• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.185-207
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• 2009

This study investigated the extent of informational text genre appeared in English textbooks at grades six, seven, and nine. Employing content analysis to analyze the literary forms, the researcher identified genre in each reading selection of each English textbook and classified it into six categories - fiction, information, biography, poetry, play, or fantasy. Especially, informational genre was classified further into two subcategories - non-narrative and narrative - in order to investigate the extent of non-narrative informational text only. The text genre was examined by analyzing (a) the number of reading selections representing each genre and (b) the number of words in reading selections devoted to each genre. The most frequent type of genre at grade 6 and 7 was fiction with 94% and 71% respectively, whereas at grade 9 it was devoted to information (51%), followed by fiction (37%). The largest number of words was devoted to fiction with 96% at the sixth grade and 70% at the seventh grade; on the other hand, for grade 9, it was devoted to information (46%), followed by fiction (39%). Although there was variance across different publishers, the informational text genre gained more significance as the grade level increased. In particular, the percentage of reading selections and words devoted to the non-narrative or expository informational genre was overall 4% at grade 6, 17% at grade 7, and 44% at grade 9. The findings demonstrated the need to pay more attention to informational literacy especially in the early grades for the development of balanced genre knowledge.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.255-272
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• 2011

As the demand of English education is increasing, the demand for Native English speaking teachers (NEST) is rising, especially in Asian countries. However, due to the low number of NEST, the Korean government is suggesting that Filipino Women be used as English teachers as an alternative. This study aims to answer three questions: (1) are Filipino women in Korea qualified to teach English based on the error analysis of their written essays? (2) what are the linguistic features found in their diagnostic essays? and (3) is their written English better than Korean college students' written English based on the comparison of the two groups? The findings from the Filipino participants show the most frequently occurring errors are related to punctuation usage (commas and hyphens), vocabulary (word choice), verb usage, redundancy, and even as basic as capitalization usage. The results from the comparison of the two groups show that the percentage of the Filipino participants' written error was 14% while the percentage of the Korean participants was 17%. The findings would give us some ideas on the qualification of Filipino women in Korea as English teachers.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.284-290
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• 2021

This study aimed to identify the efficiency of online non-face-to-face English classes to propose possibilities for expanding these types of classes in a sustainable way even in the post-COVID era. Moreover, the study suggests pedagogical implications for the directions that should be further explored for online non-face-to-face English classes. To this end, the study employed an online non-face-to-face English reading class using Zoom and investigated the effects of online teaching on college students' reading comprehension via two achievement tests. The study also analyzed learners' satisfaction or dissatisfaction with this online non-face-to-face English reading class (and their reasons) through a questionnaire. Ultimately, the study found that online non-face-to-face English reading classes have a positive effect on learners' reading comprehension learning. In addition, the reasons for learners' satisfaction with online non-face-to-face classes include systematic class progress, class quality, and efficiency of learning. Instructors must be aware of the need to expand online non-face-to-face classes, for which they will have to be thoroughly prepared in advance. Instructors will also need to implement efficient online class activities, organize classes systematically with detailed explanations, and provide quick and useful feedback.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.188-194
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• 2010

This paper deals with a teaching method in EMI(English Medium Instructor) Education for engineering major subjects which is accomplished between non-native english speaking professors and students. Goals of EMI in non-english speaking countries will be both a improvement of communication ability and understanding of the major subjects. However, when students who have a low level-english ability participate in english class, it is necessary to analyze whether they can obtain above goals or not and to study on a teaching method for them. The english classes were aimed at students at the college of engineering who have 200-420 TOEIC average score. The research was proceeded by course evaluations to three direct EMI and surveys that were performed targeting all students participated in english class. The proposed research results may lead to development of EMI for students who have a low level- english ability and give them a better understanding and interest of major subjects.

• Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.101-117
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• 2001

In English, whether or not wh-movement creates weak crossover effects depends upon the type of wh-phrases that cross over. A bare interrogative like who shows a typical weak crossover effect whereas which N type (e.g. which girl) and partitive type (e.g. which of these girls) wh-phrases would show mere weaker and weakest crossover effects, respectively. Previous approaches to English crossover phenomena that resort to a binary notion of specificity or D-linking cannot account for the three-way contrast the three different types of wh-phrases show. To overcome this problem, I argue in this paper that specificity should be a non-binary set-theoretic notion and propose the following subset principle and optimal binding relation: Between two lexical nominal expressions A and B, A is regarded as more specific than B iff the denotation of A comes from a more narrowly defined non-singleton set than B. Between two lexical nominal expressions A and B, if A locally binds B, then the non-singleton set from which the denotation of A comes should be a subset of the set from which the denotation of B comes (i.e. B cannot be more specific than A). The smaller the subset (i.e. the wider the specificity gap between binder and binder), the more optimal the local binding relation is. A locally binds B iff A is coindexed with B, and A c-commands B, and there is no such C that does not bind A but binds B. Finally, I show that partitivity functions to carve out a smaller subset and thus make partitive wh-phrases more specific than simple which N type wh-phrases.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.27-39
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• 2020

This paper examines the frequency and distribution of the so-called "non-discourse marker functions" of so in essay writings produced by 200 L1 English speakers and 1,300 EFL learners in China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Based on the data drawn from the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English, this study compares EFL learners and L1 English speakers' uses of so, identifying four grammatical uses, as (1) an adverb, (2) part of a fixed phrase, (3) a pro-form, and (4) a conjunction phrase specifying purpose. This study aims to show the wide variability among EFL learners with different L1s, identifying the tendency of usage both common among and specific to the sub-groups of EFL learners. The findings suggest that the learners demonstrate patterns distinctively different from those of L1 English speakers, indicating an underuse of so as a marker expressing "purpose" and an overuse as part of fixed phrases. Compared to L1 English speakers, the learners also tend to overuse so in the discourse marker functions, regardless of their L1s. The study proposes pedagogical implications focusing on discourse flow and diachronic aspects of so in order to understand its multifunctionality, although the latter is primarily suggested for advanced learners.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.365-382
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• 2009

This study aims to examine the reading materials of high school English textbooks to propose the integration of the literary texts into reading materials in the classroom for development of communicative competence. Five kinds of high school English textbooks were critically examined in terms of three factors -limited text types, deficit of emotional adjectives and non-authenticity- selected by the author as characteristics of non-communicative language teaching materials. With regard to text types, more than half of the reading materials were expository and simple narratives. This imbalance of text types led materials to the deficit of emotional vocabulary. These factors seem to be closely related to the issue of authenticity of reading materials. Compared to the authentic texts, fabricated texts are likely to make reading vapid and boring task. On the basis of these results, some pedagogical suggestions are made.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.209-224
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• 2009

This study examined the role of contextual knowledge in cross-cultural communication between non-native speakers on an interactive web with a bulletin board system through which college students of English at Japanese and Korean universities interacted with each other discussing the topics of local and global issues. The study investigated the influence of students' relative contextual knowledge on active participation in interactions and discussed the results focusing on the use of discourse strategies for meaning negotiation. The study argues that in interactions even between non-native speakers with limited proficiency, contextual knowledge in the topic under discussion affects the degree to which they accommodate to each other during communication and suggests that the focus of teaching English as a foreign language also should be given to what kind of contextual knowledge students need to obtain and how to express it rather than what level of proficiency in English they need to acquire.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.53-61
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• 2011

The present work is a follow-up study to that of Han, Choi, Lim and Lee (2011), where an asymmetry in the source segments eliciting the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit (ISIB) was found such that the vowels which did not match any vowel of the Korean language were likely to elicit more ISIB than matched vowels. In order to identify the source of the stronger ISIB in non-matched vowels, acoustic analyses of the stimuli were performed. Two pairs of English front vowels [i] vs. [I], and $[{\varepsilon}]$ vs. $[{\ae}]$ were recorded by English native talkers and two groups of Korean learners according to their English proficiency, and then their vowel duration and the frequencies of the first two formants (F1, F2) were measured. The results demonstrated that the non-matched vowels such as [I], and $[{\ae}]$ produced by Korean talkers seemed to show more deviated acoustic characteristics from those of the natives, with longer duration and with closer formant values to the matched vowels, [i] and $[{\varepsilon}]$, than those of the English natives. Combining the results of acoustic measurements in the present study and those of word identification in Han et al. (2011), we suggest that relatively better performance in word identification by Korean talkers/listeners than the native English talkers/listeners is associated with the shared interlanguage of Korean talkers and listeners.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.85-102
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• 2002

Learners and users of a second language have to resort to a variety of conversational strategies or structures to enable them to communicate effectively and competently. Factors affecting effective communication among English as a second or English as foreign language (ESL/EFL) learners are diverse in nature because of different socio-cultural backgrounds. Gambits as a conversational strategy are used to a large extent and teachers must be made aware of such conversational strategies used by English as second or foreign language learners. Thus, studies focusing on conversational strategies among ESL/EFL learners in the English language classroom are important in order to identify the types of conversational strategies used and to help teachers to understand the appropriate conversational strategies and structures. Such understanding can be used to guide learners to use correct conversational strategies when communicating in English. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the use of gambits as a communication strategy in conversation among non-native speakers of English in an English as a second language(ESL) context based on Kellers conversational strategy signals. (175 words)