Xuan Jun Cui , Yoon Jung Kim

DOI: Vol.24(No.4) 10-29, 2021

This study aimed to explore the use of bundles in the field of English education and to trace their development between 2001 and 2020 by compiling two corpora of PhD dissertations that add up to 2,390,093 words. The bundles have changed significantly in length, structure, and function over the past two decades, suggesting that the field of English education changes quickly. Regarding length, the percentage of three-word bundles has increased from 92.2% to 93.4%, whereas that of four-word bundles has decreased from 7.8% to 5.4%. Structurally, patterns such as “noun phrase + of,” “of + noun phrase,” and “in + noun phrase” have decreased in the last decade, while patterns like “noun phrase” have increased. Functionally, the proportion of research-oriented bundles has increased by 4.4%, while the percentages of text-oriented and participant-oriented bundles have dropped by 3.8% and .6%, respectively. At the same time, similarities across corpora have also been observed: three-word bundles make up an overwhelming proportion of the bundles; most of the bundles are noun-based or preposition-based; research-oriented bundles make up the largest percentage, followed by text-oriented bundles, with participant-oriented bundles accounting for a significantly small percentage. This study may have important implications for writers, teachers, students, textbook developers, and researchers in English education.

Bundles, changes, English education, corpora, PhD dissertations

Sei-hwa Jung

DOI: Vol.24(No.4) 30-50, 2021

The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of online chatting in facilitating learner participation during online classes via Zoom. A total of 71 undergraduate English major students from two Zoom courses, Current Issues and English Listening and Reading, participated in the study. The students were explicitly encouraged to post their questions, answers, and requests using Zoom chat. All transcripts of the chat messages were auto-saved and retrieved later for analysis. The data analysis was conducted using a mixed-methods approach. The chat messages were categorized into three interaction groups: IS (instructor-to-students) interaction, SI (students-to-instructor) interaction, and SS (students-to-students) interaction. The IS interaction involved students' answers to the instructor's questions about reading comprehension, vocabulary, listening, video materials, grammar, technical issues, and course logistics. The SI interaction included students' questions to the instructor regarding assignments, exams, technical issues, and course logistics. The SS interaction was questions and answers among students. The results showed that there was a significant positive relationship between online learner participation and academic performance. It was also found that vocabulary-related IS interaction was the single best predictor of student performance in online courses via Zoom. This study contributes to the existing body of research on online learner participation by confirming the effectiveness of active participation on student performance and highlighting the importance of teaching presence in synchronous online learning environments.

online learner participation, online interactions, online engagement, synchronous online learning, online chatting, ZOOM, COVID-19

Na-young Kim

DOI: Vol.24(No.4) 51-74, 2021

The focus of this paper was to explore the impacts of fairytale videos on EFL affective factors: motivation, confidence, and anxiety. The study investigates whether the fairytale videos differently affect EFL learners depending on their proficiency levels. The whole experiment was administered in 2020 academic year. For the experiment, 122 Korean college students were recruited and divided into two groups: fairytale video group and fairytale text group. Based on their experimental conditions, the participants watched fairytale videos or read fairytale texts for 12 weeks. They were asked to complete pre- and post-surveys before and after the treatment. The collected data were analyzed with independent samples t-tests. Major findings are as follows: There were significant differences between the groups regarding all the three affective factors. The fairytale video group showed the superior impacts on EFL motivation, confidence, and anxiety over the fairytale text group. Furthermore, the impacts of the fairytale videos turned out to vary depending on proficiency levels. The basic-level learners showed statistically significant group differences in all the three factors. The intermediate-level learners also revealed significant differences between groups regarding anxiety. Based on these findings, limitations and pedagogical suggestions are made.

Fairytale videos, EFL, proficiency level, motivation, confidence, anxiety

Juhee Lee

DOI: Vol.24(No.4) 75-106, 2021

Using a mixed-method approach, this study examined student engagement, attitudes, and task participation in an augmented reality (AR) mobile game and pleasure reading among 78 undergraduates learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in South Korea. The location-based AR mobile game involved taking up the role of a private investigator, interviewing virtual characters while walking around campus, solving the given problem, and writing a case report using collected information. Pleasure reading involved choosing a book, reading it, and submitting a book review. After experiencing both the AR mobile game and pleasure reading, the students completed case reports, book reviews, reading logs, questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews for seven weeks. The results indicate that the AR game elicited significantly higher levels of behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement, as well as more positive attitudes (involvement, enjoyment, satisfaction, and willingness to continue), than pleasure reading. Furthermore, the challenging problem-solving task of the AR game demanded a considerable amount of intellectual and personal effort, which kept students cognitively and affectively engaged in the game, whereas the absence of such a challenging task in pleasure reading, other than understanding the English, ironically led students to engage less in reading books. Despite the significantly higher ratings on perceived usefulness of books in EFL learning, many students expressed strong psychological barriers to books, particularly when they had received few pleasurable reading experiences during childhood or adolescence. Furthermore, playing the AR game in groups enhanced student engagement and task participation significantly better than working individually; the advantages of working in groups were not evident in pleasure reading.

Augmented reality mobile games, pleasure reading, engagement, collaboration, EFL learning

Sangmin Lee , Tae Youn Ahn

DOI: Vol.24(No.4) 107-133, 2021

Practicum is essential for pre-service teachers to bridge the gap between theories and practice and prepare for the real classroom. However, it is often limited due to various reasons, such as time, cost, and a lack of partnership schools, in many countries. As an alternative to an actual practicum, the current paper explored a virtual practicum simulation, simSchool, to mitigate a shortage in reality-based preparation and investigated its effectiveness for pre-service teacher education. The study applied a mixed-method to perform more robust research. The study used quantitative content analysis of two versions of 37 pre-service teachers’ lesson plans (original and revised), reflection papers, and interviews as a primary method. As a secondary method, pre- and post-surveys on teacher efficacy were used. The results showed that pre-service teachers valued their experience with the virtual practicum and increased their abilities in diverse areas of teaching, including instruction, activities, facilitation, and material use. Their simSchool experience also helped the pre-service teachers realize their weaknesses in teaching and enabled them to transfer their newly learned knowledge to practice. Based on the results, the study argues that a virtual practicum offers pre-service teachers a valuable extended learning opportunity to develop their teaching skills, although it cannot replace real classroom teaching experience.

Simulation, virtual practicum, pre-service teachers, knowledge transfer

김성연 Kim Sung-yeon , 김주영 Kim Joo Young

DOI: Vol.24(No.4) 134-162, 2021

This is a case study of a Korean college student who performed process-oriented disciplinary writing, referring to teacher feedback via email and online conference. The study explored how the student incorporated teacher feedback while rewriting the original draft multiple times for seven weeks. The data of the study are composed of teacher-student email exchanges, feedback files, online conference audio/video, reflection journals, and the student’s drafts written on a teaching method, Desuggestopedia. The findings of the study indicate that the student found it difficult to accommodate teacher commentaries that were indirect and implicit, such as questions for clarification and comments that demanded further thinking. In contrast, he easily incorporated the feedback that directly addressed language points or organizational issues, although he was sometimes confused when given explicit feedback about prepositions in the phrasal verbs. Despite the differential effects of feedback on the rewriting process, the student believed that consistent feedback from the teacher was beneficial for his growth as a student writer. The study also found that the online conference and email facilitated scaffolded interaction between the student and the teacher. This increased interaction raised the student’s motivation for rewriting and willingness to continue writing practice.

Disciplinary writing, email feedback, online conference, case study

김성우 Kim Sungwoo , 장인철 Jang In Chull , 이정아 Lee Jeong-ah

DOI: Vol.24(No.4) 163-188, 2021

As the quality of machine translation improves, scholarly and pedagogical investigations on the roles and applications of machine translation in language classrooms continue to grow. The primary focus of such research is frequently concerned with the tool’s feasibility and usefulness in connection to language learning. However, in recent years, new proposals in the social sciences have emerged to redefine materials and objects beyond their long-held passive and static nature. Notable among them are a series of posthuman theories, including new materialism, which argue that the traditional understanding of matter and tools fails to adequately reflect their ontological position of acting and becoming by reducing them to objects for human use. This article proposes new onto-epistemologies of machine translation in language learning, based on recent theoretical discourse in new materialism research. To this goal, new materialist theories in regard to objects, machines, and devices are reviewed. Also, works of applied linguists, Alastair Pennycook, Kelleen Toohey, and Suresh Canagarajah, who have pioneered the new materialist turn, are introduced. In light of potentiality, performativity, and assemblage, this study presents different viewpoints on machine translation in language classrooms. Finally, this article calls for naturalistic and ethnographic research to advance a new materialist understanding of machine translation.

New materialism, machine translation, assemblage, posthumanism, intra-action

김정현 Kim Junghyun

DOI: Vol.24(No.4) 189-213, 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of college students’ satisfaction with online classes and their English self-efficacy on their academic performance for TOEIC-related English subjects. In order to build satisfactory online classes, video lectures were produced based on meticulous teaching plans, and detailed feedback was provided to the students as soon as possible. In addition to the regular online classes, real-time online classes were conducted with two sessions of YouTube Live before the midterms(based on the feedback from Week 2 to Week 6) and before the finals(based on the feedback from Week 7 to Week 13) to compensate for the difficulties of online interactions between the professor and the students. The class contents of the YouTube Live were made upon the TOEIC questions that students got often wrong or students thought important in their assignments as well as detailed information about the exams. Two series of online surveys were carried out as Google Forms though the online link. The students were generally satisfied with their online classes, and students with a high English self-efficacy had a high level of performance. Changes in English self-efficacy and some variables on online class satisfaction were statistically proven. Online class satisfaction, English self-efficacy, and students' academic performance showed a positive correlation with each other.

Online class satisfaction, English self-efficacy, academic performance, YouTube Live

박은희 Park Eunhee

DOI: Vol.24(No.4) 214-239, 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate the research topics of college English education in Korea from 2001 to 2020. The data was collected using a Biblio data collector and the English titles and English abstracts of a total of 300 papers were analyzed using the data-mining software, Netminer. The methodology is based on three phases: (a) Frequency analysis, (b) Centrality analysis, and (c) Text network analysis. The summary of the findings is as follows: In the 2001-2020 period, the key words that appeared most were ‘questionnaire’, ‘course’, ‘program’, ‘level-differentiated’, ‘test,’ ‘learners’ satisfaction’ and ‘professors.’ The result of the centrality analysis revealed that the key words listed above also had high value in the degree centrality, closeness centrality and betweenness centrality. The network and modularity analysis showed that the network can be divided into 8 groups. Among those groups, Group 8, which included key words such as ‘attitude’, ‘motivation’, ‘perception’, ‘learners’ satisfaction’, ‘teaching method’, ‘activity’, and ‘classroom’ had the networks with high modularity. Additionally, the key words that are related to learners’ affective factors such as ‘perception’, ‘motivation’, ‘attitude’ and ‘learners’ satisfaction’ have appeared more frequently between 2011 and 2020, than 2001 to 2010.

College English, general English, network analysis, topic analysis, research trends, Netminer, text mining, social network analysis

이호 Lee Ho

DOI: Vol.24(No.4) 240-260, 2021

The purpose of this study is to explore how pre-service English teachers assess English comic strips using their own rubric. Twenty-five pre-service teachers participated in this research. They drew a four-frame comic strips, defined the constructs for the assessment of English comic strips, designed the rubrics, and rated their and peer’s comic strips with their own rubrics. After then, they responded to the survey. The researcher analyzed the rubrics pre-service teachers had generated and identified five scoring areas (task observance, language use, content, drawing) and nine semi-components. The researcher found that while pre-service teachers assigned many scores to task observance and content, they put on the least weight on the quality of cartoon drawing. Pre-service teachers also had different views on the construct of creativity, which led to relatively large discrepancy between self and peer assessment. While survey respondents experienced difficulty in giving accurate scores, they had positive attitude toward the assessment of the creativity in English comic strips. They finally commented that they had built self-confidence as a prospective rater.

pre-service teachers, creativity assessment, comic strips, learner-generated rubric, self assessment, peer assessment

정요한 Jeong Yo Han , 최인철 Choi Inn-chull

DOI: Vol.24(No.4) 261-289, 2021

With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology utilized in English classrooms, the present case study attempts to explore the strengths and limitations of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) supported by AI chatbots. This study selected 20 experimental sentences, which were found to be difficult for a Dialogflow-driven chatbot to recognize in EFL classes. Then, the number of successful speech recognition cases was measured on the basis of the speech uttered by three groups (i.e., native English speakers, Korean-English bilinguals, and EFL students). It showed that the chatbot found it difficult to recognize fast speech phenomena including Tapification and/or Contraction. Moreover, the chatbot recognized bilingual speakers' English pronunciation most accurately, followed by native English speakers and EFL students, which might be attributed to the ASR algorithm based on the spoken English as an International Language (EIL). An additional analysis employing the Praat revealed that this was due to the duration of speech and pauses and that this sophisticated technology did not appear to be fully functional in recognizing unstressed sounds with a low level of duration. Finally, the present study suggests some ideas for designing and utilizing chatbots to achieve a higher level of efficacy in TEFL.

Dialogflow, Automatic Speech Recognition(ASR), Artificial Intelligence(AI), chatbot, machine learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), NLU, error analysis