• Title/Summary/Keyword: students' proficiency

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Writing Listening Logs and Its Effect on Improving L2 Students' Metacognitive Awareness and Listening Proficiency

  • Lee, You-Jin;Cha, Kyung-Whan
    • International Journal of Contents
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    • v.16 no.4
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    • pp.50-67
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    • 2020
  • This study investigated whether writing weekly listening logs could influence college English learners' metacognitive awareness and listening proficiency. In addition, the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) was applied to examine the learners' knowledge of their listening process. It is process-oriented research conducted by analyzing the MALQ and students' listening logs as to how their metacognitive awareness and listening proficiency have changed during the semester. Eighty-nine students who took an English listening practice course at a university participated in this study. The research findings are as follows. First, it turned out that there was a significant relationship between EFL university students' listening comprehension and some subscales of metacognitive awareness. Second, the students had an opportunity to reflect on learning through regular listening activities, and weekly listening logs, which included important information about listening process and practice. Third, as the students' listening proficiency increased at the end of the semester, it was found that introducing listening logs along with classroom lessons helped the students improve their listening ability. Finally, the high proficiency group students used multiple strategies simultaneously, regardless of the type of listening strategies, while the low proficiency group students used one or two limited listening strategies. However, the low proficiency group students may have had trouble expressing their ideas in English or recognizing the listening strategies they used, not because they did not use a lot of listening strategies. Therefore, teachers should regularly check if students are following their instructions and help them use appropriate strategies for better understanding.

Certification of English proficiency, proficiency-based curriculum, and College English program: A consideration of students' and teachers' perceptions (영어능력 인증제, 능력별 교과과정, 그리고 대학 교양영어 교육: 학생과 교사의 인식에 대한 고찰)

  • Bang, Young-Joo
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.9 no.2
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    • pp.193-211
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    • 2003
  • This study aims to illustrate students' and teachers' perceptions towards certification of English proficiency and proficiency- based curriculum, and to investigate their needs for developing college English program. A total of 597 students and 28 teachers participated in the survey. The findings showed that both groups acknowledged the usefulness of the certification of English proficiency and proficiency-based curriculum. However, both groups showed a negative response to 'waive test' (testing for the replacement of English required class). They also expressed high level of needs in increasing the number of courses and credit hours, reducing the class size, and improving facilities. Both groups perceived speaking and listening as more important skills, while students showed various preferences for effective language practice activities. The findings of this study suggest t hat the introduction of certification of English proficiency should he supplemented with follow-ups both in pedagogical aspect and on administrative level.

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The effects of collocational competence on college students' English proficiency and writing abilities (연어능력이 대학생들의 영어능숙도와 영작문 능력에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Yun-Jeong
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.11 no.4
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    • pp.189-208
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    • 2005
  • The purpose of this study is to investigate knowledge and use of English collocations in their relation to Korean college students' general English proficiency and writing abilities. Participants in the present study were 203 Korean college students. Their knowledge and use of English collocations were measured by a self-designed collocation test and an essay writing test. The findings were as follows: First, there was a significant difference in students' knowledge of collocations according to their general English proficiency. Students' performance in the collocation test increased as their level of proficiency increased. Second, there was a significant difference in students' knowledge of collocations according to their writing abilities. Students showed better performance in the collocation test as their level of writing abilities increased. Third, there was a significant difference in students' use of collocations according to their writing abilities. Students' collocation use in the writing test increased as their level of writing abilities increased. Fourth, there was a strong relationship between the students' knowledge of collocations and their general English proficiency and between the students' use of collocations and their writing abilities. Pedagogical implications of the study and suggestions for further research were discussed on the basis of the research findings.

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A Study on the Intonation Contours of Students' Groups by Oral Proficiency Level (말하기 숙달도에 따른 대학생 집단별 억양곡선 고찰)

  • Yang, Byung-Gon;Seo, Jun-Young
    • Speech Sciences
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.77-89
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    • 2007
  • This paper examined the intonation contours of English sentences produced by the Korean students. Thirty students participated in the speaking tasks made up of three parts: an oral interview, picture description and a conversational text reading. Their pronunciations in the parts were recorded on a minidisk. Then, two native instructors evaluated their proficiency level focusing on general intelligibility and suprasegmental aspects of the speech. Based on the results of evaluation they were divided into two groups: high and low proficiency groups. The pitch contours of three sentences produced by both the Korean students and a native speaker were compared to find any similarities and differences in the students' intonation patterns using Praat. Results showed that there was a moderate correlation in the proficiency scores of the students by the two native speakers. Secondly, students who earned high scores in the proficiency level matched better the native model. Thirdly, the high group students knew more on the pitch contour and tried to carefully realize them while fewer students in the low group answered positively on the questionnaire. In conclusion, English learners need to know the proper intonation patterns and to practice them consciously and sufficiently to realize correct intonation contours. Further studies would be desirable on the students' pronunciation focused on discourse structure.

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A Relationship between Reading and Listening Proficiency of Korean ESL College Students: Listening Potential

  • Park, Yong-Hyo
    • 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.

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Magic, Group Interaction, and English Speaking Proficiency Development for Young Learners

  • Kim, Sul;Lim, Hyun-Woo
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.15 no.3
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    • pp.171-198
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    • 2009
  • The current study explored a pedagogical possibility of utilizing magic as a source of communicative tasks for young learners in developing their English speaking proficiency. Fifteen primary school students participated in the study, which consisted of a 17-week period of task-based English instruction and data collection. The participants were instructed to accomplish various types of magic task through collaborative group interaction. The data collected for the study pertained to the students' linguistic outputs, interactions in group and attitudes to English learning. They were analyzed for how magic tasks affect the students' English proficiency developments and group interactions. The study results suggested the significant improvement in the students' English speaking proficiencies. They revealed that magic tasks contributed to a) enhancing the motivation to speak in English, b) stimulating the creative and problem-solving processes, and c) providing the sufficient opportunity to repeat and internalize the target expressions. The study results also indicated that the students' satisfaction with their group members and tasks seemed to have positive influences on their interactions in group and English proficiency development. Further discussion and pedagogical implications are provided as well as the study limitations.

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A Study on the Relation between Mathematics Anxiety & Aggressiveness and Mathematics Proficiency of Highschool Students (고등학생의 수학불안 및 공격성과 수학성취도와의 관계 연구)

  • 심상웅
    • Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.99-109
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    • 2000
  • There has been a considerable number of studies on aggressive behaviors and violences, but it is hard to find one that gives us clear and satisfactory answers with transparent conclusions. Juvenile aggressiveness seems to be caused by unsatisfied desire in the problematic situations and emotional instability. The aim of this study is to find out how emotional instability - especially mathematics anxiety - is correlated with aggressiveness and how aggressiveness affects mathematics proficiency, and thus to help students improve their academic proficiency by finding out appropriate measures to take in case of aggressive behaviors of students. Main tasks of this study are as follows : 1. To find out any correlation between aggressiveness of the experimental students and their mathematics proficiency. 2. Is there any correlation between aggressiveness and mathematics anxiety\ulcorner 3. Is there any correlation between aggressiveness and academic proficiency\ulcorner The conclusion of this study is as follows : 1. There are some negative correlations between the degree of mathematics anxiety and mathematics proficiency. This is mainly because negative emotional state developed from one's uneasiness for fear of failure disturbs one's learning process and thus weakens the will for achieving the task. 2. While aggressiveness doesn't show any significant correlations with academic proficiency, it does have some with mathematics anxiety.

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RTI Model and Its Applicability in Educational Settings for Students with Achievement of Below Basic Proficiency Level

  • Jun, Myongnam;Kim, Namok;Yang, Myonghee;Kwon, Daehoon;Hong, Daewoo;Choi, Hyeonah
    • International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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    • v.7 no.2
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    • pp.79-83
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    • 2015
  • The Response to Intervention(RTI) approaches is the method to help students who are at risk for learning difficulties in advance and provide an appropriate level of intervention. In this article, the characteristics of model RTI were reviewed for students with achievement of below basic proficiency level. We considered RTI as supporting system to document students' progress and its applicability for the general educational setting in Korean school. The tier of RTI make it possible the evidence based individual instruction and counseling, differentiated step-by step approach for students with achievement of below basic proficiency level. In conclusion, RTI can be used as educational tools for dealing with improvement of academic subjects learning, behavioral and emotional problem for students with achievement of below basic proficiency level. For building high quality implementing for RTI it is needed the collaboration of teachers, counselors and learning consultants and related educators.

Listening Strategy Use of Korean EFL Middle School Students

  • Lee, Jung-Soo
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.165-190
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    • 2011
  • This research investigates listening strategies and the relationship between the employment of strategy and listening proficiency of Korean EFL middle school students. One hundred and four middle school students (N = 104) participated in this study and their strategy use was assessed through a questionnaire adapted from Oxford's (1990) SILL and O'Malley and Chamot (1990). To measure listening proficiency, the English Listening Ability Test designed by 15 city and provincial offices of education in Korea was used. The results show that students employed a moderate use of strategies; compensation strategies were used most frequently and metacognitive strategies were used the least frequently. Significant differences were found in the use of implicit strategy among different listening proficiency groups, but not in their use of behavioral strategy. Furthermore, there were significant differences in the use of implicit memory, cognitive and compensation strategies among groups of students with different listening proficiencies, but not in their use of metacognitive strategy. The results from multiple regression analysis indicate that implicit strategy use could play an important role in listening comprehension. The findings suggest the need for additional research to explore the effect of listening strategy training for English language learners.

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The Influence of English Proficiency and Text Types on Korean College Students' Paraphrasing for Plagiarism Prevention

  • Choe, Yoonhee
    • International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.183-189
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    • 2021
  • This study examines the effects of Korean college students' English proficiency and the English text types on their paraphrases. Korean college students with three groups of English proficiency (high, mid, and low) read two types of English texts, causal texts, and argumentative texts, and paraphrased them in English. Students' paraphrase text was evaluated in terms of content (idea exposition, idea development, and wrap up), organization (coherence and cohesion) and language use (grammatical accuracy), and analyzed by MANOVA. As a result, it was found that there was a significant difference in their paraphrase performance according to the participants' English proficiency levels rather than the types of English texts. The results of this study have educational implications for English paraphrase education to prevent plagiarism for Korean university students.