• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.101-122
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• 2009

This study was purposed to discuss an educational concept of listening potential in ESL/EFL contexts as a counterpart of the reading potential concept in L1 contexts. As a preliminary condition for the concept of listening potential, this study investigated a relationship between reading and listening proficiency of ESL/EFL learners, focusing on roles of grammar knowledge in reading and listening comprehension. Reading and listening comprehension and grammar knowledge test scores of 231 Korean college students studying at a university in the U.S. were analyzed for this study. This study found that there was a positive correlation between reading proficiency and listening proficiency of Korean ESL college students. Grammar knowledge played significant roles accounting for reading and listening comprehension. Furthermore, this study found a difference between the reading proficiency and the listening proficiency across the stages of language development. However, results of this study did not empirically verify the concept of listening potential.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.59-85
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• 2007

This study examined patterns of engaging in "reading in connection to writing" (hereafter reading-writing practices) in the context of two ESL college composition classrooms. The purpose of this study was to explore whether the L2 proficiency level could be a key construct in explaining similarities and differences in reading-writing practices which students engaged in during the composing process. Multiple sources of data collected over the semester included interview protocols, written products, and observational notes. The results showed that the three proficiency groups under examination differed widely in the ways reading was connected to writing and in the types of intermediate texts produced during the composing process. The students in the high proficiency group produced more intermediate texts through an engagement in reading-writing practices connected to each other. On the contrary, the students in lower proficiency groups engaged in a limited range of reading-writing practices without support of intermediate texts. This study provides insight into the different ways ESL college students coordinate reading and writing while composing essays.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.161-175
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• 2011

This paper examines Korean EFL high school students' reader responses on an expository text and a narrative text with the same topic. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether they have different reading models depending on the two genres and whether there are any differences depending on the learners' proficiency levels. The analysis focuses on textual, critical, and aesthetic reading models in the reader responses written in English by science-gifted high school students (N=30). The results show that the participants have different reading models in reading an expository text and a narrative text. They tend to read the expository text in a more critical way while reading the narrative text in a more personal and emotional way. Moreover, regardless of the proficiency levels, they wrote longer responses on the narrative text than the expository text. However, the proficiency level of English does not support any significant differences in the types of reading models. The findings provide Korean EFL high school students' characteristics in L2 reading and suggest the pedagogical implication to pursue linguistic development as well as reading for pleasure.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.1-22
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• 2007

The study examined the effects of explicit derivational morphology instruction (henceforth DMI) on the incidental vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension of 132 Korean 1st-year high school students who responded to a battery of tests (two vocabulary tests and a reading comprehension test). Multiple statistical tools were used to analyze the data: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Simple Regression Analysis, Tests of Simple Main Effects, and effect size computation using Cohen's d. The results indicated that (a) DMI enhanced students' ability to infer word meanings in context, (b) DMI promoted high proficiency students' reading comprehension, whereas it impeded intermediate proficiency students' reading comprehension, (c) vocabulary knowledge has a strong positive predictive value for reading comprehension, and (d) the gaps of vocabulary knowledge across proficiency levels were still substantial, despite the observation that DMI promoted students' vocabulary acquisition. These results have a bearing on English as Foreign Language (EFL) reading pedagogy.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.20
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• pp.67-111
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• 2010

This paper examined the role of intermediate texts in the writing process in the context of an EFL composition class. From the tradition of teacher research, this study examined how the Korean college students in different proficiency groups created intermediate texts and used them while composing their own writing. The students produced various types of intermediate texts during the compositing process, which could serve as a basis of their writing. However, the patterns of using these intermediate texts differed widely across the proficiency groups. A writing cycle for the low proficiency group, or "surface reading-few intermediate texts-writing," indicates that less proficient students tended to engage in reading in separation of writing practices and thus produced few intermediate texts through their literacy practices. On the other hand, the students in the higher proficiency groups revealed the more integrated pattern (i.e., purpose reading/intermediate texts/writing), indicating that they often engaged in reading with specific writing purposes, practiced reading in connection to other writing practices, and elaborated written intermediate texts produced. This study argues that, to shift our student writers to a higher level category, we as teachers need to help them engage in reading and writing practices in the way they produce and use intermediate texts appropriate to their specific writing purposes.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.69-89
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• 2012

This paper explored the effects of extensive reading (ER) on Korean university students' L2 reading proficiency and reading rates. This study also illustrated how ER can be integrated into a university English reading class. Seventeen students who took a summer reading course participated in this study. Data were gathered through pre- and post- tests in terms of participants' reading comprehension proficiency and reading rates and post- questionnaire with regard to their attitudes toward L2 storybook reading after they have experienced it. The analysis was carried out using the Paired Samples t-test. It was revealed that ER has a positive effect on the enhancement of the participants' reading comprehension and reading rates. The participants showed their continued intention to read in English and a strong belief that persistent reading in English in the long run will help improve their English. The results of this study confirm the educational values of incorporating ER into university English reading classes. The pedagogical implications for EFL instructors are described.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.245-249
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• 2004

The aim of this paper is to show the possibilities of the proficiency -based and integrated teaching of High School English reading and listening based on sense group and utterance restructuring. The proficiency -based and integrated listening and reading activities in stages are as follows. Step1, students fill in the blanks with strong or weak sounding words according to their abilities. Step2, speak along (track) based on restructuring and post-lexical phenomena while listening to the sentence. Step3, read and understand directly the passage, which have been marked the differentiated places where a native speaker of English would beat all likely to pause. Students need to listen to spoken English, so they recognize words in written and spoken form. They must be familiar with suprasegmental features, stress and rhythm, and post-lexical phenomena during reading activities.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.249-282
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• 2009

This study reports on the use of the trait and state cognitive/metacognitive strategy use and the difference of the trait/state strategy use according to students' proficiency level. First of all, for checking up the trait strategy use, 119 first-grade male students in a high school completed the questionnaire on strategies which they thought they used during a reading test. Secondly, to find out their state strategy use, students took a fifteen-item reading comprehension test, followed by filling out questionnaires on cognitive and metacognitive strategies used in the test. This study employed quantitative data analysis. The results suggested that (1) the cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in the trait and state conditions are used the most by the high proficiency group and they are correlated respectively; (2) these strategies are used with statistically significant difference according to students' proficiency level, especially to the lower level students. The highly successful group uses the cognitive and metacognitive strategy in the actual test situation more than the lower proficient group; there is no difference in trait and state strategy use.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.55-68
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• 2002

Since the introduction of literature in reading and writing during the 1970s, considerable research has attempted to determine whether literature has significantly positive effects upon enhancement of reading proficiency. It is said that literature extends our knowledge of the world. Through books, we can experience other people's thoughts, experiences, and ideas (Frye, 1964). This paper explored the role of children's literature for the teaching of reading through the literature-based instruction. It focused on why and how children's literature serves as an important context for enhancing learner's reading proficiency of English. It also discussed the authentic use of literature-based strategies for practical classroom use, and suggested the future directions for research toward the literature-based instruction in the domain of reading comprehension.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.5
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• pp.1-25
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• 1999

The objective of the present study was to model the relationships between language learning strategy use and language proficiency among the Asian (Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese) students studying English in the United States. The instruments were a language learning strategy Questionnaire and the Institutional Testing Program Test of English as a Foreign Language (ITP TOEFL). Structural equation modeling was utilized to model the relationships between language learning strategies and language proficiency. The present study found only weak relationships between language learning strategies and language proficiency. Only 13% and 15% of variance of the listening and grammar/reading factor were explained by the language learning strategies. The metacognitive strategies appeared not to have direct relationships to the language skill factors, as was found in other studies (Purpura, 1996, 1997). The effects of the social and affective strategies were very small. They in combination could account about 1% and 4% of the variance of the listening and grammar/reading factors.