• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.153-161
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• 2013

Recently, there has been a tremendous increase in the availability of educational materials for foreign language learning. As part of this trend, there has been an increase in the amount of electronically mediated materials available. However, conventional educational contents developed using computer technology has provided typically one-way information, which is not the most helpful thing for users. Providing the user's convenience requires additional off-line analysis for diagnosing an individual user's learning. To improve the user's comprehension of texts written in a foreign language, we propose an intelligent learning tool based on the analysis of the user's eyeball movements, which is able to diagnose and improve foreign language reading ability by providing necessary supplementary aid just when it is needed. To determine the user's learning state, we correlate their eye movements with findings from research in cognitive psychology and neurophysiology. Based on this, the learning tool can distinguish whether users know or do not know words when they are reading foreign language sentences. If the learning tool judges a word to be unknown, it immediately provides the student with the meaning of the word by extracting it from an on-line dictionary. The proposed model provides a tool which empowers independent learning and makes access to the meanings of unknown words automatic. In this way, it can enhance a user's reading achievement as well as satisfaction with text comprehension in a foreign language.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.153-169
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• 2012

This study reviews an English enhancement course implemented for medical and nursing college students of 2011 to improve their standardized English test scores. A total of 117 first-year students underwent the pre-test and the post-TOEIC in November 2011. After the pre-test, lectures on listening enhancement strategies and problem solving tactics on reading comprehension were supplemented with 4 times of enhancement-tests. Their pre- and post-TOEIC results were compared to see if such enhancement strategies were effective to improve their TOEIC scores. It was further to investigate, through survey questionnaires, how the subjects felt about a number of pre-test-type TOEIC exercise with what-to-listen and how-to-infer listening strategies and pattern-drill practices for reading comprehension. It was found that the scores of listening comprehension improved significantly for both major students whereas reading scores showed slight decrease among nursing majors. It is concluded that administering numerous pre-test-type-TOEIC exercise is effective for students to improve their listening scores supplemented with listening strategies Also, students' response showed positive toward the enhancement course.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2012

This study explores the effects of phonological awareness instruction with phonetics on listening comprehension and speaking. For the test of measuring the improvement of listening comprehension, two nationwide listening comprehension tests were used for pre-test and post-test. To find out the improvement of speaking ability, students were required to take the Level-3 NEAT speaking tests. There was a notable correlation between phonological awareness instruction with phonetics and listening ability. Also a significant correlation between phonological awareness instruction with phonetics and speaking ability was found. The group with phonological awareness class with phonetics received higher scores in listening and speaking test than the group without phonological awareness class with phonetics in the post-test. This study implies that phonological awareness class with phonetics is helpful for the improvement of listening and speaking ability. With this research, we can also say that students' communicative competence increased.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.69-89
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• 2012

This paper explored the effects of extensive reading (ER) on Korean university students' L2 reading proficiency and reading rates. This study also illustrated how ER can be integrated into a university English reading class. Seventeen students who took a summer reading course participated in this study. Data were gathered through pre- and post- tests in terms of participants' reading comprehension proficiency and reading rates and post- questionnaire with regard to their attitudes toward L2 storybook reading after they have experienced it. The analysis was carried out using the Paired Samples t-test. It was revealed that ER has a positive effect on the enhancement of the participants' reading comprehension and reading rates. The participants showed their continued intention to read in English and a strong belief that persistent reading in English in the long run will help improve their English. The results of this study confirm the educational values of incorporating ER into university English reading classes. The pedagogical implications for EFL instructors are described.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.249-282
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• 2009

This study reports on the use of the trait and state cognitive/metacognitive strategy use and the difference of the trait/state strategy use according to students' proficiency level. First of all, for checking up the trait strategy use, 119 first-grade male students in a high school completed the questionnaire on strategies which they thought they used during a reading test. Secondly, to find out their state strategy use, students took a fifteen-item reading comprehension test, followed by filling out questionnaires on cognitive and metacognitive strategies used in the test. This study employed quantitative data analysis. The results suggested that (1) the cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in the trait and state conditions are used the most by the high proficiency group and they are correlated respectively; (2) these strategies are used with statistically significant difference according to students' proficiency level, especially to the lower level students. The highly successful group uses the cognitive and metacognitive strategy in the actual test situation more than the lower proficient group; there is no difference in trait and state strategy use.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.15-23
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• 2002

This paper reports an experiment on Broca's aphasics' comprehension of a class of English constructions involving empty categories. Based on Grodzinsky's (1986) account of chance-level performance of agrammatic understanding of movement constructions and their thematic role assignments. I show that Grodzinsky's notion of invisible empty categories can be further extended to include pronomical anaphors (PRO's) in Chomsky's (1981) sense and that the asymmetry in their poor comprehension of subject- and object-control constructions can be explained by the heuristic mechanism of the default thematic role assignment rule. eventually supporting Grodzinsky's claim that empty categories are not visible In agrammatic's syntactic representation.

• 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.16 no.3
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• pp.1-18
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• 2010

This study examined the effects of previewing and providing background knowledge on low level EFL readers' comprehension of expository texts and their responses to these treatments. 130 college freshmen were randomly placed into one of three treatment groups and read two expository texts reflecting unfamiliar cultural information. Prior to reading, one group was given previewing instruction, which included vocabulary preteaching and summaries, and a second group was provided with culture-specific background knowledge through watching videos and slides. The third group read each text without any prereading instruction. Immediately after reading a passage, subjects answered a 10-item multiple-choice test. Results showed significant positive effects of the previewing treatment and weak positive effects of the providing background knowledge treatment. Students' responses on the questionnaires revealed that the majority felt that the experimental treatments contributed to comprehension enhancement, made reading more enjoyable, and expedited their reading process. Students in the control group, however, indicated that they needed explicit prereading instruction in order to understand the texts. Pedagogical implications of the findings for EFL reading instruction are provided.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.185-191
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• 2001

This study was designed to determine what components of spoken language have been relatively neglected in the teaching of listening comprehension in Korea and to suggest a model of listening process. Two types of tests were undertaken using spoken and written forms of English with secondary school teachers of English and college students. Findings: Hearing power has been generally neglected in the teaching of listening comprehension. Hearing power which can be thought as an active process is defined as an ability to transfer the sequence of discrete phonetic segments without word boundary into the sequence of words in phonemic representations by using both nonlinguistic factors and linguistic factors including perception rules based on phonetics and phonology. Vocabularies, hearing-speaking power, syntactic structures and idiomatic expressions are to be taught for spoken English. A model of listening process was suggested and discussed.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.145-152
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• 2022

The current study investigates the effects of an interactive learning environment on EFL students' vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension skills. The study utilized a quasi-experimental design. The sample consisted of 41 students enrolled in the English program at Umm Al-Qura University studying Reading in EFL course in Summer 2018/2019. The sample was randomly divided into two groups: A control group consisting of 21 students and an experimental group of 20 students. The results revealed statistically significant differences at (α≤ 0.01) between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group in the posttest of the vocabulary test and the reading comprehension test favoring the experimental group. Finally, the study concluded with a call for more studies on modern technologies in teaching EFL skills in the Saudi context.