• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.221-250
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• 2017

This study aims to discuss the basic foundations to set levels and language skills for developing a Korean Proficiency Test for young and adolescent learners. Recently, there has been an increase in demand regarding young and adolescent learners from multicultural and overseas backgrounds. However, the current Korean Proficiency Test lacks the appropriate means to determine the Korean proficiency of young and adolescent learners with general purposes of language learning. Therefore, there is an urgent need for developing a specialized and new form of language assessment for young and adolescent learners who are exposed to a foreign language or a second language learning environment. The study examines and analyzes cases of foreign language examinations for young & adolescent learners; furthermore, the objectives and target were set based on the results of a needs analysis and in-depth interviews conducted among teachers and education officials in overseas Korean Hangeul Schools, international schools, elementary and secondary schools. Finally, the levels and language skills appropriate for the objectives of a proficiency test and target learners have been suggested.

• Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.229-252
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• 2004

The TOEIC has widely used to evaluate business English proficiency in Korea, but those who achieved high scores still often face difficulties in performing their duties in English at work. This implies that the test may not evaluate business English proficiency effectively enough. With an ultimate goal of proposing an effective way of assessing business English proficiency, therefore, his study analyzed the predictive validity of the TOEIC. A correlation analysis was conducted between TOEIC scores of 64 office workers of multinational companies and their working skills in English evaluated by themselves, and their colleagues and seniors. Its results illustrated a significant correlation between their listening and reading scores and their working skills measured by all the groups, but not between their scores and their working skills in speaking and writing. In addition, the study did a delphi study to identify working skills in English to be assessed in business English tests and a contents analysis of the TOEIC. The results suggest business English tests should be able to assess working skills by work types and more direct testing of working skills in speaking and writing is needed.

• Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.17-29
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• 2016

To help define future research direction and enhance educational service for children from Asian and Latino immigrant backgrounds, this review examines research investigating social competence with reference to host and heritage language skills. A targeted search obtained 14 peer-reviewed studies published from 1994 to 2014 focusing on children aged from birth to 12 years. Social competence is mainly measured by four dimensions: externalizing behaviours, internalizing behaviours, social skills and relationships with others. The evidence suggests that English proficiency levels are positively associated with social skills and parent-child relationships are of higher quality when parent-child heritage language difference is minimal. However the findings are mixed regarding how English levels are associated with externalizing, internalizing behaviours and relationships with others and how heritage language levels are associated with social competence. This review makes a set of recommendations for future research including assessment of participants' language proficiency with language tests and examination of emotional factors in the relationship between English and social competence. The implications of the findings are also discussed for educators.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.195-214
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• 2006

This study examines the effects of Internet-based English practice on listening and reading. Out of a total of 16 students who took part in pre- and post-tests, 11 who had frequently practiced listening and reading on the Internet showed greater improvement in these skills than the 5 who had practiced less. The findings also suggest that summarization of listening and reading on the Internet was useful as it made students concentrate specifically on the content. This study suggests that English language teachers use a bulletin board to complement the use of Internet sites for listening and reading practice outside of the classroom in an EFL context.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.177-196
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to help teachers and program developers develop comprehensive and authentic assessment models with appropriate ways of using various kinds of assessment tools in college English instruction and assessment. Assessing by traditional discrete tests based on grammar and vocabulary cannot measure the authentic ability for language use in meaningful context in the real world. Currently, the trend in language assessment is changing to performance assessment. Increased use of performance assessments that involve language students in selecting and reflecting on their learning means that language teachers will have a wider range of evidence on which to judge whether students are becoming purposeful and are able to communicate as English users. Also, language programs focused on performance assessment are likely to instil in students authentic skills related to communication in the global world and enable them to evaluate what they learn from their English classes. In this study, the author investigated the theoretical background, the need of change, and several types of performance assessment.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2022

This study investigates the impact of flipped classroom strategy in developing students' achievement and acquisition of life skills. The study employed a quasi-experimental design where students were divided into two groups: an experimental (N=22) and a control (N=22). The randomly selected and assigned sample consisted of sixth-year elementary school students studying English as a basic course. The findings revealed statistically significant differences between the two group's means in both achievement and life skills tests in favor of the experimental group. Students of the experimental group who studied using the flipped classroom strategy outperformed the control group who studied in the standard way in achieving the English language and in the life situations test, where the effect size of the use of the strategy was large in both dependent variables. The study is concluded with some recommendations to facilitate the use of flipped classroom strategy for EFL teachers. This can be achieved by training teachers on using the strategy and providing technological resources at schools to implement the strategy efficiently.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.255-292
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• 2018

Most grading scales of Korean language proficiency tests are based on existing grading scales that are not empirically verified. The purpose of this study is to develop an empirically verified scale descriptor. The 'Performance data-driven approach' that is suggested by Fulcher (1987) was used to develop the detailed description of characteristics for each level of performance. This study is focused on the functional phase of speech samples analysis (coding data) to create explanatory categories of discourse skills into which individual observations of speech phenomena can be scored. The speech samples that were collected through this study demonstrated stages of speech that can be a foundation of a grading scale. The data used in the study was collected from 23 native speakers of Korean. Speech samples were recorded from simulated speaking tests using the 'REFUSAL' task, and transcribed for analysis. The transcript was analyzed using discourse analysis. The result showed that the 'REFUSAL' task needs to go through four functional phases in actual communication. Furthermore, this study found specific and detailed explanatory categories of discourse competence based on the actual native speaker's speech data. Such findings are expected to contribute to the development of more valid and reliable speaking assessment.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.36
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• pp.173-194
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• 2007

The purpose of this article is primarily to give prominence to the importance of International Business English education. Although English is one of the most crucial parts in international business transaction it has not been treated as one of academical sciences. As English is a main language when the international business transaction is done International Business English should be studied by scholars who majored in international business area. It is true that there has been no study at all regarding International Business English(in this article, it does not mean General International Business English) so far. Anyone who does and learn the international business should have some opportunities to have a contact towards international business correspondence and other documents before they do in reality. However, in Korea, most English education has been focused on general English and English certificate tests at universities. At universities' level, it is certainly a scholars' task to study International Business English education in order to provide decent education to the students. For doing so, this article examine, focusing only on reading part, how International Business English should be taught and especially, how reading skills should be activated and integrated with other language skills. This objective will be fulfilled by asking, what reading means in International Business English, as well as what role reading plays in International Business English education.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.1
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• pp.109-127
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• 1995

Due to frequent international exchanges, there has been much emphasis on communication proficiency in foreign language education. However, when we look back upon teaching English in Korea over past years, we find that English teaching has been dominated mainly by Grammar-Translation Method, which makes teachers and students pay little attention to listening skill that is regarded as the basis of communication proficiency. Recently many English teachers have shown their interest in listening skill, so they come to use the textbook record tapes to improve listening skill. But listening training by textbook record tapes seems to make students feel bored. So the purpose of this study is to suggest an effective way of improving listening skill by means of Pop Songs that the students are indulged in. The processes of this study consist of three stages : 1) listening to songs, 2) explanation about structures and vocabularies in songs, 3) filling in blanks while listening. The subjects in this study are freshmen 88 students in girls' High School They are grouped into two : one is experimental group and the other control group. Among the subjects, the former have been taught by the lesson plan using pop songs, while the latter by the lesson plan using textbook record tapes. The experiment lasts about 9 months (from March to November, l994) The data for analyzing the study results have been collected from two kinds of tests : one is listening test and the other comprehensive test. The hypothesises of this study areas follows : 1) Depending on hearing materials (experimental material vs traditional material), there will be a difference in scores of listening skills between EG (experimental group) and CG (control group), 2) Depending on the interest on pop songs, there will be a difference in scores of hearing skills in CG, 3) Depending on hearing material. there will be a difference in scores of overall English skills between EG and CG, 4) Improvement in listening skill will give influence on the overall English scores. The findings of this study indicate that pop songs are effective to improve students' listening skill, that students' interest in the hearing material is important, and that listening skill is closely related to other skills, especially reading skill. It can be concluded that English teachers should make efforts to find the suitable listening materials which will help students to improve their listening proficiency effectively.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.23-43
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• 2012

This study investigates the effects of three different types of instruction, namely form-based, comprehension-based, and production-based on the development of Korean university students' (n=137) comprehension and production of English relative clauses (RCs). The extent of improvements was analyzed by administering pre-and post-tests consisting of two comprehension tests (selecting the right form of RCs and the right picture descriptions) and one production test (combining two sentences). Findings of this study suggest that all three types of instruction increased participants' comprehension and productions of RCs. However, there appeared differential effects by the instruction type. It was found production-based instruction was most effective in promoting comprehension, followed by comprehension-based instruction. Comprehension-based instruction worked best with the development of production, suggesting that the effects of comprehension training did not only work for increasing comprehension skills, but also transfer to production skills. The type or level of tasks employed for each instruction appeared to play an important role in causing such results. Form-based instruction displayed the lowest improvements in both comprehension and production of RCs. A sentence-combination task employed for form-based instruction appear to result in mere explicit rule explanations without chances to notice rules in context or use their knowledge in practice.