• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.54-63
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• 1999

The Landscape drawing is used as main media in landscape design process like the language in daily life for human. Designers input many intentions and meaningful words in design process through landscape drawing. The common purpose of landscape drawing is to represent reality effectively, even though it has variable visual forms and materiality. The representation in landscape drawing in metaphorical as well as visual and functional. But current tendency is inclined to use landscape drawing in a functional aspect for visual representation and the landscape drawing is utilized straight-forwardly rather than metaphorically for clear communication. Such recognition on landscape drawing results from the difficulty to accept the symbolic aspect of the drawing. The difficulty makes the utilization and the interpretation of landscape drawing stay at conventional level in following visible factors. For the sake of solving the difficulty this study considers landscape drawing as the text that contains readable objects and symbolic words. This study presents layer-methods for reading a landscape drawing as a text; situational and contextural reading, iconological reading and reading the subject of drawing.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.193-215
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine the working memory that is related with reading. For this purpose, the third and fourth grade children with reading difficulty were compared with normal children. The gender comparison and the correlations among the three components of working memory were also examined. The results indicated that the reading difficulty group were outperformed by the normal group in every test. Gender difference was found only in visuospatial capacity. There was an interaction between reading and gender in the memory of dynamic mazes. In the whole group, every correlation among all components was significant. When the correlations were examined separately in each group, however, only one correlation was significant in both groups. When the influence of the central executive was controlled, the interrelationship between phonological working memory and visuospatial working memory was mitigated. This study suggests that when teaching children with reading difficulty instructional material should be succinct and visuospatial information needs to be used for boys if possible.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.10
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• pp.497-503
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• 2021

Reading disability (dyslexia) refers to an unexpected difficulty with reading for an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader. Dyslexia is most commonly caused by a difficulty in phonological processing (the appreciation of the individual sounds of spoken language), which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, and spell. In this paper, I describe reading disabilities by focusing on their underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Neurobiological studies using functional brain imaging have uncovered the reading pathways, brain regions involved in reading, and neurobiological abnormalities of dyslexia. The reading pathway is in the order of visual analysis, letter recognition, word recognition, meaning (semantics), phonological processing, and speech production. According to functional neuroimaging studies, the important areas of the brain related to reading include the inferior frontal cortex (Broca's area), the midtemporal lobe region, the inferior parieto-temporal area, and the left occipitotemporal region (visual word form area). Interventions for dyslexia can affect reading ability by causing changes in brain function and structure. An accurate diagnosis and timely specialized intervention are important in children with dyslexia. In cases in which national infant development screening tests have been conducted, as in Korea, if language developmental delay and early predictors of dyslexia are detected, careful observation of the progression to dyslexia and early intervention should be made.

• 중국학논총
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• no.63
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• pp.121-136
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• 2019

Graded reading is to match reading competency of readers with difficulty levels of text, based on the study of readability. This article discusses how to apply new media to develop Chinese graded reading materials which are more interesting, scientific and practical than traditional paper materials. The graded materials on the new media platform can be used for Chinese second language learners to self-study, and also for instructors to support reading and writing instruction in class or after class.

• 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.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.209-235
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• 2005

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of reciprocal teaching procedure for improving Korean college students' reading comprehension of English text. In particular, this study sought to explore the qualitative features, if any, in students' use of reading comprehension strategies presented in the process of Reciprocal Reading Procedure (RRP). In order to accomplish the goal of the study, transcripts of the students' dialogues, open-ended questionnaires, and researchers' observation notes were examined. The results of the study showed that the participants used different four kinds of reading strategies in the process of RRP (questioning, clarifying, predicting, summarizing). The findings also suggested that the readers with limited knowledge of vocabulary had difficulty in moving on to the next level. Additionally, future research direction and some pedagogical implications are presented for the practical EFL classroom.

• 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.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.630-638
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• 2015

This study examines university students' reading strategies based on English proficiency and reading anxiety. A total of 86 university students participated in the study and completed two questionnaires related to reading strategies[9] and reading anxiety[10]. The collected data was quantitatively analyzed using SPSS 21. The results indicated that advanced and intermediate students preferred to use Problem Solving Strategies(PROB), whereas beginning level readers tended to use and Global Reading strategies(GLOB). There was no significant relationship between reading anxiety and reading strategies. However, there were some differences between two groups. High anxiety students preferred to use reading materials and textual clues and try to focus on their reading when they have a difficulty. Low anxiety students tended to adjust reading pace and try to focus on comprehension and reread when they lost their focus. Based on the results of the study, several implications and limitations were discussed.