dominant discourse associate with mental illness through the diverse types of representation. We picked four TV documentaries from each public channels and analyzed these documentaries using Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis. Faircough suggests the analysis frame consisting of three level. The analysis reveals that TV documentaries produce the discourse "the Completion of Distinction" associated with mental illness and individuals with mental illness. TV documentaries suggest the reason why we distinct them from us in textual level. In discourse practice level, they suggest the method and the principal agent of distinction. For social practice, TV documentaries reinforce the dual attitude of viewer. Alternative discourse associated with mental illness and individuals with mental illness will be constructed when individuals with mental illness recovers the status of principal agents and produces strong voices about themselves.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.137-150
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• 2004

This paper investigates the prosodic characteristics of discourse boundaries in spontaneous conversation. In this study, the term 'conversation' is taken to refer to a kind of talk in which two or more participants alternate in speaking about particular topics. Such a definition implies that there are at least two sorts of structures in the conversation: textual structure and interactive structure. This requires us to consider not just the textual influences on prosody but also the impact of interactive context. The aim of this study is to find out the acoustic-prosodic means used by speakers to signal discourse boundaries in conversational interaction. The results show that the conflict between the structural level and the interactive level obliges the speakers to reorganize the prosodic variables according to the type of discourse boundaries.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.53-80
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• 2012

This study was designed to find the characteristics of mathematical errors and discourse in simultaneous equations and inequalities for migrant students from North Korea. 5 sample students participated, who attended in an alternative school for the migrant students from North Korea at the study in Seoul, Korea. A total of 8 lesson units were performed as an extra curriculum activity once a week during the 1st semester, 2011. The results indicated that students showed technical errors, encoding errors, misunderstood symbols, misinterpreted language, and misunderstood Chines characters of Koreans and the discourse levels improved from the zero level to the third level, but the scenes of the third level did not constantly happen. Nevertheless, the components of discourse, explanation & justification, were activated and as a result, evaluation & elaboration increased in ERE pattern on communication.

• Language and Information
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2009

Summarization is a complex cognitive task and its simulation is very difficult for machines. This paper presents an automatic summarization strategy that is based on a discourse categorization of the textual information. This categorization is carried out by the automatic identification of discourse markers in texts. We defend here the use of discourse methods in automatic summarization. Two evaluations of the summarization strategy are presented. The summaries produced by our strategy are evaluated with summaries produced by humans and other applications. These two evaluations display well the capacity of our application, based on EXCOM, to produce summaries comparable to the summaries of other applications.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.209-233
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to analyze the pragmatic functions of '-ketun(yo)' expressed in the discourse associating with the context of communication based on the actual conversations of Korean native speakers. As discourse is closely related to the context, contextual factors surrounding the discourse should be actively considered in order to reveal the function of grammar expressed in the discourse. Also, there is need to consider the grammatical functions in terms of the linguistic user which is the subject of interaction in the discourse. Based on this necessity, in this study, we analyzed the pragmatic functions of '-ketun(yo).' As a result, '-ketun(yo)-' had a great influence on the formation and expansion of the shared context in communication contexts. The shared context is expanded through generative mutual knowledge and priori mutual knowledge. As a result of the conversation analysis, '-ketun(yo)-' was used at a high frequency in the expansion of generative mutual knowledge formation. In addition, '-ketun(yo)-' appeared to have a discourse cohesion function that binds topics with other topics. In the case that '-ketun(yo)-' is formed through priori mutual knowledge, '-ketun(yo)-' could be used as a sign to lead the union of the speaker and the listener. This study has significance in that it examines the pragmatic functions of '-ketun(yo)-' in relation to the context of communication based on actual utterance.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.63-92
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• 2020

Student engagement in high-level, cognitively demanding instruction is pivotal for student learning. However, many teachers are unable to maintain such instruction, especially in instances of non-responsive students. This case study of three middle school teachers explores prompts that aim to move classroom discussions past student silence. Prompt sequences were categorized into Progressing, Focusing, and Redirecting Actions, and then analyzed for maintenance of high levels of cognitive demand. Results indicate that specific prompt types are prone to either raise or diminish the cognitive demand of a discussion. While Focusing Actions afforded students opportunities to process information on a more meaningful level, Progressing Actions typically lowered cognitive demand in an effort to get through mathematics content or a specific method or procedure. Prompts that raise cognitive demand typically start out as procedural or concrete and progress to include students' thoughts or ideas about mathematical concepts. This study aims to discuss five specific implications on how teachers can use prompting techniques to effectively maintain cognitively challenging discourse through moments of student silence.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.255-292
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• 2018

Most grading scales of Korean language proficiency tests are based on existing grading scales that are not empirically verified. The purpose of this study is to develop an empirically verified scale descriptor. The 'Performance data-driven approach' that is suggested by Fulcher (1987) was used to develop the detailed description of characteristics for each level of performance. This study is focused on the functional phase of speech samples analysis (coding data) to create explanatory categories of discourse skills into which individual observations of speech phenomena can be scored. The speech samples that were collected through this study demonstrated stages of speech that can be a foundation of a grading scale. The data used in the study was collected from 23 native speakers of Korean. Speech samples were recorded from simulated speaking tests using the 'REFUSAL' task, and transcribed for analysis. The transcript was analyzed using discourse analysis. The result showed that the 'REFUSAL' task needs to go through four functional phases in actual communication. Furthermore, this study found specific and detailed explanatory categories of discourse competence based on the actual native speaker's speech data. Such findings are expected to contribute to the development of more valid and reliable speaking assessment.