• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2000.07a
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• pp.47-58
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• 2000

For the learners of English as a foreign language, oral repetition of model sentences is an e essential practice to improve their listening and speaking abilities of English. Skill training of both speech perception and production is involved in this practice. This paper reports on an observation of production e$\pi$ors in such practice made by Japanese college students in my class. The teaching material used is intended for acquainting the learners with basic English rhythm and intonation p patterns. The students were required to repeat each sentence in a series of conversations after a model reading. Although the vocabulary and expressions were rather limited, I monitored different kinds of errors in their repetition. Putting aside intonation, their difficulties are classified into five types; 1. Omission of words or morphemes, 2. Addition of unnecessary words or morphemes, 3. Replacement of words, 4. Japanization of English sounds, 5. Wrong rhythm caused by improper stress assignment. Accurate listening, especially to weakly stressed syllables and to assimilated sounds, as has often been pointed out, is the most difficult part in perception for them. Japanese sound system interferes in production of English sounds. More often than not their knowledge of grammar or the context does not work at all to guess the words they are hearing

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.7-16
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• 2016

This research aims to suggest a gamified smart learning design for Korean EFL young learners' speaking proficiency. Gamification is the use of game-thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems. Thus, the gamified smart learning as gamification in education is designed not only to elicit students' participation but also to enhance speaking skills. Especially, this research based on the results of a pilot study is focused on easing the burden of homework as well as engaging the speaking English game for the primary students with a relatively short attention span. The game elements utilized in this study are competition, rewards, customized characterization and so on. Kakao Talk is selected for this gamified smart learning research because of its ease of accessibility, and multiple applicable functions for language learning such as voice recording, text messaging and sharing videos or photos. Gamification in smart learning can be a means of productive approach to contemporary EFL teaching and learning.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.1-36
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• 2017

This study investigated the correlation between learners' psychological and social factors and their syntactic complexity of speaking. The study collected samples of Korean spoken production of 61 learners with English, Chinese, Japanese and other L1 backgrounds and applied mini-TOPIK, mini-AMTB, and SASIQ for 70 minutes. The study found that: (i) integrative motivation showed positive correlation with a number of simple complex clauses, but instrumental motivation correlated negatively with a number of adverbial clauses, indicating that high motivation hindered producing highly complex clauses although it triggered producing simple complex clauses, (ii) social contact with L2 native speakers showed positive correlation with general L2 development and a number of simple complex clauses, but revealed negative correlation with double or triple complex clauses, (iii) hours of L2 listening showed very strong positive correlation with producing triple complex clauses and general proficiency, but indicated negative correlation with a number of simple complex clauses. The study reported that high motivation toward Korean learning and active social activities with Korean native speakers helped produce simple complex clauses while hours of listening to Korean helped produce triple complex clauses.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.167-186
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• 2006

We live in a global village that requires a language with a genuinely global status as a means of communication. During the twentieth century, English has clearly emerged as the lingua franca owing to both past British political imperialism and the more recent superpower status of the United States. Further contributing to world domination of the English language is the fact that the computer and Internet sprang from the US. Whether you like it or not, you are destined to learn English at least to some extent in order to live in this global village. For the last two decades, one of the most mistaken ideas a number of Korean English teachers have had is that speaking and listening are the primary forms of language, while reading and writing are secondary. In fact, reading is regarded as a skill of much consequence to us since it provides us with access to a huge quantity of information on the Internet, of which at least 80% is written in English. Writing, too, deserves a great deal of attention because we are increasingly called upon to use standard English expressions. As diligent learners of English, we had better not forget the place accorded to language not only as a medium for exchange and constructing information but as a tool for thinking. So we should try to think in English to the point where we have thinking-in-English as a habit, thereby leading to increased familiarity with the language. Such familiarity entails, above all, possessing a command of English.

• 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.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.77-88
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• 2011

Foreign accent in second language production depends heavily on the transfer of features from the first language. This study examines acoustic variations in segments and suprasegments by native and nonnative speakers of English, searching for patterns of the transfer and plausible indexes of foreign accent in English. The acoustic variations are analyzed with recorded read speech by 20 native English speakers and 50 Korean learners of English, in terms of vowel formants, vowel duration, and syllabic variation induced by stress. The results show that the acoustic measurements of vowel formants and vowel and syllable durations display difference between native speakers and nonnative speakers. The difference is robust in the production of lax vowels, diphthongs, and stressed syllables, namely the English-specific features. L1 transfer on L2 specification is found both at the segmental levels and at the suprasegmental levels. The transfer levels measured as groups and individuals further show a continuum of divergence from the native-like target. Overall, the eldest group, students who are in the graduate schools, shows more native-like patterns, suggesting weaker foreign accent in English, whereas the high school students tend to involve larger deviation from the native speakers' patterns. Individual results show interdependence between segmental transfer and prosodic transfer, and correlation with self-reported proficiency levels. Additionally, experience factors in English such as length of English study and length of residence in English speaking countries are further discussed as factors to explain the acoustic variation.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.35-41
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• 2017

The existence and the extent of vowel length difference before voiced/voiceless consonants in English and Korean are examined in three groups: (1) Korean-speaking Americans (group A), (2) immigrants who moved to the U.S. in their early teens (group I), and (3) Koreans who have been in the U.S. for less than 3 years (group K). 14 subjects were recorded reading 10 English and 10 Korean sentences. The results show that the three groups exhibit different patterns of the vowel length difference: Group A shows a very strong tendency of vowel lengthening before voiced consonants in both English and Korean, while Group I shows less degree of vowel lengthening, and Group K shows almost no tendency of vowel length difference in both languages. This strongly suggests that, (1) unlike English, Korean does not have the vowel length difference depending on the following consonants, and (2) the vowel lengthening effect observed in Korean (L2) speech in group A may be the result of transfer of the phonetic trait acquired in English (L1). It also implies that, in teaching pronunciation, some facts such as the vowel length difference cannot be expected to be acquired automatically for the learners of English, but have to be taught explicitly.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1997.07a
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• pp.11-25
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• 1997

This presentation will focus on building basic English Prosodic Skills which are very useful and helpful for Japanese learners of English. The focus first will be on recognizing the seven basic nuclear tones, analysing intonation structures, distinguishing intonation patterns and then on the way of improving speaking ability using sufficient verbal contents of intonation (mini-dialogue). My presentation deals mainly with some difficulties which Japanese learners of English have in the field of RP intonation, It is chiefly concerned with identifying, describing and analysing tone-group sequences. It sometimes happens that Japanese learners of English can pronounce isolated bounds correctly and read phonetic symbols sufficiently, bet have difficult problems in carrying out accurate prosodic features. The use of wrong intonation is sometimes the cause of misunderstanding of speaker's attitude, connotation and shades of meaning, etc.. However accurately students can pronounce the nuclear tone or tone-group of English, they have to learn how to connect tone-groups properly for suitable sequences in respect to meaning or implication. We are faced with the complicated theory of RF intonation on the one hand and difficult realization of it on the other. Japanese learners of English have special difficulties in employing "rising tune" and "falling + rising tune". If students are taught pitch movements by indicating dots graphically between two horizontal lines, they can easily understand the whole shape of pitch movements. In this presentation, I illuminate several tone-group sequences which are very useful for Japanese learning English intonation. Among them, four similar Pitch Patterns, such as, (1) (equation omitted)- type, (2) (equation omitted) - type, (3) (equation omitted) - type and (4) (Rising Head) (equation omitted)- type are clarified and other important tone-group sequences aye also highlighted from the point of view of teaching English as a foreign language. The intonation theory, tone marks and technical terms are, in all essentials, those of Intonation of Colloquial English by O'Connor, J. D. and Arnold, G. F., Longman, 2nd ed., 1982. The changes of tone are shown graphically between two horizontal lines representing the ordinary high and low zones of the utterance. A.C.Gimson (1981:314) : The intonation of English has been studied in greater detail and for longer than that of any other language. No definitive analysis, classifying the features of RP intonation, has yet appeared (though that presented by O'Connor and Arnold (1973) provides the most comprehensive and useful account from the foreign learner's point of view).

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.109-127
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• 2007

As an attempt to investigate the use of common verbs by a small group of Korean college students at the advanced level, the present study describes the students' speech production data collected from picture description tasks. The primary focus of the data description was how the students used high-frequency verbs in describing everyday activities. Out of total 442 units, 149 verbs were erroneously used. All erroneous utterances were classified into four categories according to their characteristics. The most prominent error type was overgeneralization due to incomplete knowledge of lexical items. Results showed that verbs used in everyday life were not easy even for the advanced level students. Although in some cases, L1 influence was discerned, the students' problems are more fundamental. In particular, the data revealed lack of knowledge of collocational possibilities and restrictions, and confusion about semantic boundaries between verbs which have similar semantic areas. The findings suggest that teaching at the advanced level should take contrastive approaches intralingually as well as interlingually to the high-frequency verbs.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.541-550
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• 2009

This research attempted to find out any implications for strategies to design and develop the connections between the activities of the brain function and the fields of English learning (dictation, word level, speaking, word memory, listening). Thus, in developing the brain based learning model for the English education, attempts need to be made to help learners to keep the whole brain toward learning. On this point, this study indicated the significant results for the exclusive brain location and the brainwaves on the each English learning field by the quantitative EEG analysis. The results of this study presented the guidelines for the balanced development of the left brain and the right brain to train the specific site of the brain connected to the English learning fields. In addition, whole brain training model is developed by the quantitative EEG data not by the theoretical learning methods focused on the right brain training.