• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.157-176
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• 2007

Based on the consensus that vocabulary plays an essential role in improving reading ability, the present study investigates the effects of two different methods of English vocabulary instruction - the traditional wordlist-based vocabulary instruction (G1) and the collocation-based vocabulary instruction (G2) - on improving English reading ability for high school learners. First, the results of the collocation test revealed that G1 and G2 groups attained similar mean scores on the pretests; however, G2 significantly outperformed G1 on the post-test administered at the end of the learning activity. The results proved that students who learned vocabulary in a collocation-oriented setting had better retention through the lexical-chunking achieved by the collection method. Second, in terms of reading comprehension achieved on nationwide academic trial tests, the result was, after considering more tests, that G2 gained a significantly higher mean score on the third and fourth than G1 did, although the two groups yielded a similar mean score on the first and second test. The implication of these results is that collocation-based vocabulary activities had a more significant influence on reading skills than wordlist-oriented ones.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.6
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• pp.199-217
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• 2000

Relative pronoun that is one of the important relative pronouns but we have an impression that its scope of use has been somewhat narrowed. In the light of history of relative pronouns relative pronoun toot has the longest history of all relative pronouns and it was widely used even in Middle English and early Modem English. On The other hand, we can see that the relative use of that has been gradually weakened as the relative pronouns who and which has expanded their scope of use. It is quite natural that the scope of use of toot as a relative pronoun has been narrowed as who is mainly used in referring to person and which is mainly used in referring to things. And we can note that that is used only in restrictive clauses, not in nonrestrictive clauses, for that has a strong characteristics of relative conjunction in comparing with who and which. That as a relative pronoun still has its own weight because it can take an antecedent referring to person and thing. In particular, it is general tendency that who is used more frequently than that in the case of referring that it is not adequate for that to refer to things. In contrast, who has an advantage over that because the former originally refers only to person.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.6
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• pp.143-157
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• 2000

It has been one of the puzzles in the English syntax that so called the rule of subject-auxiliary inversion (SAI) is not allowed in subject wh-movement while it is not obligatory in non-subject wh-movement in a root sentence. This asymmetry has been a puzzle since SAI itself was thought to be a part of question construction as we can observe from yes/no questions. The asymmetry gets more complicated in terms of sentence embedding, i.e no SAI is permitted in the embedded context in question. The goal of this paper is to suggest an unified analysis for this unsolved grammatical phenomena on the basis of Rizzi (1997)'s recent work. The main idea is that SAI is not a I-to-C movement but one of I-to-Focus where Focus is a functional category and its phrase is located between CP and IP. The other proposal is that Wh-movement is no more homogeneous in terms of landing site between a root and an embedded sentence: the target for a wh-phrase in the former is the Spec of FocP (Focus Phrase) but the one in the latter is the Spec of CP as the standard theory assumes. Pesetsky (l999)'s analysis is discussed and its theoretical and empirical shortages are pointed out. Its rather radical proposals such as the one that the nominative case is just an uninterpretable tense feature of DP and the other that 'that' is no longer a complementizer but an element of I(nflection) make it less acceptable in spite of the possibility that it can get rid of Case theory entirely, which would be ideal in the spirit of minimalism.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.213-241
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• 2003

As an attempt to characterize the English test section of CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) and to get some suggestions, this study raised the research questions, as 'What are the main factors that affect students' English test scores in CSAT, and how big influences do they have?' It has been hypothesized that among main factors are the L1 competence, represented by the Korean test scores in CSAT, background knowledge or intelligence, represented by the "total" scores in CSAT, and the two types of L2 knowledge (vocabulary and grammar on one hand and prosody m the other hand), measured by the test devised specially for this study. The individual effect of the L2 vocabulary and grammar (one kind of L2 knowledge) was 70%, that of background knowledge or intelligence 61%, that of the L1 competence 50%, and that of the L2 prosody knowledge (the other kind of L2 knowledge) 32%. According to the stepwise regression, the whole effect of these four factors was 74%. The findings suggest that first, although CSAT is based on the top-down model of comprehension, the bottom-up model of learning should be more emphasized in our English class. Also, since background knowledge or intelligence is the second most influential factor, the top-down model of learning that helps students learn to understand by activating their various schemata must also be very effective.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.119-136
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• 2005

This paper attempts to prove the possibility that Women in Love can be approached by ecological thought. It is necessary to research the family of Lawrence's childhood, the environmental surroundings and Lawrence's viewpoint of nature to prove the possibility. The most urgent problem for us in the modern world is the ecological crisis due to the destructive aspect of modern civilization. This Lawrence's attitude toward the modern civilization is clearly reflected in Women in Love. Lawrence diagnoses the destructive aspects of modern civilization and the human relationship through Gerald, Gudrun, Hermione and Loerke who represent the industrial society and suggests the apocalyptic vision to the human being from the nature. Lawrence thinks that we must restore the animated power of life to revive the modern man who lost the vital power of life. Birkin and Ursula represent this thought of Lawrence and they accomplish the idealistic human relationship based upon the true love and the real life. They do not have the posture of the binomial contrast that separates the human being from the nature, This posture of the binominal brings to one of the causes of the present ecological crisis. As a result, we can say that Women in Love is the novel that belongs to the category of literary ecology. And we can regard that Lawrence previously presented the paradigm that ecologist advocates.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.267-286
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• 2006

The purpose of the study was to investigate what kinds of learning strategies EFL learners use to learn English grammar and what is benefit from structured grammar input processing. Students of the study consisted of 48 college students who took Practical English Grammar at a university in Kyung-Gi area and were divided into two groups based on grammar scores. The students were asked to take two grammar tasks and grammar tests and complete a survey including questions on grammar strategy and input processing. The results of the study are as follows. First, learners' grammar level has an effect on use of grammar attack strategy including asking teachers, using grammar books and given contexts whereas there was no significant difference between groups in the planning strategies, Among memory strategies, using grammar exercise and linking with already known structure demonstrated a significant difference between groups. Second, with regard to input processing, high level students got higher score on how much they understood the structured grammar input compared with low level students. Third, explicit implicit instruction added to input processing seems more comprehensible and more available than structured input only, Finally, it showed that there is positive relationship between perception and score of input processing tasks and grammar tests. Especially, learners' perception of input processing correlated more with final tests and tasks. Therefore, it suggests that the more input processing task need to develop and utilize in order to facilitate learners' intake.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.211-226
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• 2006

This paper examines the crisis of the protagonist's Jewish identity in Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint. Jewish values are centered on the philosophy of Judaism and Jewish history. Judaism is based on an ethical monotheism which is Bible-centered. It is characterized by its covenant with God, its humanism, and its emphasis on moral action. It provides essential reasons for man's existence and stresses human confidence and sufficiency. Jewish values can be found in words such as "good," "humanity," "dignity," "responsibility," and "sense of community." These positive Jewish values pervade Philip Roth's fiction paradoxically. Throughout especially Portnoy's Complaint, the protagonist fails to embrace Jewish values in contrast to Bellow or Malamud's heroes and repeat the same mistakes eliciting fits of laughter from readers. The protagonist suffers from his strongly-felt ethical and altruistic impulses perpetually warring with his extreme sexual longings against which he struggles. His desperation grows as he finds himself unable to channel his dissatisfaction and change his situations. His dominating mother and his confusion over Jewishness and Americanism are the main obstacles to his establishment of self-identity. He attempts to build up his gender identity and Jewish identity through his ego-centric sexual relationship with shikses(female gentiles). His inability to embody Jewish values leads to the failure to fulfill his identity. Roth paradoxically shows that the protagonist's realization of Jewishness is essential to the cure for his fragmented self.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.147-166
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• 2006

This study investigates the effect of misplacement in a written Computer-delivered ESL Placement Test (CEPT) context. The study aims to address the following two research questions: a) which scoring rubric features cause the misplacement of ESL learner's writing scores? and b) which scoring rubric features improve ESL learner's writing scores? Thirty-four international examinees took the test and participated in surveys at the University of Illinois. Twelve examinees of them attended the CEPT workshop test. In the workshop test, they carried out self-evaluation on their first essays using a scoring rubric and compared with expert raters' results. After the workshop, the examinees responded to a survey and interview. For the first research question, the results of the survey and interview addressed that the majority disagreed with the raters' rating results. The self-evaluation results also indicated that their misunderstanding of organization feature caused the misplacement. For the second question, the CEPT workshop scores were improved due to the score improvement in the organization feature while the contribution of other features to the total scores was little. Most of the examinees pointed out that a lesson on the scoring rubric enhanced their understanding of the writing features of the rubric so that their placement scores were generally improved.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.99-122
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• 2006

The purpose of this paper is to explain the meanings and uses of the English auxiliaries SHALL/WILL. The complexity of modern usage of SHALL/WILL has been one of the most disputable themes of traditional English grammar. The paper purported to address the study and analysis of diachronic and synchronic approach to the two auxiliaries. A general view of the figures of Fries'(1925) survey was added for further investigation. The results of the study showed that these auxiliaries express some of various modal meanings associated with the volitional or emotional attitude of the speaker without implying futurity. The findings also suggested that the use of SHALL in present-day English is restricted to non-volitional future with the first person but the practice of this use is also diminished by the expansion of the use of WILL, and the original meaning of WILL, 'to desire or wish', has generally been replaced by other verbs or modal forms. But sentences which seem to indicate futurity are often tinged with modal senses. Therefore, WILL/SHALL should be considered to act either as tense auxiliary or as modal auxiliary depending on situational contexts in which it occurs.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.25-49
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• 2006

Though a large amount of research concerning listening strategies has been conducted, the strategic behaviors of younger students in this area have received less attention. This study is a follow up study of an earlier case study by the author (2006). The purpose of this study is to verify what listening strategies Korean elementary learners use in a general L2 listening situation. 213 elementary students participated in this study, and a listening strategy questionnaire was used. ANOVA, MANOVA, Correlation and Multiple Regression Analysis were used to interpret the data. The results of this study reveal that younger participants used all four types of listening strategies, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive and affective, fairly often; however, the results also show that they differ in how frequently they use each strategy according to their listening proficiency. Overall, highly proficient learners use more strategies compared to less proficient learners. High proficiency learners use compensation strategies most and cognitive strategies least. Low proficient learners use affective strategies most and compensation strategies least. Moreover, the results showed no significant grade- or gender-related strategic behaviors, and also showed that L2 listening proficiency can be a significant predictor of strategic behavior of young learners. 12% of the variance in L2 strategic behaviors was attributable to L2 listening proficiency.