• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.1-22
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• 2007

The study examined the effects of explicit derivational morphology instruction (henceforth DMI) on the incidental vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension of 132 Korean 1st-year high school students who responded to a battery of tests (two vocabulary tests and a reading comprehension test). Multiple statistical tools were used to analyze the data: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Simple Regression Analysis, Tests of Simple Main Effects, and effect size computation using Cohen's d. The results indicated that (a) DMI enhanced students' ability to infer word meanings in context, (b) DMI promoted high proficiency students' reading comprehension, whereas it impeded intermediate proficiency students' reading comprehension, (c) vocabulary knowledge has a strong positive predictive value for reading comprehension, and (d) the gaps of vocabulary knowledge across proficiency levels were still substantial, despite the observation that DMI promoted students' vocabulary acquisition. These results have a bearing on English as Foreign Language (EFL) reading pedagogy.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.153-161
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• 2013

Recently, there has been a tremendous increase in the availability of educational materials for foreign language learning. As part of this trend, there has been an increase in the amount of electronically mediated materials available. However, conventional educational contents developed using computer technology has provided typically one-way information, which is not the most helpful thing for users. Providing the user's convenience requires additional off-line analysis for diagnosing an individual user's learning. To improve the user's comprehension of texts written in a foreign language, we propose an intelligent learning tool based on the analysis of the user's eyeball movements, which is able to diagnose and improve foreign language reading ability by providing necessary supplementary aid just when it is needed. To determine the user's learning state, we correlate their eye movements with findings from research in cognitive psychology and neurophysiology. Based on this, the learning tool can distinguish whether users know or do not know words when they are reading foreign language sentences. If the learning tool judges a word to be unknown, it immediately provides the student with the meaning of the word by extracting it from an on-line dictionary. The proposed model provides a tool which empowers independent learning and makes access to the meanings of unknown words automatic. In this way, it can enhance a user's reading achievement as well as satisfaction with text comprehension in a foreign language.

• 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.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.21-40
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• 2004

This study Questioned what happens in L2 reading comprehension of the expository text, as measured by recall and inference-making abilities, when a L2 reader was induced to develop a content schema about the topic of a target text, but the structure of that schema departs from the structure of the target text Seventy-four. Korean university students read either the same version text twice (consistent condition) or two different version texts (inconsistent condition) with a three-day interval between the two readings. The results of a verification test indicate that, for those subjects with higher L2 reading proficiency, the inconsistent condition was more beneficial than the consistent condition for the inference-making task. On the other hand, for lower-level L2 readers, the consistent condition was more favorable for the recall task. It was concluded that inducing a structurally inconsistent schema through an L2 pre-reading would be beneficial only when the reader's L2 linguistic ability is proficient enough to produce necessary propositions from the pre-reading.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.6
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• pp.1-24
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• 2000

Listening comprehension is an integrative and creative process of interaction through which listeners receive speakers' production of linguistic or non-linguistic knowledge. Compared with reading comprehension, it may arouse difficulties and thus impose more burdens on foreign learners. The Audio-Lingual Method focused primarily on speaking. Mimicry, repetition, rote memory, and transformation drills actually interfered with listening comprehension. So learners lost interest and were not highly motivated. Improving listening comprehension requires continual attentiveness and interest. Listening skill can be extended systematically only when students are frequently exposed to a wide range of listening materials with an affective, cultural, social, and psycholinguistic approach. Therefore, teachers should help students learn how to comprehend intactly the overall meaning of intended messages. The literature on teaching listening skill suggests various useful activities: TPR, dictation, role playing, singing, picture recognition, completion, prediction, seeking specific information, summarizing, labeling, humor, jokes, cartoons, media, and so on. Practical classroom teaching necessitates a systematic procedure in which students should take part in meaningful tasks/activities. In addition to this, learners must practice listening comprehension trough a self-study process.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.283-306
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• 2012

This study dealt with an issue of teaching Korean as a foreign language in North Korea through textbook analysis. The literature in this field has been quite rare compared to that in other fields in Korean language education, which is due to the adverse circumstances under which research into North Korea is currently carried out. The textbooks analyzed were 조선말회화(1) and 조선말회화(3) and the two learners who had studied Korean with these textbooks were interviewed. The main results show that (a) the grammar points in each chapter are unevenly distributed in 조선말회화(1), which makes it not look learner-centered; (b) each chapter in 조선말회화(1) is composed of speech acts, topics and situations, which renders it useful to its learners; (c) 조선말회화(3) emphasizes Korean oral discoursal features as a conversational textbook; and (d) 조선말회화(3) also covers much of reading comprehension-focused contents, which its learners may find burdensome. Foreseeing a possibility of teaching Korean as a foreign language in a reunified Korea makes it critical to carry out research into teaching Korean as a foreign language in North Korea. This calls for future collaborative research into this issue between two Koreas.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.5
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• pp.49-62
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• 1999

Education systems throughout the world encourage their students to learn languages other than their native one. In Australia, our Education Boards provide students with the opportunity to learn European and Asian languages. French, German, Chinese and Japanese are the most popular languages studied in elementary and high schools. This choice is a reflection of Australias European heritage and its geographical position near Asia. In most non-English speaking countries, English is the foreign language most readily available to students. In Korea, the English language is actively promoted by the Education Department and, in less official ways, by companies and the public. It is impossible to be anywhere in Korea without seeing the English language alongside or intermingled with Korean. When I ask students why they are learning English, I receive answers that include the word globalization and the importance of English throughout the world. When I press further and ask why they personally are learning English, the students mention passing exams, usually high school tests or TOEIC, and the necessity of passing the latter to obtain a good job. Seldom do I ever hear anything about communication: about the desire to talk with other people in English, to read novels or poetry in English, to understand movies or pop-songs in English, to chat on the Internet in English, to search for information on the Internet in English, or to email pen-pals in English. Yet isnt communication the only valid reason for learning a language? We learn our native language to communicate with those around us. Shouldnt we set the same goal for learning a foreign language? In my opinion communication, whether it is reading and writing or speaking and listening, must be central to language learning. Learning a language to pass examinations is meaningless unless those examinations are a reliable indicator of the ability of the student to communicate. In previous eras, most communication in a foreign language was through reading novels or formal letters. This required a thorough knowledge of grammar and a large vocabulary. Todays communication is much less formal. Telephone conversations, tele-conferences, faxes and emails allow people to communicate regularly and informally. Reading materials are also less formal as popular novels and newspapers are available world-wide. Movies and popular songs have added to the range of informal communication available. Finally travel has ensured that people from different cultures will meet easily and regularly. This informal communication requires less emphasis on grammar and vocabulary and more emphasis on comprehension and confidence to speak. Placing communication central to language learning has important implications for the Education system and for teachers.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.59-87
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• 2023

The aim of this study is to provide practical instances of implementing picture book reading sessions within school libraries to enhance language proficiency and foster emotional stability among lower-grade multicultural students hailing from foreign backgrounds. The research outlines the design and execution of a picture book reading program tailored for multicultural students, with analysis based on the outcomes of actual classroom implementations. In the course of the study, existing literature pertaining to the use of picture books for enhancing multicultural education and language skills was reviewed. This informed the development of a structured class procedure by extracting core components. Indeed, 43 multicultural students in five classes in the first and second grades of A Elementary School in Gyeonggi-do were given three pilot classes for each class for 20 weeks and a total of 100 picture book reading classes, each with 17 main lessons. This study establishes the positive impact of picture book reading classes on the Korean language comprehension of multicultural students. The results confirm positive improvements in students' ability to understand Korean, as evidenced by enhanced Korean expression and presentation skills, increased library usage, and a positive shift in classroom attitude. The procedure for reading picture books using school libraries proposed in this study was actually conceived and developed in the course of class operation in the school education field, reflecting the changes brought about by the increase of multicultural students and the need to improve the class environment. Through this practical investigation, important insights have been extracted regarding how picture book reading sessions designed for elementary school students from multicultural backgrounds can enhance the classroom environment and elevate learning outcomes.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1-9
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• 2019

In an effort to explore the effects of Youtube video-watching activities on Korean college students' English reading comprehension skills, 148 undergraduate students who enrolled in a General English class at a university in Korea participated in the present study. Participants were randomly classified into four groups - three experimental groups and one control group - according to when they watch videos: before class (n = 33), during class (n = 42), after class (n = 36), and none (n = 37). Over 16 weeks, the three experimental groups engaged in Youtube video-watching activities for about 10 minutes before, during, and after the class, while the control group did not. Pre- and post-tests were administered to confirm the effects of the use of Youtube videos on improving English reading comprehension skills. To compare the improvement between groups, a one-way ANOVA was also run. Major findings are as follows: First, participants in all the three experimental groups significantly improved their English reading comprehension skills, indicating the beneficial effects of Youtube video-watching activities. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the mean improvement between the groups. Based on this, limitations and suggestions for the future research are discussed at the end.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.1
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• pp.109-127
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• 1995

Due to frequent international exchanges, there has been much emphasis on communication proficiency in foreign language education. However, when we look back upon teaching English in Korea over past years, we find that English teaching has been dominated mainly by Grammar-Translation Method, which makes teachers and students pay little attention to listening skill that is regarded as the basis of communication proficiency. Recently many English teachers have shown their interest in listening skill, so they come to use the textbook record tapes to improve listening skill. But listening training by textbook record tapes seems to make students feel bored. So the purpose of this study is to suggest an effective way of improving listening skill by means of Pop Songs that the students are indulged in. The processes of this study consist of three stages : 1) listening to songs, 2) explanation about structures and vocabularies in songs, 3) filling in blanks while listening. The subjects in this study are freshmen 88 students in girls' High School They are grouped into two : one is experimental group and the other control group. Among the subjects, the former have been taught by the lesson plan using pop songs, while the latter by the lesson plan using textbook record tapes. The experiment lasts about 9 months (from March to November, l994) The data for analyzing the study results have been collected from two kinds of tests : one is listening test and the other comprehensive test. The hypothesises of this study areas follows : 1) Depending on hearing materials (experimental material vs traditional material), there will be a difference in scores of listening skills between EG (experimental group) and CG (control group), 2) Depending on the interest on pop songs, there will be a difference in scores of hearing skills in CG, 3) Depending on hearing material. there will be a difference in scores of overall English skills between EG and CG, 4) Improvement in listening skill will give influence on the overall English scores. The findings of this study indicate that pop songs are effective to improve students' listening skill, that students' interest in the hearing material is important, and that listening skill is closely related to other skills, especially reading skill. It can be concluded that English teachers should make efforts to find the suitable listening materials which will help students to improve their listening proficiency effectively.