Earticle

The current study examined the validity of classroom-based English assessment in the elementary school context using a validity analysis framework, which includes cognitive, instructional, and inferential validity components. As a case study, it evaluated two unit achievement tests administered to 142 6th grade students. Three types of data (i.e., the curricular learning goals, instructional contents covered for the two units, and two unit achievement tests and scores) were collected and analyzed for the classroom-based assessment validity argument. Results revealed that the two tests were relevant to the curriculum and instruction; however, there was a lack of correspondence between the two tests and the curriculum (cognitive validity); moreover, the instructional contents were not sufficiently covered with representative test items (instructional validity). While the test items functioned as expected, students showed a wide range of achievement, which was not expected in the achievement test context (inferential validity). The findings suggest implications for the development and use of classroom-based assessment for young language learners.

This study explored the effects of outlining on the summaries of thirty six L2 college students across three text genres and their opinions on the use of outlining in writing the summaries. Over the eight weeks, the students were divided into an outlining group (experimental group) and a keyword group (controlled group) wrote three summaries after reading articles across three genres (e.g. argumentative, expository, and narrative) at two weeks intervals. Additionally, a follow-up questionnaire on the use of outlining in writing summaries was conducted. Data were analyzed by the Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (Lu, 2010) under 14 indices, and the responses to the questionnaire were analyzed by percentages. The results found a statistically significant difference appearing only in the aspect of CT (i.e. clause per T-unit). In addition, a majority of students utilizing outlining for summary writing believed that they were helped not only to understand the contents and the structure of the articles, but to write summaries with their own words. These results have a pedagogical meaning in that outlining can be more efficient for specific reading genres when teaching summarization in L2 classes.

Given the view of tests as mechanisms within a language policy framework (Shohamy, 2006), Korean proficiency tests are not only used as a way to measure language knowledge, but rather as tools to impose national ideologies about langage use and diversity. The field of Korean language testing needs to embrace sociopolitical dimensions, and engage what is going on value and consequence in test development and validation. By drawing upon a combined approach of Messick’s (1989) validity framework, Fairclough’s (2001) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Bachman and Palmer’s Assessment Use Arugment (AUA), this study aims to illustrate how the practice of testing can be discursively interpreted as a multilayered phenomenon, constituted through discourse. It discussed the applicability of AUA’s two claims (decisions, consequences) to the validation of Korean language proficiency or related certification testing for immigrants with foci of value implications and consequences. The interconnectedness of test validation and CDA is modelled through the procedure of Faircough’s (2001) analytic methodology. In an effort to illustrate that language testing is discursively value-laded, this study not only offer a theoretical and methodological addition to the current inquiry of test validation, but also re-emphasize that language testing is sociopolitically driven from a discursive angle.

The purpose of this study is to examine how cohesion features can be used to distinguish between essays written by Korean and NS college students. A total of 800 essays from the ICNALE (International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English) corpus were analyzed using the newly-developed automated analysis of cohesion program, TAACO (the Tool for the Automatic Analysis of Cohesion). In order to examine whether there are statistically significant differences between NS and Korean students, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted. The multivariate test result showed that the combined cohesion indices were significantly affected by L1, indicating that Korean and NS students differed in terms of various cohesion indices. A stepwise discriminant function analysis was also carried out to characterize the nature of cohesion differences in essays between NS and Korean students. The best two predictors for distinguishing between Korean students’ essays and NS students’ essays are the overlap of function words and the use of demonstratives. Overall, NS students produced a more cohesive writing than Korean students in that they employed overlapping words, demonstratives, and lexical subordinators as a way to connect ideas across sentences. Implications of this study for English writing pedagogy are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the readability of reading passages used in 5th and 6th grade elementary school English textbooks under the 2015 Revised National Curriculum. For this purpose, all the reading passages of each textbook were calculated with ATOS (Advantage-TASA Open Standard) formula as a readability index. The results of this study indicate that, firstly, the average readability score of 6th grade English textbooks is higher than that of 5th grade ones. Secondly, the readability of 6th grade English textbooks is about six months ahead of that of 5th grade ones. Thirdly, the readability scores are similar in all reading passages for 5th grade, while the readability scores of 6th grade differ from textbooks to textbooks. According to the textbook writers, the readability score of 6th grade textbooks is higher than that of 5th grade ones in four out of five textbooks. Lastly, In terms of the units in each textbook, the readability scores fluctuate and do not increase sequentially as expected.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of voice recording as a speaking assignment on Korean EFL nursing students’ speaking confidence and perceptions of speaking assignment. The participants of the study were 22 nursing students who took college English course and were divided into two groups. One was an experimental group performing voice recording assignment for speaking practice during 5 weeks and the other was a control group that did not receive treatment by the researcher. Speaking confidence questionnaire and in-depth interview were used to collect the data in this study. The result of this study showed that there was some statistically significant achievement of the participants’ speaking confidence after speaking assignment of voice recording performed by them. In addition, the participants had positive reaction to the experience of the assignment. This suggests that voice recording assignment encourages students to have their speaking confidence and helps them to overcome speaking difficulties in EFL environment.

This study investigated the relative effects of input-based versus output-based activities on the learning of English unaccusative constructions. A total of 73 high school students were randomly assigned into two experimental groups and one control group. Of the two experimental groups, the input-based input enhancement group (IE group) experienced a reading passage with the learning targets visually enhanced. The output-based dictogloss group (DG group) performed the dictogloss task with the identical passage given to IE group. The control group (CG group) did not experience the learning targets at all. Results showed that IE group statistically significantly outperformed CG group both at the immediate and the delayed posttests, while there was no significant difference between IE group and DG group. In terms of the generalizability of the learned knowledge, however, it was DG group that outperformed CG group at the immediate posttest. Again, there was no difference between IE group and DG group. More detailed findings are provided, along with some implications for English classrooms in Korea.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of using movies in an English reading course at the college level. In order to achieve this purpose, the following questions were constructed; 1) How have reading activities through movies affected Korean college students’ reading achievement?, 2) How have those activities affected the students’ attitudes toward English study?, and 3) How have the students responded this movie-used reading class affectively? Thirty two college students participated, and a paired t-test was conducted to compare two observations, before- and after- scores on the students’ reading achievement and their attitudes toward English study. The results of data analysis showed that statistically significant differences were found between pre- and post-reading achievement tests, and those reading activities through movies positively affected students’ interest and confidence in English reading. Also, this quantitative result has been verified by qualitative data such as students’ reflective journals and in-depth interviews with students, that added credibility to the statistical findings. Therefore, this study suggests that using movies in the classroom attract students’ attention, and provide language learners with live language. Pedagogical implications are also made on the effective teaching of English reading in Korean classroom settings.

The purpose of this study is to design a Japanese language class based on the analysis of college students’ assignments and their misuses of ‘can’ expressions in them during a Japanese conversation class. In the class, the assignments required the students to record their thoughts about conversation topics. For the assignments, the instructor tried to transcribe the students’ recordings, find their misuses of ‘can’ expressions and provide some corrective feedback for the misuses. Following the feedback, the students were asked to resubmit their recordings and then, the instructor examined their recordings again focusing on ‘can’ expressions. The findings from the students’ first recordings revealed that the students used some verbs that describe ‘possibility’ at first, and gradually they used more ‘surukotogadekiru(=can)’ expressions. Then, finally, the students tended to use both ‘possibility’ verbs and ‘surukotogadekiru(=can)’ expressions regardless of the students’ proficiency levels. However, by comparing to the students’ second recordings, the use of ‘possibility’ verbs increased while the use of ‘surukotogadekiru(=can)’ expressions decreased in the second recordings. Based on the findings, a class design that can be applicable to the Japanese language conversation classes was suggested.

本稿では、大学2～3年生対象の日本語会話授業で実施した課題を調査し、特に 誤用が目立った可能表現に焦点を絞って分析及び考察を行ない、その結果を日本 語教育に活用できるような授業デザインの開発を目的とする。課題は、学生たちが各 テーマについて自分の考えを録音したものを提出するというもので、それらをすべて文 字におこして訂正したものを授業で見せながら誤用や内容などについてフィードバックを 行なった。フィードバック前後の2回にわたって時間をあけて、同じテーマで録音デー タを提出させ、特に可能表現の出現している部分を抽出し調査分析を行なった。 　その結果、最初は可能動詞で表現していたが、だんだん ｢スルコトガデキル形｣ が出現し、後ではその両方の混合形が、レベルに関係なく1回目は11％ほど出現し た。そして、1回目よりも2回目の方が、可能動詞の出現数が86件と大幅に増 え、｢スルコトガデキル形｣ が減った。これらの結果からその原因の考察を行ない、 日本語教育における可能表現自体の問題を含めて、次の3点を挙げた。 (1)可能表現の教え方についての問題。 (2)学習者の日本語表現に ｢日本語らしさ｣ をどこまで求めるか。 (3)学習者へのフィードバックの伝え方(内容、タイミングなど)。 そして、それらを念頭におきながら、日本語教育に反映させていけるような授業デザイ ンの提案を試みた。

The purpose of this study is to develop a curriculum to help foreign broadcasters who will be in demand in the future develop pragmatic language and Korean language skills suitable for broadcasting languages. Based on literature review related to broadcasting language and Korean for Occupational Purposes, the broadcasting language conditions for foreign broadcasters were organized. In order to develop the Korean language curriculum, it’s been interviewed and surveyed foreign broadcasters who are working at Korean broadcasting stations. Based on the needs assessment, the education contents and teaching items were designed. The principles of composition of the curriculum established in this study are as follows. (1) Curriculum for Korean language and broadcasting ability for foreigners; (2) content that can be understood and proceeded with the characteristics of genre; (3) use the correct broadcasting language; (4) active response attitude; and (5) a broadcaster with the ability to understand Korean culture. Proposals for the curriculum that can help foreign broadcasters grow into good communicators of cultural content in Korea are presented.