• Title/Summary/Keyword: Language learners

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Vocabulary Education for Korean Beginner Level Using PWIM (PWIM 활용 한국어 초급 어휘교육)

  • Cheng, Yeun sook;Lee, Byung woon
    • Journal of Korean language education
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    • v.29 no.3
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    • pp.325-344
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    • 2018
  • The purpose of this study is to summarize PWIM (Picture Words Inductive Model) which is one of learner-centered vocabulary teaching-learning models, and suggest ways to implement them in Korean language education. The pictures that are used in the Korean language education field help visualize the specific shape, color, and texture of the vocabulary that is the learning target; thus, helping beginner learners to recognize the meaning of the sound. Visual material stimulates the intrinsic schema of the learner and not only becomes a 'bridge' connecting the mother tongue and the Korean language, but also reduces difficulty in learning a foreign language because of the ambiguity between meaning and sound in Korean and all languages. PWIM shows commonality with existing learning methods in that it uses visual materials. However, in the past, the teacher-centered learning method has only imitated the teacher because the teacher showed a piece-wise, out-of-life photograph and taught the word. PWIM is a learner-centered learning method that stimulates learners to find vocabulary on their own by presenting visual information reflecting the context. In this paper, PWIM is more suitable for beginner learners who are learning specific concrete vocabulary such as personal identity (mainly objects), residence and environment, daily life, shopping, health, climate, and traffic. The purpose of this study was to develop a method of using PWIM suitable for Korean language learners and teaching procedures. The researchers rearranged the previous research into three steps: brainstorming and word organization, generalization of semantic and morphological rules of extracted words, and application of words. In the case of PWIM, you can go through all three steps at once. Otherwise, it is possible to divide the three steps of PWIM and teach at different times. It is expected that teachers and learners using the PWIM teaching-learning method, which uses realistic visual materials, will enable making an effective class together.

INTONATION OF TAIWANESE: A COMPARATIVE OF THE INTONATION PATTERNS IN LI, IL, AND L2

  • Chin Chin Tseng
    • Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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    • 1996.10a
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    • pp.574-575
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    • 1996
  • The theme of the current study is to study intonation of Taiwanese(Tw.) by comparing the intonation patterns in native language (Ll), target language (L2), and interlanguage (IL). Studies on interlanguage have dealt primarily with segments. Though there were studies which addressed to the issues of interlanguage intonation, more often than not, they didn't offer evidence for the statement, and the hypotheses were mainly based on impression. Therefore, a formal description of interlanguage intonation is necessary for further development in this field. The basic assumption of this study is that native speakers of one language perceive and produce a second language in ways closely related to the patterns of their first language. Several studies on interlanguage prosody have suggested that prosodic structure and rules are more subject to transfer than certain other phonological phenomena, given their abstract structural nature and generality(Vogel 1991). Broselow(1988) also shows that interlanguage may provide evidence for particular analyses of the native language grammar, which may not be available from the study of the native language alone. Several research questions will be addressed in the current study: A. How does duration vary among native and nominative utterances\ulcorner The results shows that there is a significant difference in duration between the beginning English learners, and the native speakers of American English for all the eleven English sentences. The mean duration shows that the beginning English learners take almost twice as much time (1.70sec.), as Americans (O.97sec.) to produce English sentences. The results also show that American speakers take significant longer time to speak all ten Taiwanese utterances. The mean duration shows that Americans take almost twice as much time (2.24sec.) as adult Taiwanese (1.14sec.) to produce Taiwanese sentences. B. Does proficiency level influence the performance of interlanguage intonation\ulcorner Can native intonation patterns be achieved by a non-native speaker\ulcorner Wenk(1986) considers proficiency level might be a variable which related to the extent of Ll influence. His study showed that beginners do transfer rhythmic features of the Ll and advanced learners can and do succeed in overcoming mother-tongue influence. The current study shows that proficiency level does play a role in the acquisition of English intonation by Taiwanese speakers. The duration and pitch range of the advanced learners are much closer to those of the native American English speakers than the beginners, but even advanced learners still cannot achieve native-like intonation patterns. C. Do Taiwanese have a narrower pitch range in comparison with American English speakers\ulcorner Ross et. al.(1986) suggests that the presence of tone in a language significantly inhibits the unrestricted manipulation of three acoustical measures of prosody which are involved in producing local pitch changes in the fundamental frequency contour during affective signaling. Will the presence of tone in a language inhibit the ability of speakers to modulate intonation\ulcorner The results do show that Taiwanese have a narrower pitch range in comparison with American English speakers. Both advanced (84Hz) and beginning learners (58Hz) of English show a significant narrower FO range than that of Americans' (112Hz), and the difference is greater between the beginning learners' group and native American English speakers.

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An analysis of corrective feedback and learner uptake in college EFL class: With a focus on teachers' and learners' attitude (대학에서의 영어 말하기 오류수정 피드백과 학습자 반응: 교사와 학습자의 태도를 중심으로)

  • Kim, Na-Yun;Lee, Eun-Joo
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.15 no.4
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    • pp.237-264
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    • 2009
  • The present study explores patterns of teachers' corrective feedback and learners' uptake in Korean EFL undergraduate classroom setting. It also examines consistencies and discrepancies in the perception of corrective feedback by teachers and learners. Teachers' and learners' preferences and perception of corrective feedback are further analyzed to determine whether or not those differ from actual practices in English language learning classrooms. The results of the study are as follows. First of all, teachers' corrective feedback type varied according to the learners' error type and English proficiency level. There was a lack of consistency between the teachers' feedback practices and the learners' error types. Second, for the phonological errors, learners' data witnessed the most frequent uptake on recast. For the other error types, however, the learners' uptake rates were high for the explicit corrective feedback. Third, the teachers' explicit knowledge of corrective feedback was rather low and the preferences differed from teacher to teacher. The teachers' feedback perception and preferences did not consistently reflect their actual practices. Finally, patterns of the learners' expectations of corrective feedback varied according to learners' proficiency level. Teachers' and learners' expectations of corrective feedback were also compared and some mismatches were detected.

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Information Structure and the Use of the English Existential Construction in Korean Learner English

  • Lee, Hanjung
    • Journal of English Language & Literature
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    • v.57 no.6
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    • pp.1017-1041
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    • 2011
  • This study investigates Korean EFL learners' awareness and use of the English existential there-construction by examining data collected from 54 Korean EFL learners of English by means of a pragmalinguistic judgment task and a controlled discourse completion task. The results of the judgment task reveal that lower proficiency learners rated canonical sentences and existentials with a preposed locative best in the communicative situations where the use of existentials would have been most appropriate. A comparison of the ratings by more proficient learners and native speakers shows that existentials received highest ratings by both groups where they are the most natural option, while canonical sentences received significantly higher ratings by the learners. With regard to the production data, learners tended to avoid existentials, but rather relied on canonical sentences. Existentials were rarely used by lower proficiency learners and not used productively even by more proficient learners in the situations where existentials would have been the most natural option. These results suggest that Korean learners' difficulty with the use of existentials is not merely a product of performance limitations, but attributable to limited knowledge about existentials and their syntactic alternatives in terms of contextual appropriateness. Lower proficiency learners lack such knowledge, and more proficient learners, while showing better awareness of the use of existentials, have problems as to the placement of new information when engaging in writing tasks that place lower level of demands on attention to the information status of noun phrases compared to communicative, oral tasks.

Korean EFL Learners' Cognitive Tendencies in Critical Reading of Argumentative Texts

  • Lee, Jong-Hee
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.107-125
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    • 2006
  • This article reports some Korean EFL learners' cognitive tendencies drawn up from their responses to logical fallacies in the argument passages, and its pedagogical implications. The findings of experimental study show the meaningful disparities in three sets of judgment tests designed to identify and explicate faulty arguments: based on the three general types of fallacies using language, emotions, and distraction tactics, subjects on average gained the highest scores in the test questions with language-loaded fallacies and the lowest scores in those with emotion-based ones among the three different types; for this reason, the scores that subjects obtained in the test of distraction-loaded fallacious arguments fell in between the two poles. These discrepancies, mainly based on statistical inferences, support the possibility that the Korean EFL learners are most likely to be manipulated by emotions/distraction- loaded argument tactics than by language-based ones in the three types of fallacious arguments; and, they are least likely to be influenced by language-oriented trickeries. As a consequence, such variances in abilities to recognize the intrinsic elements of logical fallacies suggest some basic instructional approaches to critical reading of argumentative texts with due weights on the Korean EFL learners' culture-specific cognitive tendencies.

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Needs Analysis for the Development of a Korean Language Curriculum for Participants in the 'KOICA Scholarship Program' (KOICA 석사학위과정 연수자 대상 한국어 교육과정 개발을 위한 학습자 요구분석 -서울대학교 국제대학원과 행정대학원을 중심으로-)

  • Hong, Jin-hyeok
    • Journal of Korean language education
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    • v.28 no.3
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    • pp.181-210
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    • 2017
  • The purpose of this study is to analyze the needs of KOICA learners and to suggest some points to be considered in the development of a Korean language curriculum for KOICA Scholarship Program participants. For this purpose, the researcher first constructed questionnaires for analyzing learner needs based on the primary characteristics of learners that can be observed in actual education sites, and conducted a questionnaire survey for 71 trainees from the 'Graduate School of International Studies'(GSIS) and the 'Graduate School of Public Administration'(GSPA) in Seoul National University. Based on the analysis of the results, the researcher proposed several points to consider in terms of objectives, contents of education, methods of teaching, distribution of class time, textbooks and etc. in the development of a Korean language curriculum for KOICA learners. The 'KOICA Scholarship Program' is expected to continue to be implemented in the future, and it is expected that the development of a customized curriculum and corresponding textbooks for KOICA learners will soon be provided by governmental agencies. The researcher hopes that the results of this study can serve as useful reference.

A Study on Reexamination of the syllable errors of nasal consonant ending for Chinese learners in the Korean language study (중국인 학습자 비음 종성 /ㄴ/, /ㅇ/ 음절의 발음 오류 재고 -한·중 음절 유형을 통하여-)

  • Zhang, Jian
    • Journal of Korean language education
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.251-268
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    • 2017
  • This study is based on differences of syllable type between Korean and Chinese language pronunciation. For example, Nasal consonant ending 【n】 and 【${\eta}$】 reside in both Korean and Chinese phonetics simultaneously. However, in experiential training, Chinese learners will make errors in pronunciation of the Korean syllable nasal consonant ending like 【n】 and 【${\eta}$】. In the previous research, analysis of pronunciation errors were often based on the perspective of phonological system and combination of the phoneme rules. However, in this study, the analysis is based on the differences between Korean and Chinese syllables category to indicate the cause of pronunciation errors. The main findings of this study indicated that in the process of pronunciation of Chinese, nasal consonant syllable rime and its 【back】 tongue vowel are combined with each other. However, this rule does not apply in Korean pronunciation. Therefore, the Korean syllabic types like "앤, 응, 옹, 앵, 은, 온, 언" also exist in the Chinese language. When theChinese learners pronounce these types of syllables, the combination of the voweland nasal syllable rime rule will be taken, which will result in pronunciationerrors.

Learner Interpretation of Teacher Corrective Intention of Feedback in EFL Classrooms

  • Kim, Ji-Hyun
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.81-99
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    • 2011
  • The role of corrective feedback (CF) has long been discussed in the field of second language acquisition. It has been claimed that CF enables learners to notice the problems in their second language (L2) production. However, it should not be assumed that learners always adequately interpret teachers' responses to their problematic utterance as correction. Especially when feedback is provided in an implicit way, the possibility that CF goes unnoticed should not be excluded. In this regard, the study aims to investigate how learners perceive teachers' corrective feedback in English classrooms in Korea. The study focuses particularly on examining the relationship between type of feedback and target linguistic content with learner interpretation of teacher corrective intention. Nine classrooms were observed and videotaped. Forty-five students and nine teachers participated in stimulated recall interviews. Their comments were analyzed to document the learners' perception and the teachers' intention of feedback. It was found that learner perception of teacher corrective intention was at its greatest when feedback was provided explicitly and was focused on morphological errors.

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Characteristics of Intermediate/Advanced Korean Inter-Englishes: A Corpus-Linguistic Analysis. (우리나라 중.상급학습자 영어의 특징 : 말뭉치 언어학적 분석)

  • 안성호;이영미
    • Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
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    • v.4 no.1
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    • pp.83-102
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    • 2004
  • The purpose of this paper is to find out some major characteristics of intermediate-advanced Korean learners' English by corpus- linguistically analyzing their essays in comparison with native speakers'. We construct a corpus of CBT TOEFL essays by Korean learners, NNS1 (94076 words in 402 texts), and its sub-corpus, NNS2 (14291 words in 45 texts), and then a corpus of model essays written or meticulously edited by native speakers, NS (14833 words in 35 texts). We compare NNS1 and NNS2 with NS, and with some other corpora, in terms of high-frequency words, and show that Korean learners' writings have more features of informal writing than those of formal writing, which is in accord with the reports in Granger (1998) that EFL writings by European advanced learners are characterized by informality.

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A Study on Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language in North Korea: Focusing on Conversation Textbooks for International Students (조선의 '외국어로서 조선어교육' 연구 - 류학생 회화 교재를 중심으로 -)

  • Kim, Inkyu
    • Journal of Korean language education
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.283-306
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    • 2012
  • This study dealt with an issue of teaching Korean as a foreign language in North Korea through textbook analysis. The literature in this field has been quite rare compared to that in other fields in Korean language education, which is due to the adverse circumstances under which research into North Korea is currently carried out. The textbooks analyzed were 조선말회화(1) and 조선말회화(3) and the two learners who had studied Korean with these textbooks were interviewed. The main results show that (a) the grammar points in each chapter are unevenly distributed in 조선말회화(1), which makes it not look learner-centered; (b) each chapter in 조선말회화(1) is composed of speech acts, topics and situations, which renders it useful to its learners; (c) 조선말회화(3) emphasizes Korean oral discoursal features as a conversational textbook; and (d) 조선말회화(3) also covers much of reading comprehension-focused contents, which its learners may find burdensome. Foreseeing a possibility of teaching Korean as a foreign language in a reunified Korea makes it critical to carry out research into teaching Korean as a foreign language in North Korea. This calls for future collaborative research into this issue between two Koreas.