• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.95-98
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• 2007

This study investigates pause positions of Korean students' reading of an English script. 12 natives speakers of English and 18 Korean students were asked to read The North Wind and the Sun. The common pause positions were determined by examining the pauses of the native speakers' readings. Korean students were asked to mark pauses on a script. And then they were trained to put pauses as native speakers of English do. Although some errors have been corrected after the training, others have not been corrected in Korean students' readings. Korean students made fewer errors in marking on the script than in reading the script. They seem to know where to put pauses, but lack of practice makes it difficult to put pause in the right positions when they read. That suggests that teachers should continue to teach students where to put pauses in their reading or speaking English.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.273-290
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• 2011

This paper presents a case study involving one Korean primary school student and people around him in order to explore the reading process in English of a young Korean EFL learner and to investigate the social context in which his reading takes place. Six participants were included in the study (one primary school student and five adult participants). The student participant was asked to read a text in English and translate what he read into Korean and the teacher participants were asked to listen to the student's reading. Semi-structured interview was used to collect data from the student as well as five adult participants (his private tutor, his parent, his state school teacher, and two other state school teachers). The analysis reveals four characteristics of the way a young EFL learner approaches reading: word-by-word reading, disconnected word recognition, selective use of cues, and lack of awareness of difficulties. The four characteristics of Kilsu's reading suggest that reading can become a wild guessing game for young foreign learners, if they give selective attention to unimportant cues while reading. The pedagogical implications of this study are also discussed to help teachers designing reading lessons for young learners.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.57-81
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to examine the balanced English approach program on five-year-old children's English reading and writing ability. For this study, two classes consisting of five-year-old children in HATBEAT kindergarten in D city were selected. One class was designated as the experimental group and the other as the control group. The balanced English approach program was performed on the experimental group but not on the control group. The balanced English approach program was carried out for 8 weeks. The experimental procedures were in the order of pre-test, the experimental treatment, and post-test. The result of the experiment was evaluated by comparing the pre-test and post-test results. Analysis of data was performed by ANCOVA. The result of the study are as follows. First, in the English reading ability, the experimental group was more enhanced than the control group. Also, for sub-factors of English reading such as alphabet and English word reading ability, the experimental group was more enhanced than the control group. However, in the English book reading ability as a sub- factor of the English reading, there was not much difference in the result between the experimental group and the control group. Second, in the English writing ability, the experimental group were more enhanced than the control group.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.125-146
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• 2015

This study investigated the contribution of Korean phonological awareness to English phonological awareness and the relations of phonological awareness with reading and writing in Korean Hangul and English among Korean 5th graders. With age and vocabulary knowledge statistically controlled, Korean phonological awareness was transferred to English phonological awareness. Specifically, syllable and phoneme awareness in Korean transferred to syllable awareness in English, and Korean phoneme awareness transferred to English phoneme awareness. In addition, English phoneme awareness independently explained significant variance of reading and writing in Korean and English after controlling for age and vocabulary. Syllable awareness in Korean and English explained Hangul reading and writing, respectively. The results suggest cross-language transfer of phonological awareness that is a metalinguistic skill. Phoneme awareness is important in reading and writing in English whereas both of syllable and phoneme awareness are important in literacy of Korean.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.171-187
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• 2012

This study aims to investigate the effects of learning strategy-based early reading instruction for English underachieving students. For this purpose of the study, sixteen learning strategies were driven from the review of previous related literature and the result of the survey conducted to the students and the teachers. Strategy integrated early reading instruction was implemented to nine students for thirteen weeks. The word recognition test was conducted before and after the instruction to examine whether the instruction had effects on the increase of their early reading skill. In addition, in order to investigate certain change in students' affective aspects after the instruction. The research conducted survey to the students. A teacher's field note and students' class journal were also analyzed to verify the results from the quantitative test. The results indicated that the instruction led to the increase of students' early reading skills. It was also found that the instruction motivated the underachieving students to devise a strategy for their learning process.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.19-34
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• 2010

This study investigates how EFL learners' chunking ability both in oral and silent reading affects reading comprehension, and how the chunking ability in silent reading relates to that of oral reading. The participants of this study consisted of 30 Korean university students taking a required 'English Reading' course. Chunking is a technique of grouping words into meaningful syntactic units for better understanding. Chunking was measured from pauses in oral reading. Results of this study suggest that the participants who can chunk properly both orally and silently display better comprehension of texts in general. However, chunking in silent reading was found to be a stronger indicator of improved reading comprehension. Also, the chunking skills in silent reading showed a statistically strong correlation with those observed in oral reading, suggesting that the chunking ability in silent reading may develop in parallel with that of oral reading. Oral as well as silent reading should be continuously practiced to improve reading comprehension of all levels of EFL learners, including low levels of learners. There is also a need to encourage students to read aloud with appropriate prosodic cues to help them read in meaningful units of words, therefore increasing EFL learners' comprehension not only in reading but also in listening.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.137-160
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• 2001

This paper is to suggest the way to improve EFL reading skill through semantic mapping by leveled group activities. Semantic mapping is a categorical structuring of information in graphic forms or diagrams. It can be used to activate and organize background knowledge on topics in classrooms. For small group activities, the class is divided into higher leveled groups and lower leveled groups of four members based on their grades. The teaching process has three stages: Pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading. In the pre-reading stage, students discuss what they know about the topic. They map ideas with a brainstorming technique. In the while-reading stage, they read the text about the topic. While they are reading, they could ask some questions they might have and discuss the information in the text and categorize them with semantic mapping. In the post-reading stage, they discuss what they thought of the topic and add some information about the topic with semantic mapping. For the subjects of this study, third grade, middle school students were selected: 41 students for the experimental group and 35 students for the control group. The experimental period covered almost one semester from March to August, 2000. The results were as follows: 1) The students in the experimental group had higher scores in reading comprehension than those in the control group when semantic mapping was used; 2) The use of semantic mapping in reading comprehension was found to be much more effective in the higher leveled group than in the lower leveled group; 3) The results of questionnaires showed that many students became more interested and motivated in English, and semantic mapping helped them to participate positively in reading the English text. Thus, using semantic mapping by leveled group activities can be an effective alternative to traditional teaching methods for teachers who desire to improve reading skill in middle school students' English classes.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 2014

The Purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the Smart reading program, Smartree, in an elementary English class. Recently in Korea, the use of smart technologies in education has become an issue with the introduction of a new educational platform and increased social interaction between teachers and students. The Smart learning paradigm is converging with technology and social learning. This study examines an English reading method using smart technology and how it affects the improvement of elementary students' reading ability, we also suggest effective reading methods related to Smart learning suitable for this new educational trend. The results showed that the use of a tablet PC based Smartree reading program had meaningful effects on both improvements of cognitive reading ability and changes in affective attitude.

• 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.15 no.2
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• pp.27-49
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• 2009

This study aimed to explore EFL learners' beliefs and preferences about reading tasks and to examine the reading processes that they use for making sense of text. The subjects were comprised of 107 college students who were non-English majors and aged 19-28 years. Based on scores achieved on a reading comprehension test, they were divided into two groups (more-skilled and less-skilled readers) and asked to respond to a survey in class. The results of the survey revealed that: (1) a majority rate themselves as fair readers, which might be indicative of the insecurity they feel toward L2 reading; (2) authentic texts (especially magazines) and popular media appear to be their favorite reading materials; (3) unknown vocabulary is a major impediment to their L2 reading comprehension; (4) the more-skilled readers manifest a meaning centered view of reading, whereas the less-skilled readers center on vocabulary; and (5) both groups employ a multistrategic approach to L2 reading; however, the less-skilled readers are less successful in determining the meaning of unknown vocabulary. Pedagogical implications for EFL classroom teachers are provided.