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English Writing Strategies of Korean Students: Exploring Written Texts and Interviews with the Teacher

한국 학생들의 영작문 전략: 텍스트 분석과 교사와의 인터뷰를 중심으로

  • Received : 2014.09.15
  • Accepted : 2014.10.13
  • Published : 2014.10.28

Abstract

This study aims at investigating Korean EFL students' writing strategies through their rhetorical patterns and meaning-making for a writing task in an English writing classroom at a Korean university. The participants were the students and teacher in the course, and the data comprised nine pieces of students' opinion writing and interviews with the teacher. To analyze the data, a 'Claim-Support' pattern was adopted. The findings show that most students, 89%, demonstrated the same or similar elements in the 'Claim-Support' pattern for their textual structures and many parts of the meaning-making in their writing were originated from the textbook. These findings reflect that the students pursued the strategy of 'accommodation' in order to succeed in their academic writing regardless of the teacher's intention which focused on creativity and imagination in writing. The conclusion suggest that the students tend to establish their own ways of strategy to cope with the recontextualized setting for writing in English.

본 연구의 목적은 한국의 한 대학에 개설된 영작문 수업에서 수사 패턴과 의미 구성을 통해 학생들의 영작문 전략을 살펴보는 것이다. 참여자는 선택 과목으로 개설된 영작문 수업의 교사와 학생들이며, 학생들이 작성한 영어 의견문과 교사와의 인터뷰가 주된 데이터이다. 데이터 분석을 위해 '주장-근거' 패턴이 사용되었다. 분석 결과, 89%의 학생들이 주장, 근거, 그리고 결론의 요소를 사용하였으며, 또한 89%의 학생들은 수업 시간에 사용된 교과서에 등장하는 모델 글의 내용을 그대로 모방하거나 혹은 미미한 수준으로 발전시켜 자신들의 글 내용을 구성하였다. 이는 작문에서 창조성과 상상력을 가장 중요시하는 교수자의 수업의도와는 매우 동떨어진 것이었다. 이러한 결과는 대학 수업에서 좋은 점수를 얻기 위한 학생들의 '수용'전략으로 해석되어질 수 있다. 본 연구의 결론은 학생들은 교사의 수업 의도와는 상관없이 재설정된 환경에서의 성공을 위해 자신들의 방식으로 영어 작문을 위한 나름의 전략을 구사한다는 것을 보여준다.

Keywords

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