• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.107-125
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• 2006

This article reports some Korean EFL learners' cognitive tendencies drawn up from their responses to logical fallacies in the argument passages, and its pedagogical implications. The findings of experimental study show the meaningful disparities in three sets of judgment tests designed to identify and explicate faulty arguments: based on the three general types of fallacies using language, emotions, and distraction tactics, subjects on average gained the highest scores in the test questions with language-loaded fallacies and the lowest scores in those with emotion-based ones among the three different types; for this reason, the scores that subjects obtained in the test of distraction-loaded fallacious arguments fell in between the two poles. These discrepancies, mainly based on statistical inferences, support the possibility that the Korean EFL learners are most likely to be manipulated by emotions/distraction- loaded argument tactics than by language-based ones in the three types of fallacious arguments; and, they are least likely to be influenced by language-oriented trickeries. As a consequence, such variances in abilities to recognize the intrinsic elements of logical fallacies suggest some basic instructional approaches to critical reading of argumentative texts with due weights on the Korean EFL learners' culture-specific cognitive tendencies.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.357-373
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• 2011

There have been great controversies over making English as an official language in Korea. They have been triggered since some scholars published books and articles claiming that officialization of English is the best option for Korean people who spend significant amount of their life time to learn English. Those who are happy about the idea believe that officialization of English will be a good help for Korean people to gain a high degree of English proficiency, while others worry about possible negative impact on Korean language and culture. There are more diverse views and opinions on this issue. The distance between pros and cons about officialization of English doesn't seem to be negotiated. This study has been conducted not for finding the solution to the controversies. It is for understanding how those whose successful career and high living quality depend on gaining high command of English feel about acknowledging English as an official language of Korea. The results show that overall ideas on the officialization of English of research subjects are similar with those of scholars in academia. Around two third of total number of the research subjects expressed their criticism against the idea. One interesting thing is that all of the subjects, regardless their positions, think that there are serious problems in English education policy and system in Korea.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.123-131
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to discover if the use of computer technologies in computer-assisted language learning, in the aspect of vocabulary learning, is both effective and useful. The technique of using multimedia lessons, using the computer, offers a variety of language learning tasks in relation to the four basic language learning skills. Korean students have been accustomed to a cramming style of education, and they utilize rote memorization for learning vocabulary. This study consisted of surveys and experiments, using specific multimedia language learning courseware exercises on three different age groups. The study explores the issues and problems that followed, and how teachers could effectively apply or enhance their vocabulary teaching through computer-assisted multimedia which is suited for a variety of levels versus the classroom off-line vocabulary learning application which is suited to one level.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.65-77
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• 2014

Ubiquitous learning has aroused great interest and is becoming a new way for foreign language education in today's society. However, how to increase the learners' initiative and their community cohesion is still an issue that deserves more profound research and studies. Emotional intelligence can help to detect the learner's emotional reactions online, and therefore stimulate his interest and the willingness to participate by adjusting teaching skills and creating fun experiences in learning. This is, actually the new concept of smart education. Based on the previous research, this paper concluded a neural mechanism model for analyzing the learners' emotional characteristics in ubiquitous environment, and discussed the intelligent monitoring and automatic recognition of emotions from the learners' speech signals as well as their behavior data by multi-agent system. Finally, a framework of emotional intelligence system was proposed concerning the smart foreign language education in ubiquitous learning.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.181-210
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to analyze the needs of KOICA learners and to suggest some points to be considered in the development of a Korean language curriculum for KOICA Scholarship Program participants. For this purpose, the researcher first constructed questionnaires for analyzing learner needs based on the primary characteristics of learners that can be observed in actual education sites, and conducted a questionnaire survey for 71 trainees from the 'Graduate School of International Studies'(GSIS) and the 'Graduate School of Public Administration'(GSPA) in Seoul National University. Based on the analysis of the results, the researcher proposed several points to consider in terms of objectives, contents of education, methods of teaching, distribution of class time, textbooks and etc. in the development of a Korean language curriculum for KOICA learners. The 'KOICA Scholarship Program' is expected to continue to be implemented in the future, and it is expected that the development of a customized curriculum and corresponding textbooks for KOICA learners will soon be provided by governmental agencies. The researcher hopes that the results of this study can serve as useful reference.

• 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.183-204
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• 2006

This study investigated the effects of rehearsed English drama activities on the learner variables and oral communication achievements of Korean elementary school students. Forty children in the treatment group participated in the drama activities while forty-two children in the contrast group participated in the regular classes. The results of the study are as follows: the treatment group showed significant differences between the pre-tests and the post-tests in language learning strategies, motivation, confidence, perceived competence, willingness to communicate, and listening and speaking achievements; the students in the treatment group progressed in their attitudes toward and participation in the classroom activities. Based on the findings, it is concluded that the rehearsed drama activities positively affect the learner variables and oral communication. The pedagogical implications are discussed in the conclusion.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.57-75
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• 2007

This small-scale research project attempts to describe and explore the Korean students' perspectives on oral classroom interaction in a second language classroom in a graduate course in America. Based on the interpretist paradigm, this study employed the qualitative research methodology, triangulating the following methods: class observation, interviews, and document analysis. The findings are that the Korean participants perceived the importance of oral classroom interaction in an American classroom, and that there were shared several factors which influence their participation such as socio-cultural differences, course content, English skills, course requirement, and classroom activity types. Based upon the findings, pedagogical implications are provided for the teachers to help Korean students achieve academic success in American universities.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.1-24
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• 2006

This study investigated differences in beliefs about English learning of 286 EFL college students and 52 English teachers in Korea. Data was collected using Horwitz's Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory and compared between students and teachers in beliefs. To address the research questions, the data were analyzed through descriptive statistics including frequencies, factor analysis, MANOVA, ANOVA, t-test, and reliability coefficients. The results showed four factors in student beliefs: Difficulty of learning English, nature of learning English, importance of correctness in learning English, and motivation and perceived importance of learning English. Clear differences were found in students and teachers' beliefs in English learning aptitude and importance of translation, error correction, and grammar rules. A few belief differences were also identified between Koreans and native-speaking English teachers related to the importance of vocabulary learning, pronunciation, and cultural knowledge. The findings of the study indicated that background variables such as gender and major field of study have an effect on student beliefs about L2 learning. The present study also provided pedagogical considerations to reduce mismatch between students and teachers beliefs and to improve the L2 planning and instruction.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.123-142
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• 2009

The present study used multi-faceted Rasch measurement to explore the characteristics and bias patterns of non-native raters when they scored L2 writing tasks. Three raters scored 254 writing tasks written by Korean university students on two topics adapted from the TOEFL Test of Written English (TWE). The written products were assessed using a five-category rating scale (Content, Organization, Language in Use, Grammar, and Mechanics). The raters only showed a difference in severity with regard to rating categories but not in task types. Overall, the raters scored Grammar most harshly and Organization most leniently. The results also indicated several bias patterns of ratings with regard to the rating categories and task types. In rater-task bias interactions, each rater showed recurring bias patterns in their rating between two writing tasks. Analysis of rater-category bias interaction showed that the three raters revealed biased patterns across all the rating categories though they were relatively consistent in their rating. The study has implications for the importance of rater training and task selection in L2 writing assessment.