• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.17-20
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• 2005

The purpose of this project is to develop a device that can automatically measure pronunciation of English speech produced by Korean learners of English. Pronunciation proficiency will be measured largely in two areas; suprasegmental and segmental areas. In suprasegmental area, intonation and word stress will be traced and compared with those of native speakers by way of statistical methods using tilt parameters. Durations of phones are also examined to measure speakers' naturalness of their pronunciations. In doing so, statistical duration modelling from a large speech database using CART will be considered. For segmental measurement of pronunciation, acoustic probability of a phone, which is a byproduct when doing the forced alignment, will be a basis of scoring pronunciation accuracy of a phone. The final score will be a feedback to the learners to improve their pronunciation.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.55-75
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• 2006

This paper attempts to discuss the complex nature of social contexts regarding English language education in Korean middle school and to demonstrate the affective factors that should be considered to find appropriate approaches within the context. To do this, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 85 middle school students regarding learners' motivation, and attitudes toward EFL learning. Additionally, teachers in secondary school were asked about the general circumstances of English language education. Findings indicate that in spite of the participants' high instrumental motivation, they rather show a negative attitude toward English learning. This paper intends to raise practitioners' attention to the fact that the effect of learners' affective variables on EFL learning seems distinctive depending on the host country's EFL contexts.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.239-256
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• 2006

With the rapid development in computer hardware and software in recent years, the contents and methods of teaching English have been altered greatly. The use of multimedia and the Internet as a means of language teaching is increasing as information technology accelerates. Using multimedia and the Internet in language teaching allows teachers to have more time to devote to interacting with their students. Above all, it arouses in students the motivation for learning and enables each student to study with the speed commensurate to his/her own ability. Both teachers and students can choose their own style that is most efficient for their classes. When students are efficiently stimulated through visual and auditory materials, they can be more easily motivated to utilize and develop creative techniques by using multimedia and the Internet. Thus, in the information age, it would be desirable to innovate the existing concepts of lineal education and allow more student-centered lessons to more readily expose students to contents and experiences according to their own demands.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.245-259
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate English teachers' perceptions about doing their own action research to find out the benefits of involvement in action research. I believe that teachers should engage in curriculum research and development because it relates to their own classrooms and because a primary aim for teacher education program is to give teachers ways of exploring their own classrooms. I focused on 17 graduate students who had undertaken action research during the fall semester of 2007 and administered a questionnaire about their perceptions of doing action research. The results revealed that their perceptions of doing action research fell into the following two categories, positive and negative aspects. For positive aspects, they experienced a sense of personal and professional growth and they underwent identity transformation from passive, etic-oriented, and uncritical to active, emic-oriented, and critical teachers. However, many of them expressed that major obstacles to doing action research were time constraints and lack of skills or training in conducting action research. Thus, it is suggested that both pre- and in-service teachers should consider conducting a language teaching diary study, doing collaborative action research, and acquiring all the necessary skills for conducting action research.

• Educational Technology International
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.229-254
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• 2018

Universities in Korea have driven universities' new attempts to adopt more learner-centered and active learning in English. Problem-based Learning (PBL) is one of the well-known constructive teaching and learning methodologies in higher education. Our research goal was to design and develop the optimal PBL practices for a college physics course taught in English to promote learning and course satisfaction. For four semesters, we have tried and adjusted PBL components, and looked at the trend of the exam scores and group work achievement in each semester. We found that the number of problems and the duration of problem solving are the critical factors that influence the effect of PBL in a college physics course taught in English by going through iterative implementation. The iterative process of applying, designing, and constructing PBL to physics classes was meaningful not only in that we have found the optimal PBL model for learning a college physics course, but also in that we have been reflecting on the continuous interaction with learners during the course.

• Educational Technology International
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.59-78
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• 2009

Language Capital is one of the most important academic abilities and competencies for new era of globalization worldwide. In Europe and Asia where English is not the native language, it is necessary to encourage higher education to improve language competency from both qualitative and quantitative aspects. In so far as online university concerned, it appears of significance to prepare for globalization from the perspective of cross border education, and it needs to focus on how to design and develop English-medium teaching (EMT) or in other words English mediated instruction(EMI) for both teachers and students. In order to provide supportive programs of English-mediated class for teachers and students, the study examined and analyzed what abilities are needed for teachers based on DACUUM approach, suggesting teachers' competency as well as strategies for online- EMT. Based on literature review, DACUUM analysis, focus group interview with teachers and students who experienced online EMT, online programs supporting both teachers and students for online EMI were developed. This program expects to play roles of practical guidelines and reference for both teachers and students online in an extension of language capital improvement.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.57-69
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• 2017

Due to the development of technology even in learning and education area, many studies have begun to make a new attempts to research by using SNS, breaking away from traditional learning methods. However, the limitations of these studies are restricted only to the use of wireless Internet and writing on Web sites. This study aims to conduct a research on English learning activities that utilize various technologies such as Bigdata, Facebook, Social Network Services (SNS) and English applications. In addition, this study looks into how these modern technologies can be integrated in the classrooms and which activities can be applied in the English classroom. This research is to suggest effective English learning methods through a thorough investigation on the effectivity of various technologies based on the Web 2.0 such as Flickr, blogs, MySpace, and online discussion board within the context of the English learning. To verify the effect of the study, the subjects are divided into experimental and control group. The experiment is proceeded with pre- and post-test. The experimental group is designed to verify the effects using SNS tools such as Facebook, Bigdata, and Online Massive Learning. A survey is conducted to determine the preference of utilizing social networking sites and to analyze the effects in class. The result is that the average scores for experimental group have improved more than the average of control group. The comparison of pre and post-test of the experimental group shows that the significance of the higher and median group was statistically significant at the p<0.01.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2012

The development of corpus in recent years has attracted increased research on spoken Korean. Nevertheless, these research outcomes are yet to be meaningfully and adequately reflected in Korean language textbooks. The reported speech marker '-dae' is one of these areas that need more attention. This study investigates whether or not in textbooks '-dae' is clearly explained to English-speaking learners to prevent confusion and misuse. Based on a contrastive analysis of Korean and English, this study argues three points: Firstly, '-dae' should be introduced to Korean learners as an independent sentence ender rather than a contracted form of '-dago hae'. Secondly, it is necessary to teach English-speaking learners that '-dae' is not equivalent to the English report speech form. It functions more or less as a third person marker in Korean. Learners should be informed that '-dae' is used for statements in English, if those statements were hearsay but the source of information does not need to be specified. This is a very distinctive difference between Korean and English and should be emphasized in class when 'dae' is taught. Thirdly, '-dae' should be introduced before indirect speech constructions, because it is mainly used in simple statements and the frequency of '-dae' is very high in spoken Korean.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.121-127
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• 2023

The purpose of this pilot study is to examine the responses of middle school students to English learning after conducting English writing activities using DALL-E2, an image-generating artificial intelligence tool. To this end, an experimental class was conducted for 3 weeks for 15 middle school English learners, and the results are summarized as follows. First, as a result of a survey on English writing activities using DALL-E2, it was found that confidence, interest, and awareness of writing using artificial intelligence-based tools changed positively. In addition, it was confirmed that there was a statistically significant difference, which meant that learning using artificial intelligence had a positive effect on English writing and overall English learning. Second, as a result of analyzing the English writing activities using DALL-E2, core themes could be extracted into three (cognitive, affective, and psychodynamic characteristics), and the use and implementation of artificial intelligence-based DALL-E2 in English learning showed potential to increase learning interest, challenge, will, and desire in learning and ultimately contribute to enhancing productive skill.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.403-413
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• 2021

This paper emphasizes the effect of using poetry in the University General English education and suggests the teaching method of English education with a Frost's poem, "Out, Out- ." These days, learner-centered English education and integrative study of four linguistic functions, reading, listening, speaking and writing are considered important in the University General English class. Poetry is very effective text for the education purposes. Poetry techniques like a visual image, rhythm, rhyme, or repetition are actually mnemonics and strongly connected to the enhancement of memory and oral linguistic function. This paper suggests the specific education methods in the poetry selection, pre-reading step, reading step and after- reading step with concrete examples of "Out, Out-." These education methods through the 'oral text' can be a good and sustainable model for learner-centered education.