A study of the Korean suprasegmental acquisition by English learners of Korean

Both advanced- and beginning-labeled native English learners of Korean and Korean native speakers took part in the production experiment which examined acquiring some selected Korean suprasegmental factors such as F0, speech rate, and boundary cues. In the test, both English groups showed comparatively low mean value of F0, and higher value of F0 in the initial part of the sentences. Beginning-labeled English learners of Korean exhibited a slower declination tilt and slow speech rate, while advanced-labeled English learners of Korean hold a steeper declination tilt and comparatively fast speech rate. The results suggest that (1) L2 developmental patterns of production clearly have been influenced by L1 system, and (2) Each phonetic cue has different developmental stag

An exploratory study of English teacher expertise: A case for the collaborative reflection of the teacher, colleagues, and students.

The current study explores the potential of the collaborative reflection of the teacher, colleagues, and students in promoting teacher expertise. To this effect, the authors first created a principled set of checklists on six domains of teacher expertise by synthesizing relevant literature. Then they developed protocols for collaborative reflection. These tools were applied to a middle school English teachers reflective practice, involving the teacher participating in stimulated recall sessions of her own classes, writing reflection journals, and receiving feedback from her colleagues and students. The results show that collaborative reflection has high potentials for mediating the teachers cognitive and affective changes, leading to behavioral ones. This suggests that collaborative reflection, when relevant institutional prerequisites are met, can take an instrumental role in promoting teacher expertise

On a Distinction Between Accuracy and Fluency in English Pronunciation Teaching in Korea

Since the introduction of the 6th National Curriculum, English pronunciation teaching in Korea has geared toward fluency, less focusing on accuracy. Since then the two technical terms, accuracy and fluency, have been widely used in the EFL literature in Korea, but in a rather confusing way. This paper is an endeavor to clarify these two concepts in terms of the viewpoints of Phonetics and English Education. From the phonetic standpoint, I argued that accuracy is more closely related to 'clear speech,' whereas fluency is applicable to either 'clear speech' or 'casual speech'. I also suggested two methods for the evaluation of English speaking fluency: one is the evaluation of weak form pronunciation: the other, sentence stresses. From a viewpoint of English Education, I reviewed some relevant literature and found that (1) accuracy and fluency are related to language usage and language use, respectively; (2) accuracy and fluency have been used as terms applicable to all four language skills in language learning, rather than speaking skill only: (3) a definition of fluency needs to be modified for its flexible use in ESL/EFL classroom setting; (4) a number of recent textbooks on pronunciation teaching include lots of useful fluency enhancing practices. As a conclusion, I summed up afore-mentioned discussions and presented some suggestions for the National Curriculum in the future

The effects of L1 syllable structure on the acquisition of English consonant clusters: focusing on Korean middle school students speech production

This paper investigated the effects of Korean syllable structure on the acquisition of English consonant clusters on the basis of the speech data collected from a total of 8 Korean middle school students (2 females and 6 males). A total of 24 English monosyllabic words that formed 8 different quasi minimal triplets was employed and recorded. Each triplet consisted of mono-consonantal, bi-consonantal, and tri-consonantal words like pin, spin, spring or pin, pink, pinks. The three words at four triplets were differentiated by the number of consonants at the onset position and those at the other four triplets, at the coda position. Using a 5 point-scale scoring method, two native English speakers rated the speech data in terms of (i) intelligibility and (ii) the scoring of bi- and tri-consonantal words with three points being fixed on mono-syllabic words. The main finding was that the tri-consonantal words scored the lowest, bi-consonantal words were in the middle, and mono-consonantal words scored the highest. But, this general tendency held true only at the words dissimilar at the coda position. At the onset position, on the other hand, the mono-consonantal words scored the lowest. The in-depth analysis that followed the rating showed that a comparison of the words in terms of the syllabic intelligibility can be properly made only when each consonant comprising a syllable is intelligibly articulated on its own

The Relationship between phonemic awareness and listening comprehension ability: an experimental study based on the English name test

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between phonemic awareness and listening comprehension ability. For this particular research purpose the English name test and TOEFL L/C tests were employed and a total of 34 university students participated in this experiment. The English name test consisting of relatively unheard 26 English names was specially designed and administered for the participants to depend on their own phonemic awareness ability, not applying their cognitive prior knowledge. when they transcribed the names using the phonetic alphabets. The statistical result showed that the Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient was .550* and its coefficient of determination was .303. This result clearly demonstrated that the phonemic awareness ability was highly correlated with the overall listening comprehension ability and implied thε need for implementing the so-called bottom-up method for developing students' phonernic awareness ability at primary or secondary school levels

A Study of variables in the online Korean speaking tests for academic purpose

본 연구에서는 한국어를 외국어로 학습하는 외국인들을 대상으로 학문 목적 말하기 평가 수행에 관여하는 변인들을 추적 관찰하였다. 연구 주제는 과제 유형(서사, 설득, 설명)이 평가자(6인), 평가 유형(가형 나형), 한국어 능력수준(중급하, 중급상, 상급하, 상급상), 학력 수준(고졸, 대재, 대졸, 석사, 박사)등의 변인과 상호작용하여 평가 결과에 어떤 영향을 미치는가를 살펴보는 것이다. 4개 한국어 능력 수준(중급하, 중급상, 상급하, 상급상)에 해당하는 394명의 외국인 유학생들이 온라인 비대면 시험에 응시하였고, 6명의 한국인 교강사들이 평가를 하였다. 분석 결과 이들의 한국어 능력 수준은 과제 유형에 따라 평가에 다른 영향을 미쳤다. 즉, 중하급 수준의 피평가자들은 과제 유형간에 폭넓은 범위의 logit 분포를 보였지만, 상급상 수준의 피평가자들은 비교적 좁은 범위의 분포를 보였다. 또한 과제 난도(difficulty)에서도 수준 간에는 차이가 있었다. 중급하 집단은 서사(경험) > 설명(도표), 설득(대화) > 설득(지문 > 설득(강의) > 설명(그림)순으로 일상적인 경험 표현이 비교적 쉬운 영역이지만, 상급상 집단에서는 설득(강의) > 설득(대화) > 설명(그림) > 설명(도표) > 설득(지문 > 서사(경험)순으로서 학문 영역 과제가 비교적 쉬운 영역으로 나타났다. 가형 및 나형 평가지에 따라서 가장 어려운 난도에 해당하는 과제는 달랐다. 가형 평가지에서는 설명(그림) 과제가, 나형 평가지에서는 설득(강의) 과제가 가장 난도가 큰 과제로 나타났다. 이 결과들은 온라인 비대면 평가에서는 과제 설계도 중요하지만, 이런 변수들을 고려할 수 있는 평가자 교육이 필요함을 보여준다.N

The Needs Analysis of Korean Speaking Test for the Academic Purposes

Eunsil Hong, Hyunjeong Park, Sujin Cho, Byeonggon Min, Hyunkee Ahn, Yelim Oh & Seokhan Kang. 2016. The Needs Analysis of Korean Speaking Test for the Academic Purposes. Journal of Korean Language Education 27-4: 243-268. The purpose of this study is to analyze the interested groups needs for Korean speaking test for academic purposes. Two hundred twenty nine foreign university students who have studied in undergraduate and graduate schools, one hundred three professors who have taught foreign students, and forty one university institutional staff members whose work is related to foreign students have taken part in the survey. The direction for testing Korean speaking test for academic purposes and the considerations in developing Korean speaking test for academic purposes were investigated through the needs survey. The results indicate that Korean speaking test for the academic purposes should be adopted because the tests for the general purposes could not cover the academic ability for the foreign students. Also the criteria for the test are needed to be set up to mitigate the perception gap of interested groups academic speaking proficiency. Futhermore, we reviewed various constructs beyond linguistic competence and considered test takers background variables when we develop Korean speaking test for academic purposes.N