• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.38
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• pp.461-500
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• 2015

This study aims to investigate the effective method to improve the competence of the Vocabulary by the image and listening towards the ELF. In the first part, we observed the problems and point improvement on learning vocabulary based on learner survey. In the second part, we analyzed two remarkable studies: - consistent and adapt method, communicational context - method based on the lexical, morphological semantical, notional and thematic field Then we proposed effective methods that are applicable to the vocabulary's learning in the class : - learning vocabulary by combining the words - learning vocabulary based on the meaning field - learning vocabulary as concrete characters - learning vocabulary by the descriptive character - learning vocabulary with the type "who am I?" - learning vocabulary by listening For teachers, one of the difficulties to the conduct of vocabulary course is that learners take passive position. Specifically, it is the teachers who play an important role because it runs in the direction of the course. However, learners do not show the active attitude for vocabulary lessons despite the course to take to improve their vocabulary skills. Therefore, teachers must prepare course materials that can both improve the competence of the vocabulary of learners and cause their interest or desire on the current vocabulary. This is why teachers should exploit various materials depending on the skill level of the learner vocabulary.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.121-137
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• 2002

This study examined the vocabulary competence of institutionalized and home-reared 6- and 7-year-old children with the use of the Revised Picture Vocabulary Test(Dunn & Dunn, 1981; Korean version, Kim et al., 1995), administered to 113 institutionalized children and 124 middle class home-reared children. Results indicated that the vocabulary competence of institutionalized children was inferior to that of home-reared children. Children who had lived in an institution for two years or more scored lower than those who had been institutionalized for a shorter time. 7-year-olds scored higher than 6-year-olds, regardless of institutionalization. Home-reared girls scored higher than home-reared boys, but there was no sex difference between institutionalized children. These findings suggest that efforts should be directed toward improving the linguistic environment of institutionalized children.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.131-158
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• 2006

The purpose of the present study is to explore an effective way of teaching English vocabulary which is geared toward improving students' English communicative competence. This study focuses on English verbs, which may be followed by patterns according to subcategorization. Learning verbs must include learning about patterns as well as meaning in order to improve the ability to use verbs receptively and productively, or communicative competence. On the basis of the language progression proposed by Willis (2003), a teaching strategy which helps learners learn English verb patterns effectively and systematically was proposed. The effect of the teaching strategy was investigated. The subjects of the experimental group who learned English verb patterns intentionally through the teaching strategy proposed by this study significantly improved themselves in the ability to use them receptively and productively. This result shows that the teaching strategy including improvisation, recognition, rehearsal, system building, exploration and consolidation is helpful to improving communicative competence.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.365-370
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• 2021

The current study aims to investigate the relationship between working memory capacity, vocabulary size, and listening competence of Korean EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. 30 English education majors from a university in Korea were recruited. The backward digit span and the operation span tasks were used to measure the participants' working memory capacity, while the Listening Vocabulary Level Test (LVLT) and the Michigan English Test (MET) were employed to measure their vocabulary size and listening proficiency in English, respectively. The correlational analyses revealed that the bigger one's working memory storage was, the better the person processed incoming input. However, no statistically significant correlation was found between working memory capacity, English vocabulary size, and listening proficiency, possibly due to the small sample size and the homogeneous subjects.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.163-175
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• 2001

This study investigated the effect on children's literacy of teacher-child discussion about the contents of storybooks. The subjects were 10 experimental and 10 control 5-year-old kindergarten children in Cheongju. The experimental design was the Split Plot design. The research instruments used for pre- and post-tests were the Vocabulary Decoding Competence Test(Lee, 1998), Writing Competence Test(Lee & Lee, 1990), Story Comprehension Competence Test(Lee, 1998; Morrow, 1990), and the Emergent Reading Ability Judgements for Favorite Storybooks(Sulzby, 1985). Data were analyzed by ANOVA with repeated measures. Results showed that the teacher-child discussions about the contents of storybooks were effective for improving children's competence in decoding vocabulary, writing, and story comprehension but not for improving emergent reading ability.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2021

Recently, corpus assisted vocabulary instruction has been attracting a lot of interest. Most studies have focused on understanding language learners' receptive vocabulary knowledge. Limited attention has been paid to learners' productive competence. To fill this gap, this study attended to learners' productive lexical development in terms of form, meaning and use respectively. This study introduced EFL learners to the corpus-based language pedagogy to learn COVID-19 theme-based vocabulary. To investigate the gains and views of 33 EFL first-year college students, a sentence completion task and a questionnaire were developed. Learners' productive performances in the three lexical knowledge aspects (i.e., form, meaning and use) were particularly targeted. The results revealed that the students achieved significant gains in all aspects regardless of their proficiency level. In particular, the less proficient students achieved greater knowledge retention compared with their highly proficient counterparts. Meanwhile, students showed positive attitudes towards the corpus-based approach to vocabulary learning.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.1-18
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the home environment of young children on their language and the quality of peer competence. The current study hypothesized that when the home environment of young children is desirable, the young children would be more likely to develop better language skills, which in turn, predict greater peer competence and lower levels of aggression and withdrawal in the interaction with peers at child care settings. The study used data of 1,802 families who have been participating in the Korean Child Panel Study since 2008. The results revealed that there was a significant relation from both positive home environment and better language skills to more positive play interaction and reduced play disruption and play disconnection. Home environment significantly predicted better expressive language development of young children and, in turn, higher scores on expressive vocabulary tests predicted greater peer competence and less negative play behaviors rated by child care providers. Statistical tests proved that the mediational effects of language skills between home environment and toddler's peer relationships were statistically significant. The study results emphasized the importance of language development in children's expanding social settings and the supporting role of rich and stimulus home environments in children's development.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.213-241
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• 2003

As an attempt to characterize the English test section of CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) and to get some suggestions, this study raised the research questions, as 'What are the main factors that affect students' English test scores in CSAT, and how big influences do they have?' It has been hypothesized that among main factors are the L1 competence, represented by the Korean test scores in CSAT, background knowledge or intelligence, represented by the "total" scores in CSAT, and the two types of L2 knowledge (vocabulary and grammar on one hand and prosody m the other hand), measured by the test devised specially for this study. The individual effect of the L2 vocabulary and grammar (one kind of L2 knowledge) was 70%, that of background knowledge or intelligence 61%, that of the L1 competence 50%, and that of the L2 prosody knowledge (the other kind of L2 knowledge) 32%. According to the stepwise regression, the whole effect of these four factors was 74%. The findings suggest that first, although CSAT is based on the top-down model of comprehension, the bottom-up model of learning should be more emphasized in our English class. Also, since background knowledge or intelligence is the second most influential factor, the top-down model of learning that helps students learn to understand by activating their various schemata must also be very effective.

• 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.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.26
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• pp.509-533
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to examine the sociolinguistic competence of female marriage-immigrants through analyzing their free colloquial discourse. Because previous studies on female marriage-immigrants have not been performed based on the natural illocutionary data, an accurate diagnosis of their communication method will be necessary for the efficiency of the Korean education aimed at them, and for the development of their communication ability. For this study, the colloquial discourse situation from five female marriage-immigrants from China, the Philippines and Vietnam was recorded. The sociolinguistic characteristics were analyzed centering on the use of designation, respect terms, and regional words. 'Eomma' was used as a designation for their husband's mother, which means that 'intimacy' worked for the designation of their husband's mother. The respect-word classes for others were limited to the 'haeyo' form and the 'hae' one, and the reception for listeners was often discarded. In addition, the influence of regional words was found in the vocabulary and grammar, and the more proficient the Korean language, the more frequent the regional word occurrence. Based on the above result, the teaching method of Korean for the immigrants shall be suggested as follows: the teaching has to focus on respect words positively influencing the relationship with the counterpart.