• 한국어교육
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.225-254
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to contrast the patterns of realization and understanding of refusal speech acts between Korean and Thai learners. This study intends to answer the following questions: (1) Do Koreans and Thai learners perform refusal speech acts differently? (2) Do Koreans and Thai learners understand refusal speech acts differently? A DCT and a follow-up interview were conducted to collect data of two groups of 30 native Korean speakers and 30 native Thai speakers. For research question 1, we analyzed the refusal strategy and provided reasons given by Koreans and Thai learners depending on the context. For research question 2, we ran a chi-squared test on the elements of the follow-up interviews, such as the weight of burden of refusing, and whether the participant would actually refuse or not. The differences between the refusal strategies of the two groups could be categorized by the preceding inducing speech act. In refusing a request, the difference was prominent in the apologizing strategy, whereas in refusing a suggestion, the difference was mainly in the direct refusal strategy. When refusing an invitation, the most evident difference was the number of refusal strategies employed. When providing an explanation of refusal to people with high social status, Koreans gave more specific reasons for refusals, whereas Thai learners tended to use more vague reasons. Moreover, when refusing an invitation, Koreans primarily mentioned the relationship, and Thai learners showed the spirit of Greng Jai. When asked the weight of burden of refusing, Koreans felt pressured to refuse a request from people with high social status, and a suggestion or invitation from people with high level of intimacy while Thai learners found it highly difficult to make a refusal in all cases. In answering whether they would actually refuse or not, Koreans tried not to make a refusal to people with high level of intimacy, and such a trend was not evident among the Thai. This study can help us better understand the learner's pragmatic failure, and serve as a basis in establishing a curriculum for teaching speech acts.

• 한국어교육
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.139-161
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• 2018

This study aims to investigate factors that are important for Korean language faculty and learners in Thai universities with focus on factors that constitute characteristics of desirable Korean language teachers. This study also analyzes the difference in perception between the faculty and learners to enhance the qualities of Korean language teachers in Thailand. The demand for Korean language learners is explosive in Thailand as Korean language has been adopted as a college entrance examination subject since the 2018 school year. As a result, the Thai government has increased the number of Korean language education institutions to reflect the rapidly increasing demand of Korean language learners, but Korean language education in Thailand has only achieved quantitative growth and has made little in the way of qualitative growth. In this respect, it is meaningful to compare the qualities of the Korean language teachers in the Korean language faculty of Thai universities with the qualities that learners perceive Korean language teachers should have, which ultimately can enhance the quality of Thai Korean language teachers and help the learners to learn more effectively.

• 비교문화연구
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• 제35권
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• pp.293-314
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• 2014

This paper aims to contrast phonology of Korean and Thai in terms of language universality. Considering consonants, both languages having 21 typologically most plausible consonants display high universality in the number of consonants. However, Thai shows higher universality in regards to their substance, i.e. it differs from Korean when it comes to the structure of plosives and fricatives. Both Korean and Thai show similarities regarding the plosives due to the fact that both languages possess three contrastive consonants. However, the Thai plosives consist of plain voiced, plain voiceless and aspirated voiceless sounds that have higher universality than the Korean plosives which are plain voiced, plain voiceless and aspirated voiceless. In case of vowels, both Korean with its 10 vowels and Thai with its 9 vowels show lower universality when it comes to the total number of vowels. However, all of those vowels belong to the list of most plausible vowels which makes their universality higher in substance. In respect of syllable structure, Korean with its CVC type shows a moderately complex structure while Thai with its CCVC type has a complex structure. The coda may consist of only one consonant in each language but onset is composed of one consonant in Korean, and two consonants in Thai. The contrastive study of similarities and differences between Korean and Thai in terms of phonology will help not only understand the two languages but also provide useful information for increasing the efficacy of Korean language education for Thai learners of Korean whose number is rapidly increasing.

• 한국어교육
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.85-104
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of listening comprehension ability, self-efficacy, comprehension anxiety, and exposure time on Korean language understanding. In order to achieve our goal, listening examinations and surveys were conducted among 95 students from a university in Thailand, studying Korean language. As a result, it was revealed that the most influential factor on one's listening ability was self-efficacy. In addition, when the correlation between listening self-efficacy and other factors was examined, it was shown that there existed a statistically significant relationship. Particularly, listening comprehension anxiety had the most significant correlation with listening self-efficacy. Similarly, cognitive strategy demonstrated a significant correlation with listening self-efficacy. On the other hand, the effects of self-efficacy and other factors on listening scores such as the degree and types of strategy that students used were also studied. The findings revealed that, in most cases, strategy-intensive group's test results were influenced more by exposure time, while the less intensive group's scores were influenced more by their self-efficacy. Finally, after analyzing the effects of time spent on conversing with friends and watching Korean television on listening self-efficacy, it was discovered that both factors had statistically significant relationships with listening self-efficacy. Through this study, such results can be integrated and applied to education in various ways. The most important part for listening comprehension ability is enhancing self-efficacy and in order to do so, the appropriate education methods should be used to reduce listening comprehension anxiety, stimulate strategy use, and increase listening exposure time.