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This study aims to explore the variations of Korean registers through multi-dimensional analysis by extracting relevant dimensions. These dimensions, derived from the statistical analysis of linguistic features' co-occurrence patterns, play a pivotal role in understanding the linguistic characteristics and functions of various texts and registers. A total of 59 linguistic features were selected to analyze the co-occurrence patterns across 17 traditional registers, leading to the identification of five distinct dimensions. The nature of each dimension was elucidated by examining the contributing linguistic features and the distribution of factor scores across these dimensions. In the final part of the study, the applicability of these dimensions was assessed by analyzing additional registers, such as messenger texts and National Assembly minutes, to determine whether the identified dimensions could serve as an effective framework for analyzing new registers.

Within the educational system, teachers are being given the responsibility of preparing students for global citizenship in a global society. This study is about global citizenship education in the context of university English classrooms in Korea. Throughout the 2023 spring semester, based on sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations, the instructor set learning objectives for students in English classroom to prepare them for global citizenship and offered global citizenship related lectures with a focus on sustainable development goals using texts and online content dealing with a variety of issues in the 21st century. A total of 39 university students participated in the study. In addition to the questionnaire which most previous studies focused on, the present study aims to capture English learners’ voice through semi-structured interview as well. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. It turned out that the students’ overall perceptions and understanding of global citizenship were improved and they showed positive changes in affective factors.

This study aims to track the cultural aspects that may lead to different conversation styles between Korean and Dutch speakers. A survey, conducted through questionnaires, involved 134 speakers from each country to detect differences in the perceived importance of conversational constraints (Kim, 1994). To explore the cultural background influencing these differences, Hofstede's Cultural Dimension Theory (2010) was applied. The results reveal that Korean respondents consider both clarity and feeling of hearers more important than their Dutch counterparts. This discrepancy is explained by several cultural aspects of Korean culture, characterized by higher levels of uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and collectivism. In other words, these cultural dimensions in Korean society may contribute to the higher perceived importance of clarity and feeling of hearers. This suggests that examining speakers' multidimensional cultural background, which shapes their thought processes, will be a practical approach to understanding the question, 'Why does he/she say A instead of B?'

In this study, we analyze Korean emergency alerts in the context of Plain Language from the perspectives of education and Korean as a second language. The goal of this study is to further the development of effective communication with members of society who may have “beginner-level” Korean language proficiency, by examining, organizing, and proposing factors that may affect the understanding of Korean emergency alerts and suggesting educational approaches. To achieve this, we examined the vocabulary, expressions, and grammatical structures of Korean emergency alerts and analyzed the obstacles to beginner-level Korean speakers understanding them. Also, we aim to refine the results of this research and systematize the vocabulary, grammar, and syntactic construction of Korean emergency alerts to develop strategies for Korean as second language education. The goal of this study is to promote Plain Language communication so that officials and others who transmit critical information will use technical language that is correct and easy for people to understand quickly and easily.

Ambiguity resolution is an important aspect of sentence processing research, as it plays a key role in understanding the language processing mechanism. This study investigates whether there exists a similarity in the processing of structurally ambiguous and referentially ambiguous sentences. Korean learners proficient in English took part in a self-paced reading experiment to examine how they process the relative clause attachment dependency and the pronominal reference dependency. The results revealed that the processing of attachment dependency demonstrated an ambiguity advantage. However, an ambiguity disadvantage was observed in the processing of referential dependency, suggesting a competition between two potential referents. Consequently, these findings provide evidence that the computational processes involved in resolving structural ambiguity and referential ambiguity are dissimilar.

Previous literature proposed that the ongoing VOT merger between aspirated and lenis stops in Korean is prosodically conditioned. To assess this prosodic account across a variety of prosodic positions, twelve younger speakers were recorded using a novel method of eliciting the stops in four positions with different boundary strengths, distributed over single utterances under broad focus. Bolstering previous findings, the merger occurred phrase-initially (i.e., utterance-initially, IP-initially, AP-initially), while the contrast was maintained by clear separation of F0. Notably, the pivotal role of F0 was also observed phrase-medially (i.e., Wd-initially) in the presence of the VOT cues retaining the feature primacy, even influencing the pitch range of the entire phrase. Additionally, the cue-shifting from a VOT-based to an F0-based system was more advanced in females’ speech. The magnitude of cue-shifting is discussed in light of boundary strengths, focusing on how variant forms involved in ongoing sound change interact with speech prosody.

The purpose of this study is to explore learners' and instructors' perceptions of AI-based technologies in higher education. 97 participants(learners: 61, L2 instructors: 36) participated in an online survey on academic integrity issues related to AI-based tools in educational settings. There were two research questions posed in the study. In the first question, five key factors were identified: attitudes toward AI-based tools, concerns about these tools, possible challenges, potential threats, and possible benefits. In relation to the second question, a one-way ANOVA revealed significant differences in perceptions concerning AI-based tools and potential threats, with learners and instructors showing distinct perspectives. Participants were keenly aware of the benefits and challenges of AI technologies, emphasizing the need for continuous training in their use. Consequently, in Korea, it calls for the development of flexible, culturally relevant guidelines that align with legal and regulatory standards, involving a range of stakeholders to ensure academic integrity. Research limitations and research directions were discussed further.