• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.453-470
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• 2021

The aims of this study are to explore the experiences of modern Korean women who experience childbirth and to examine the perceptions of body and appearance in everyday life and how fashion provides a means of self-expression. The study utilizes focused ethnography (a qualitative research method) of cultural technology magazines, conducted to observe women's behavior and language, and to explore their life values, such as beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in fashion style in everyday life. The purpose of this study is to reveal the actual meaning of childbirth, the resulting change in appearance, and patterns of specific style expression. This will enable a better understanding of the experiences of married women with children in Korea using vivid language, by which an in-depth understanding of their lives may be promoted. A survey of 24 women (aged 25~40) who had experienced pregnancy and childbirth were included in the study, categorized as early pregnancy, pre-birth, and post-birth parenting. Subcategories were derived as "unfeasible pregnancy," "unpredictable and unprepared anxiety," "self-awareness of changing bodies," "pressure on healthy bodies," "opportunity to let go of pressure on appearance management," "pressure on hard parenting," and "experience of change in unmanaged areas." Pregnant women and women with children demonstrated tastes and preferences in style suitable for differentiated situations and roles, along with perceptions of appearance.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.1311-1337
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• 2010

This paper deals with one of the hottest debates in the history of the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) since its inception in the late 1960s. In 1998 at Hawai'i, the AAAS awarded Lois-Ann Yamanaka its Fiction Award for her novel Blu's Hanging, only to have this award protested. The point at issue was the inappropriate representation of Filipino American characters called "Human Rats" in the novel. This event divided the association into two groups: one criticizing the novel for the problematic portrayal of Filipinos in colonial Hawai'i, and the other defending it from the criticism in the name of aesthetic freedom. Such a "crisis of representation" in Asian American identity reflects on the ways in which local Hawaiians are positioned in the complicate power dynamic between oppositional Hawaiian identity and cosmopolitan diasporic identity within the larger framework of Asian American pan-ethnic identity. The controversial event triggered the eruption of Asian Americans' anxiety over the identity-bounded nation of Asian America where intra-racial classism and conflict have been at play, which are primary themes of Blu's Hanging. This paper shows how Yamanaka's Blu's Hanging becomes so disturbing a work to prevent the hegemonic formality of Asian America identity from being fully dogmatic. Ultimately, it contradicts the political unconscious of the reading public and unmasked its false consciousness by engendering a "free subjective intervention" in the ideological reality of colonial Hawai'i.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.2966-2986
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• 2023

Climate change is a constant threat to human life, and it is important to understand the public perception of this issue. Previous studies examining climate change have been based on limited survey data. In this study, the authors used big data such as news articles and social media data, within which the authors selected specific keywords related to climate change. Using these natural language data, topic modeling was performed for discourse analysis regarding climate change based on various topics. In addition, before applying topic modeling, sentiment analysis was adjusted to discover the differences between discourses on climate change. Through this approach, discourses of positive and negative tendencies were classified. As a result, it was possible to identify the tendency of each document by extracting key words for the classified discourse. This study aims to prove that topic modeling is a useful methodology for exploring discourse on platforms with big data. Moreover, the reliability of the study was increased by performing topic modeling in consideration of objective indicators (i.e., coherence score, perplexity). Theoretically, based on the social amplification of risk framework (SARF), this study demonstrates that the diffusion of the agenda of climate change in public news media leads to personal anxiety and fear on social media.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.307-333
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• 2007

When W. E. B. Du Bois says that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line," such a statement clearly recognizes the significance of the issue of racial identity, a cultural phenomenon called 'passing.' Both Johnson in The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and Larsen in Passing confront this issue. Both novels, using the metaphor of passing, not only trace the racial anxiety and race politics of the time but also expose the unstable landscape of the established social and cultural boundaries of racial identity. Mapping out multiple meanings and various dimensions of passing, this paper argues how Johnson's and Larsen's narratives display the ambivalence of color line while they at the same time complicate, problematize, and destabilize the mainstream racial boundaries and differences. It furthers to delineate how the two writers, with difference, deal with the problem of passing, the significance of racial identity, and black middle class values along with its intraracial differences. Rather than draw a clear definition of and a definitive closure on passing narrative, this paper focuses on its complexities and undecidability, challenging every dimension of its established significations. It also explores the complex dynamic between passing act and individual identity, for passing here is not just a racially signified term but extends its significance to the other factors of identity, such as class and even sexuality. Johnson and Larsen open up a site for a newly emergent, modern racial identity for black middle class in the twentieth century American urban spaces. Both writers, illuminating the subversive and slippery nature of language in their passing narrative, clearly herald new, different forms of Afro-American writings and themes for the different century they face.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.483-496
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to describe how Korean nurses overcome the language barrier while working in the U.S. hospital settings. Twelve Korean nurses living in New York metropolitan area were asked open-ended, descriptive questions to collect the data. The interviews were done in Korean. All interviews were audiotaped under the permission of the participants and were transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using grounded theory analysis. The research process consisted of two phases. In the first phase 8 Korean nurses were interviewed and analyzed. In the second phase, further data were collected to verify categories and working hypotheses that were emerged from the first phase. The results of this study show that all Korean nurses experienced severe psychological stress such as confusion, anxiety, frustration, loss of self-confidence, embarrassment, guilt, depression, anger, and fear. Among the mode of communication such as listening, speaking, leading, and writing, they had the most difficulty in speaking. Speaking ability was especially important for them because of the emphasis of individualism and self-defense in the U.S. Among the verbal communication modes, non-face-to-face communications such as phone conversation and body language were the most difficu1t for them to overcome. It took at least 2 years for the participants to initially overcome the language barrier in U.S. hospitals. After 2-5 years they began to feel comfortable even in non-face-to-face communication. They could actively search for the better place to work after 5 years. They finally felt comfortable in English and in their job almost after 10 years. The factors that influenced the English improvement were ‘the years of clinical experience in Korea’, ‘the decade they came to the U.S.’ ‘coming to U.S. alone or with other Korean nurses’, ‘racial homogeneity or heterogeneity of the working unit’, and ‘the degree of social support’. The strategies Korean nurses used to overcome the language barrier included depending on the written communication, using ‘nunchi’, working and studying hard, and establishing good interpersonal relationships with co-workers. They also employed assertive behavior of the U.S., such as using more explicit verbal language and employing smiles and eye contact with others during the conversation. The results of the study may help Korean nurses and nursing students who try to work in U.S. hospital settings by understanding problems other Korean nurses faced, factors that influenced their English improvement, and strategies they used. They may also help U.S. nurses and administrators in developing and implementing efficient programs for newly employed Korean nurses by understanding major problems and feelings the Korean nurses experienced and strategies they used to overcome the language barriers.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.79-98
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• 2006

As one way of changing a teacher-fronted, grammar-based reading class into a meaningful, fun-creating one, this paper compared teacher- fronted reading with student-centered reading framed upon cooperative learning. In a study in which each type of reading method was conducted for college students in an EFL reading course for a period of one semester, data were gathered via questionnaires. The results showed that though each type of reading instruction came with its own strengths and weaknesses, student-centered reading instruction was preferred for various reasons. Most important, through an active participation in cooperative work, subjects were motivated and interested in L2 reading much, were exposed to various reading strategies and skills, and practiced them in a friendly, low-anxiety learning climate.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-26
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• 2007

This study aimed to investigate how EFL learners perceived English writing tasks and teachers' written feedback. The subjects were 82 mixed major college EFL students aged 19-24; the majority were freshmen females. Based on the scores estimated from the essay evaluation test, they were placed into two groups (proficienand less-proficient writers) and responded to an in-class questionnaire. The results indicated that: (1) regardless of writing proficiency, a large number of the students felt that they were just fair writers, which could be derived from low confidence and high anxiety; (2) grammar and vocabulary were perceived as the main features that determined good EFL writers and also prevented the students from performing the writing task successfully; (3) they believed that teachers' feedback contributed to the development of their English writing skills because it helped them apprehend what to improve or avoid in the future, acquire better English usage, and correct their errors; and (4) the proficient writers were more willing to correct errors themselves after being provided clues than the less-proficient writers. Implications of the findings for EFL classrooms are discussed.

• CELLMED
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.8.1-8.2
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• 2022

The Yangbanchum was reconstructed based on mask play that had been handed down in Goseong, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea. Talnori, called Goseong Ogwangdae, is a Korean folk cultural heritage designated as National Important Intangible Cultural Property No. 57. This mask play provides catharsis to the audience by unraveling the hypocrisy and lies of the aristocrats through satire and humor. Our performance team, the ensemble Better Than Medicine (eBTM) used a large fan (Boochae)to create a performance that blew away anxiety and pain. Watching this performance, the performer and the audience feel the consensus of sharing emotions and send strong bonds and support to each other. This study provides that Yangbanchum dance promotes the mental health by feeling emotional sharing through vicarious satisfaction and mirror effect.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 2015

Objective : To translate Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) into North Korean language and to examine its reliability and validity Methods : North Korean defectors (n=207) recruited from the call center for North Korean defectors participated. Psychiatrists and psychiatric residents interviewed the participants and made the psychiatric diagnoses. Subsequently, the participants completed the CES-D, Impact of Event-Scale-Revised-North Korea (IES-R-NK), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-North Korea (AUDIT-NK), and Brief Psychological State Inventory for North Korean Refugees (BPSI-NKR) questionnaires. Of the original participants, 143 subjects participated in test-retest reliability study after one week. Results : Cronbach's alpha coefficient of CES-D-NK was superior in both males (0.91) and females (0.93). The test-retest correlation coefficient was high (males, 0.64 ; femals, 0.79). Good convergent validity was evident by significant correlations with IER-R-NK, BPSI-NKR-Depression and BPSI-NKR-PTSD, respectively. CES-D-NK had no or weak correlations with AUDIT-NK and BPSI-NKR-Alcohol, showing its discriminant validity. Conclusion : CES-D-NK could be a reliable and valid tool for screening and assessing depressive symptoms of North Korean defectors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.19-34
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• 2010

This study aims to examine associationistic psychology and psychological operation associated with each color image, then to study the relation between particular colors used in paintings produced by Gogh and Klimt in different times and these painters' psychology in a bid to explore the meaning and role of psychological operation of colors. The findings of the study indicated that red and blue colors represent mainly negative images, while yellow and orange colors represent mainly positive images and psychologies. Specifically, in the case of Gogh, red expresses anxiety, a negative image, yellow symbolizes passion, a major positive image of emotional liberation, dark and thick green and the green involving blue symbolize negative images, emptiness and despair, and blue represents negative images of internal desire conflicts, and screaming. Also, purple used together with white represents anxiety and depression. In the case of Klimt, red represents negative images of anger toward mother and suppressed energy, yellow, an alternative to gold color, symbolizes the positive image of hope, passion, desire and eroticism, the arrangement of strong gold and orange colors represents a color of psychological healing more than a color of hope. As such, colors used in paintings produced by modern Western painters express the physiological conditions, psychological feeling and emotion in life, at the time when the artists produced such works. It was found that colors are yet another language of expressing emotions, and symbolize the psychologies of the artists, indicating that colors have something to do with the painters' experience and emotional impulses.