박희진 Park Heejin , 이성원 Lee Seongwon

DOI: Vol.26(No.4) 9-28, 2023

The main purposes of the study were to see whether vocabulary learning before listening improves listening proficiency and to investigate whether using smartphone applications improves EFL learner vocabulary and listening proficiency more than the conventional vocabulary learning method. In addition, the research investigated whether listening proficiency influenced the effect of using different vocabulary learning methods. The study also examined how the use of smartphone applications influenced the affect of the learners. For these purposes, the study carried out ten lessons and in every lesson learners studied ten target vocabulary that would be included in the test that followed immediately afterwards. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21. The results showed that studying vocabulary before listening tests helped the learners improve their listening proficiency. The learners’ vocabulary and listening proficiency improved regardless of the vocabulary learning method they used. Then the study revealed that the learner proficiency level affected the effect of the method and found out that higher-level learners only benefited from using smartphone applications while the lower proficiency students benefited regardless of the method. Finally, the interview results showed that using smartphone vocabulary applications helped students be more motivated in language learning.

vocabulary and listening, vocabulary learning, smartphone apps, MALL, task involvement hypothesis

이명원 Yi Myungwon , 이예나 Lee Yena , 최희 Choi Hee , 최인철 Choi Inn-chull

DOI: Vol.26(No.4) 29-50, 2023

This study attempts to validate ChatGPT, as well as corpus linguistic features, in predicting the difficulty level of the College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT). The Observed Proportion Correct (Pc) of the 2021 to 2024 CSAT mock tests was compared with those provided by ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4.0 and 10 corpus-based linguistic features, including Type, Token, TTR, AWL, Lexical Density, Average Words per Sentence, Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, and Gunning-Fog Index. The research findings are as follows: First, ChatGPT-4.0 bettter predicted item difficulty compared to ChatGPT-3.5. Second, the Predicted Proportion Correct (Pc) of ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4.0 and some corpus features showed a high correlation with observed Pc. The observed Pc was largely accounted for by the difficulty predicted by ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4.0, where ChatGPT-4.0’s predicted Pc demonstrated higher explanatory power than ChatGPT-3.5. Third, a regression model for predicting the difficulty of CSAT was established with ChatGPT and such corpus-based variables as the Gunning-Fog Index and Lexical Diversity. Overall, the findings endorse the potential use of ChatGPT, along with salient corpus linguistic features, as a suitable tool for predicting item difficulties prior to actual test administration.

ChatGPT, College Scholastic Ability Test, CSAT, Proportion Correct, Pc, predicted Pc, obse rved Pc, readability, corpus linguistic features, item difficulty

전수인 Chun Sooin

DOI: Vol.26(No.4) 51-71, 2023

This study aims to investigate the use of imagery strategies to improve the English writing skills of college students and examine changes in learning outcomes. From a total of 87 beginning-level university students enrolled a general English class with several different majors, 32 participated in this study. During class, the researcher proposed the text coloring method as an imagery strategy and asked learners to perform paragraph writing tasks using this method. After completing three writing tasks over six weeks using Google Docs, the students’ compositions were qualitatively analyzed using MaxQUDA. The main result of this study was that the 15 students who effectively used the imagery strategy rapidly improved their composition competency, while the 17 learners who inappropriately or did not use the strategy showed no significant improvement, regardless of their previous writing proficiency. Moreover, participants who successfully implemented the strategy showed improvements in using paragraph elements to improve their writing content. These positive changes occurred irrespective of their major, gender, or learning style preferences. To conclude, the findings of this study highlight that the imagery strategy of the text coloring method can help beginner learners improve their writing skills, particularly in terms of composition.

English writing, Google Docs, learning style, imagery strategy, qualitative research

전은영 Jeon Eun-young

DOI: Vol.26(No.4) 72-97, 2023

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception, motivation, and utilization of AI PengTalk in an elementary school situated within one of the innovative cities in Korea. 8 sixth graders (4 males, 4 females) volunteered to participate in the research. The data were collected through the students’ AI PengTalk study records, surveys, pictures, interviews, and a class observation over a four-month period. All the collected data were comprehensively analyzed and interpreted based on triangulation. The findings of the present study were as follows. First, the students perceived PengTalk as ‘fun’, ‘helpful in improving English skills’, and ‘conducive to developing self-directed learning habits.’ The most fun activity of AI PengTalk chosen by the students was ‘School Talk.’ Second, both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation were identified as factors prompting the students to use AI PengTalk, suggesting that the effective utilization of these motivations can encourage consistent learning among learners. Finally, it was observed that AI PengTalk was mostly integrated into flipped learning. The students previewed ‘Topic World’ before class and they were actively engaged in speaking activities, such as, ‘School Talk’ and ‘Let’s Talk’ within the classroom.

AI PengTalk, primary English education, perception, motivation, utilization

Hyejin Yang

DOI: Vol.26(No.4) 98-118, 2023

Despite positive influence of feedback on students’ learning in language assessment (Saito & Lyster, 2012), the nature and impact of raters’ feedback in language assessment remains underexplored, especially its influence on English speaking class students and instructors. Situated in an institutional oral proficiency interview (OPI) test in a university in the U.S., this study aimed to identify the varying needs of different stakeholders involved in the speaking assessment, including raters, students and instructors. The OPI is a high-stakes test in this context, serving as a decisive factor for allocating teaching responsibilities and determining financial assistance for prospective international graduate students within the department. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the research involved focus group interviews with five OPI raters and two instructors of English speaking classes, respectively. A questionnaire was completed by twenty-two international graduate students preparing for the test. The findings revealed that all stakeholders recognized significance of raters’ feedback whereas their perceptions regarding the quality and diagnostic utility of raters’ feedback varied. This study concluded by offering suggestions to improve the quality of raters’ feedback for English speaking tests, both in the studied institution and in broader contexts. The suggestions provided a practical foundation for developing an online rating system for the speaking test in future studies.

English speaking test, interviews, stakeholders’ needs