• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.1-20
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• 2004

The findings in contrastive rhetoric research of the twentieth century have shown that different cultures have different conventions in organizing written texts. These culture-related conventions were claimed to influence English texts written by L2 learners, including Asian learners of English. However, due to the massive inflow of the American culture into Asia as well as increased exposure to English in the midst of globalization of the last decade, it is quite probable that the textual gap between the native English writers and Asian EFL writers have been reduced. The present study investigates the changes that have taken place in EFL writer's knowledge of genre-specific writing over the past decade. To this aim, this study compared four sets of application essays written by four groups of applicants (1) native American applicants in 1993, (2) Korean EFL applicants in 1933, (3) native American applicants in 2003, and (4) Korean EFL applicants in 2003. The results suggested that the disparity between the Korean EFL writers' and the native English writers' texts were becoming less noticeable at the macro-level, possibly due to Korean EFL writers' enhanced textual awareness of English genre structures Pedagogical implications are discussed.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.191-210
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• 2004

The scores of TOEFL, TOEIC and TEPS have been increasingly used for many purposes in Korea In particular, these test scores are being used as a measure of the test-takers' overall communicative competence. Nonetheless, few studies have been conducted that investigate the validity of the test scores used for this purpose. As a preliminary step to explore the validity of the test scores, we conducted a small scale study by comparing 30 university students' scores in TOEFL, TOElC and TEPS with their class performances in English conversation and composition courses. The correlations between the test scores and the grade point averages of the courses show that the test scores are much harder to use as a valid measure of test-takers' overall communicative competence than usually thought to be and that the score in TOEFL is, nonetheless, a more reliable measure than the ones in the other tests. Although tins study has a few limitations such as the small number of participants, the homogeneity of the sample as a group, etc, it provides some insight into the use of the three tests for measurement of overall communicative proficiency and suggests need for conducting further validation studies in these areas.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.23-47
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• 2011

This study investigates the effect of peer tutoring and peer tutor training program on Korean university students' EFL writing. Six tutors and twelve tutees have participated in the experiment. The tutors were divided into untrained and trained groups each of which was assigned to teach six tutees. The three peer tutors in the experimental group received training on how to give peer tutoring. After the pre-test, the tutees wrote series of drafts on three topics and received written feedback from their peer tutors via email. The results of the post-test showed improvement in writing scores in both groups. The tutees in the trained peer tutor group, however, showed much greater improvement. Their improvement was also more consistent, and the score differences between the two groups increased over time. Analysis of the peer tutors' written feedback indicated that the trained tutors focused more on the higher order concerns in writing than the untrained ones did. In the questionnaire all tutees responded positively to the peer tutoring experience. The results indicate that peer tutor training programs may have beneficial effects on Korean university students' writing abilities especially in the elements of higher order concerns.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.45-66
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of two different SNS-based tasks on university students' English writing performance. To address our primary research question, Me2day, microblogging and Social Networking Service, was employed. 43 university students were divided into two experimental groups depending on the task types: a comparison task group and a sharing personal experiences task group. The main findings of the study were as follows: first, two different types of SNS-based tasks, 'spot the differences' and 'writing diaries', had a positive effect on learners' writing performance. The reason for this was that the succinct messages limited to 150 characters made it easier for the students to try writing in English without burden; and they may benefit from their peers by seeing their posts and interacting with each other. Yet there were no significant differences between the two groups when it came to the degree of improvement. Second, two different types of SNS-based tasks differently fostered certain aspects of the writing performance; 'contents knowledge' was supported by the 'writing diaries' task and range was supported by the 'spot the differences' task. Third, learners in the two experimental groups mostly had positive impressions regarding usage of Me2day as a new learning tool.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.211-231
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• 2007

Communication anxiety (CA) in L2 has been identified as one of the important predictors of determining success in the attainment of L2 communication competence. L2 professionals have attempted to explicate its nature in L2, but seemingly failed to achieve the goal. This is probably because they have tended to rely on studies dependent on the use of surveys, which are usually constructed on the basis of their own perspectives rather than L2 students' on CA. To solve this problem, some L2 professionals have utilized diverse research methods that can gather opinions directly from L2 students who are the main constituent in L2 learning; regretfully, they have barely listened to L2 students' voices about controlling CA in L2. This descriptive study explored the nature of CA and the way of controlling it by analyzing data from 57 Korean EFL undergraduates who voluntarily responded to the oral interview questions. The findings of this study pointed out that CA in L2 negatively influenced L2 performance. However, it seemed to have the potential to promote L2 learning. Provided are some important implications that can assist L2 teachers to help their students control CA by maximizing the positive nature of CA.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.253-270
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• 2007

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate how Suzan-Lori Parks reveals colonized oppression and violence in a black woman's body in Venus. The body of Hottentot Venus is an 'object' of white male spectators' gazes and a dissection from a medical study. The report on her pathologic anatomy gives the audience the illusion that the body of a black woman is inferior to those of others. Not only 'subjective' aesthetics, but also 'objective' medicine makes us confuse 'fact' with 'truth' about black women. By publicly exhibiting her erotic body, Venus is represented as a singular emblem for nineteenth-century colonial discourse on race and sexuality. Her body stands for the powerful signifier of raped Africa. A distinctive feature of black Venus is her raciality. The ownership of her body is only transferred from Mother-Showman to Doctor Baron. She had no right to her ownership. Her body is an object of hatred and curiosity and at the same time a site which is represented by conflicting desires. Parks' eventual goal in Venus is to investigate 'hindsight' of Venus Hottentot, 'the past' and 'the posterior'. As the meaning of original chocolate can be regained, the insulted and damaged body of Venus should also be recovered and resurrected.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.33-58
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• 2007

The present paper aims at comparing the two modes of CMC - synchronous and asynchronous - in terms of discourse markers used in turn-initial positions. It further attempts to examine the viability and limitations of these two modes of CMC in fostering EFL learners' face-to-face conversation skills. For these purposes, the present study analyzed 33 Korean EFL learners' Web chat and E-mail exchange data. Discourse markers in the participants' Web chat transcripts and those in their E-mail transcripts were identified and then compared in terms of their frequency and functions. The analysis revealed that the participants show difference in their preference for discourse markers depending on the modes of CMC. Also, the functions of discourse markers used for Web chat showed were strikingly different from those for e-mail. Especially, e-mail discourse markers revealed greater discrepancy from the markers in face-to-face conversation. The differences were found to be attributable to the time factor involved with the turn-taking systems of the two modes of CMC, especially the degree of instantaneousness in their turn-taking. Findings suggest that the turn taking skills and discourse marker use in CMC is not applicable to face-to-face conversation contexts. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

• International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.5-28
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• 2018

Socialization of doctoral students refers to the process through which they acquire various types of information about their work, department, university, and discipline for their future careers. This study aims to investigate information behaviors, with emphasis on identifying types of information exchanged in mentoring between faculty advisors and their doctoral students in library and information science (LIS). As a first step to developing a content framework for LIS doctoral mentoring, the author interviewed ten LIS doctoral students from nine U.S. universities. Based on data from these interviews, the author identified sixteen types of information exchanged: language, history, coursework, research, skills, teaching, networking, structure, politics, goals, strategies, values, norms/tradition, rules/policies, benefits, and personal life. In comparison with a content framework used, four dimensions were newly added. In addition to the identification of content dimensions, the author observed four meaningful contextual levels to which the content types can be applied: work, department/school, university, and discipline. The qualitative data also showed that interpersonal factors of advisees/advisors and contextual factors might relate to information exchange in doctoral mentoring. In a following paper, the author will present the results of a follow-up survey that tests and generalizes the findings of this study.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.247-251
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• 1996

This paper is intended as a preliminary study on phonetic and phonological differences between Polish and Korean languages. In this paper an attempt is made to examine the most conspicious difficulties encountered by Polish learners who begin to speak Korean (and in doing so, 1 would hope that it might be of help to future learners of both languages). Since the phoneme inventory and general phonetic rules for both languages are very different, teaching and learning accurate pronunciation is extremely difficult for both the Poles and Koreans without any previous phonetic training. In the case of Polish and Korean we can see how strong and persistent the influences of the mother-tongue are on the target language. As an example I would like to discuss the basic differences between Polish and Korean consonants. The most important consonantal opposition in Polish is voice-/voicelessness (f. ex.; 〔b〕 / 〔p〕, 〔g〕 / 〔k〕) while in Korean, opposition such as voice-/voicelessness is of secondary importance. Therefore Korean speakers do not perceive the difference between Polish voiced and voiceless consonants. On the other hand, Polish speakers can not distinguish Korean lenis / fortis / aspirated consonants (f. ex.; ㅂ 〔b〕 / ㅃ 〔p〕 / ㅍ〔ph〕, ㄱ 〔g〕 / ㄲ 〔k〕 / ㅋ 〔kh〕)) opposition. The other very important factor is palatalization which is of vital importance in Polish and, because of this, Polish speakers are extremely sensitive to it. In Korean palatalization is not important phonetically and Korean speakers do not distinguish between palatalized and non-palatalized consonants. The transcription used here is based on ' The principles of the International Phonetic Association and the Korean Phonetic Alphabet ' (1981) by Hyun Bok Lee.

• The Journal of Korean Association of Computer Education
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.55-64
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• 2008

Even though studies on improvement of programming language teaching and learning have been made continuously and many education courseware for programming languages have been developed, computer programming learners' performance is relatively poor. Thus, in this paper, we designed and realized a web- based visual programming learning system by applying cognitive apprenticeship model to improve effect of computer programming education and then put this system into practice in class. As a result, we suggested that it can have positive influence upon learners' performance and their attitude.