• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.263-291
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• 2003

This paper is to help the students in elementary schools develop and improve their English listening and speaking skills by presenting effective teaching and learning techniques using puppetry. It is absolutely obvious that listening and speaking are very important skills for most EFL students. Using puppets in the classroom is a creative English teaching technique which can involve authentic, communicative language situations. Moreover, puppets appeal to children and can aid in lowering affective filters thereby creating a more comfortable learning environment. The study clearly showed that using puppets is feasible and enjoyable in elementary English classes. However, caution must be exercised in drawing and generalizing conclusions from this experience. The results of the experiment are as follows: First, using puppetry in the English class was found to have positive influence on students' affective domains (interst, attitude). Second, using puppets in the English classes was found to be efficient for improving students' English listening and speaking skills. Third, appropriate materials should be selected and well thought-out plans should be made to be successful English class using puppetry. Perhaps the most interesting line of future research is to use qualitative research to examine the effect of this technique on the teacher variable. Further research is recommended, especially on using puppetry for speaking proficiency and creating affectively comfortable learning atmospheres.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.103-111
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• 2013

Traditionally it has been assumed that written abilities are completely dependent on phonology. Therefore spoken and written language skills in aphasic patients have been known to exhibit similar types of impairment. However, a number of latest studies have reported the findings that support the orthographic autonomy hypothesis. The purpose of this study was to examine whether fluent aphasic patients have discrepancy between speaking and writing skills, thereby identifying whether the two skills are realized through independent processes. To this end, this study compared the K-FAST speaking and writing tasks of 30 aphasia patients. In addition, 16 aphasia patients, who were capable of producing sentences not only in speaking but also in writing, were compared in their performances at each phase of the sentence production process. As a result, the subjects exhibited different performances between speaking and writing, along with statistically significant differences between the two language skills at positional and phonological encoding phases of the sentence production process. Therefore, the study's results suggest that written language is more likely to be produced via independent routes without the mediation of the process of spoken language production, beginning from a certain phase of the sentence production process.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.237-254
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• 2011

This study investigated Korean university students' perceptions of NESTs (Native English Speaking Teachers) and NNESTs (Non-native English Speaking Teachers) in TEE (Teaching English through English) courses to examine strengths and weaknesses of NESTs and NNESTs. 100 university students who had an experience in taking TEE courses with both NESTs and NNESTs answered the questionnaire in which they were asked to answer questions of general area, language skills, affective areas, and teaching behaviors. 20 students out of them were also interviewed to consolidate the data. The results revealed that except for speaking ability, students did not express a strong preference for NESTs and they did have a preference in learning some specific skills. In terms of affective areas, students had a preference for NNESTs. In addition, there were differences in teaching behaviors of NESTs and NNESTs. These findings have valuable implications for NNESTs to improve their speaking proficiency: analyzing and participating in discourses, and monitoring teaching practice through videotaping.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.103-129
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• 2006

This paper presents a case study of the effectiveness of debate class in promoting speaking skills of advanced learners. The researcher adopted English debate techniques in an English speaking class during four-week teacher training program and investigated how teachers responded to the new technique. Forty-five middle and high school teachers participated in the study and classroom observation, pre-survey, post-survey, and focus group interviews were used as the major research methods. The teacher pre-survey results presented that teachers prefer a conversation class where they can directly acquire proper sentence patterns and speaking strategies rather than spend time in performing communicative events. The results of the focus group interview and post-survey confirmed that a debate class can meet this specific teachers' needs. Most teachers responded positively to the debate classes since: 1) debate techniques are relatively new ideas to Korean teachers; 2) debate techniques require speed and accuracy in speech; thus teachers could learn to present their ideas logically and efficiently in a limited time through repeated argument exercises. The study result implies that debate technique can be an effective vehicle in an EFL context to promote advanced learners' logical thinking skills and logical English sentence structures.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.147-155
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• 2020

This is a literature review study on personality traits' role in language learning. Personality traits play an important role in language learning. In order to review research outcomes in recent studies, articles related to language learning and personality traits were collected through research databases such as ProQuest, Google Scholar, and EBSCO. Based on the analysis of collected literature, this study revealed that extraversion and openness to experience are the personality traits leading to the successful language learning. More specifically, extraversion was related to speaking skills while openness to experience was related to listening. It is also important to note which learning strategies are more likely to be utilized in second language learning and personality traits that are more likely to use them. These findings focus on writing skills, listening skills, and speaking skills. Further studies in the field are suggested.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.87-110
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• 2007

Past studies conducted on the students' verbal participation both in and out of class have explored and identified variables affecting the process of learning to speak English. However, little is known about the causes and effects of these variables. A survey form developed from a previous study was administered to 468 university students taking English conversation classes from native speakers of English. To better understand the causes and effects of speaking barriers, path analysis was administered as the main tool of investigation. The results of the study indicate that familiarities toward NS (Native Speaker) teachers, learner faithfulness, che-myon, NS teachers' classroom management skills, and NS teacher's trustworthiness account for 50.72% of speaking grades. These factors are causally related to learner attitudes. However, with regard to speaking grades, all of the above factors except che-myon are also causally related with each other. Therefore, it was concluded that learner attitudes can be improved by minimizing che-myon, however, che-myon itself cannot be a predictor of speaking grades. To validate the findings of the study, related research work is discussed and implications are provided.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.225-234
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• 2001

The Korean Metaphonological Assessment, adapted from the Metaphonological Abilities Battery (MAB; Hesketh, 2000b) was administered to examine the development of metaphonological skills of 60 normally developing Korean pre-school children aged from 3 to 6. The tasks were specifically designed to evaluate their skills to detect rhymes, onsets, and segments. A gradual improvement of total scores was observed in children from 3 to 5, with evidence for developmental refinements of metaphonological abilities in the ages of 5 and 6. Subjects were found to develop segmenting skills at a relatively early age and gradually progressed toward detecting onsets and then rhymes. The differences in the order of development from the previous studies with English-speaking children were discussed. This preliminary study also aimed to provide foundational information for investigating the link between expressive phonological impairments, metaphonolgocial skills, and literacy in Korean-speaking children.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.200-206
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• 2020

Digital storytelling, a 21st century educational tool that combines digital media with storytelling, is considered as a powerful tool to learn foreign languages in an authentic and meaningful way. This study explored cyber university students' perceptions and experiences with a digital storytelling project implemented to enhance their English writing and speaking skills. The results of 9 week-long research indicated that most of the students' attitudes were positive: the digital storytelling project was effective to increase their English skills, learning motivation and interest in learning English. Most students perceived that the process writing approach and videotaping tasks provided them with good opportunities to develop their English writing and speaking skills. Although many students had difficulties selecting a topic and writing a script in the initial stage, they could handle with these challenges with the help of professors' feedback and successfully completed their projects. After completing the project, most students expressed a strong sense of accomplishment. These results suggest that the digital storytelling project effectively met cyber university students' learning needs and facilitate their English learning.

• 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.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.259-272
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• 2020

This study aims at investigating the effects of collective promotion on the attainment of literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills by primary school pupils and also to find out if the policy of collective promotion meets its objective of minimization of wastage in basic education. The study used written tests for pupils in the final class (Level II, class 6) to collect data in some selected English-speaking primary schools in Meme Division of Cameroon. Descriptive statistics and a one way ANOVA were used for analyzing data. The results revealed that the policy of collective promotion negatively affects the attainment of literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills of pupils in Kumba, Meme Division. Teachers who assisted in the study through personal communication with the researcher argued that collective promotion in basic education does not achieve its objective of minimizing wastage of educational resources; neither does it positively improve the literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills of pupils. This study recommends that the policy of collective promotion can be revisited and that focus be placed not only on minimizing wastage of resources but also on investing on quality education system so as to equip the would-be leaders of tomorrow with skills, knowledge, and attitudes which will make them functional and responsible citizens in their society.