Antenna-Style Daggers in Northeast Asia from the Perspective of Interregional Interaction

This article examines the process of diffusion of bird-pair antenna-style daggers and swords in southern Manchuria, the Korean peninsula, and northern Kyushu, analyzing the distribution of the daggers and swords, classifying them, and establishing a chronology. The daggers are classified into three types and sub-divided based on blade, handle, and pommel characteristics. Each form was produced and used at different time periods and in different areas, emerging first in the Jilin-Changchun region, then expanding into the Northern Liao region, Pyongyang, and as far as Tsushima and northern Kyushu. The bird-pair antenna-style dagger of Northeast Asia is unlikely to have been a trade item imported from outside of the region. It is more likely a local development as indigenous cultures that manufactured mandolin-shaped or slender bronze daggers were influenced by the bronze cultures of northern Asia and Ordos, the upper part of the Yellow River. This new type of dagger possibly represented a symbolic or prestige good reflecting political or economic alliances within the Puyŏ state of southern Manchuria or the early Wiman Chosŏn state in Pyongyang or among the statelets of Pyŏnhan and Chinhan in the Yŏngnam region. The bird-pair antenna-style daggers eventually flourished in the Yŏngnam region, where a local style developed. These daggers in turn diffused via immigration and trade to Tsushima in the mid-first century B.C.E

An exploratory study of foreign accent and phonological awareness in Korean learners of English

Communication in a second or multiple languages has become essential in the globalized world. However, acquiring a second language (L2) after a critical period is universally acknowledged to be challenging (Lenneberg, 1967). Late learners hardly reach a nativelike level in L2, particularly in its pronunciation, and their incomplete phonological acquisition is manifested by a foreign accent—a common and persistent feature of otherwise fluent L2 speech. Although foreign-accented speech is widespread, it has been a target of social constraints in L2-speaking communities, causing many learners and instructors to seek out ways to reduce foreign accents. Accordingly, research in L2 speech has unceasingly examined various learner-external and learner-internal factors of the occurrence of foreign accents as well as nonnative speech characteristics underlying the judgment of the degree of foreign accents. The current study aimed to expand the understanding of the characteristics and judgments of foreign accents by investigating phonological awareness, a construct pertinent to learners’ phonological knowledge, which has received little attention in research on foreign accents. The current study was exploratory and non-experimental research that targeted 40 adults with Korean-accented English living in the United States. The study first examined how 23 raters speaking American English as their native language detect, perceive, describe, and rate Korean-accented English. Through qualitative and quantitative analyses of the accent perception data, the study identified various phonological and phonetic deviations from the nativelike sounds, which largely result from the influence of first language (Korean) on L2 (English). The study then probed the relationship between foreign accents and learners’ awareness of the phonological system of L2, which was measured using production, perception, and verbalization tasks that tapped into the knowledge of L2 phonology. The study found a significant inverse relationship between the degree of a foreign accent and phonological awareness, particularly implicit knowledge of L2 segmentals. Further in-depth analyses revealed that explicit knowledge of L2 phonology alone was not sufficient for targetlike pronunciation. Findings suggest that L2 speakers experience varying degrees of difficulty in perceiving and producing different L2 segmentals, possibly resulting in foreign-accented speech

Code-switching and Translanguaging: Potential Functions in Multilingual Classrooms

The rise of multilingualism has drawn the attention of language researchers and instructors to various phenomena that have been observed in multilingual speakers, who develop knowledge on how and when to use their languages depending on, for instance, the interlocutors involved in the conversation, the topic of the conversation, and the social context (Reyes, 2004). The present paper aims to focus on two representative multilingual phenomena, namely code-switching and translanguaging. Each phenomenon will be defined based on existing literature and their potential functions in multilingual classroom research will be highlighted and discussed

The Use of Technology In-and-Outside of Second Language Classrooms: The Need for Teacher Training in Technology

Research has shown that the use of technology can be a pioneering and innovative means of language learning and teaching. Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) provides learners with individualized instruction, naturalistic linguistic environment, and greater opportunities to actively engage in interaction with peers and teachers A number of studies (see Bhatia & Ritchie, 2009 for more details) have reported that students in the CALL setting tend to show less negative affect but higher levels of interest, motivation, and participation in learning the target language. However, such encouraging findings were observed primarily with students who had positive attitudes toward technology, as pointed out by Bhatia and Ritchie (2009). This highlights the fact that the application of technology to language learning and/or teaching settings must be preceded by proper user education or training in materials and technology tools. In other words, both students and teachers need to be given sufficient opportunities to practice and become familiar with the technology in use in the first place; the absence of these prerequisites can render any argument for the effectiveness of CALL insufficient

Second Language Pronunciation Teaching: Insights from Research

Despite increased interest in second language (L2) pronunciation in recent years, the topic has been marginalized in the field of second language acquisition and teaching. Far less work has been carried out on L2 pronunciation, compared to skills such as grammar and vocabulary that have received much attention. Most of the instructional materials and practices developed for L2 pronunciation tend to heavily rely on basic intuitive notions suggested by language teachers and researchers, rather than research-based evidence (Derwing & Munro, 2005)

Effective Teaching for Place Value Understanding: A Case Study of a Literacy-Integrated Math Curriculum Module

A lesson sequence for place value was developed as an early intervention for kindergarteners. The sequence begins with a children’s picture book involving language familiar to children and continues with hands-on activities for children to make connections between and within multiple representations of place value. Through engaging in the literacy-integrated math curriculum module, kindergartners deepened their understanding of place value and the base-ten number system, as they were consistently engaged in problem solving and mathematical discourse triggered by their own mathematical thinking, as well as purposeful questions prompted by the teacher