2012, Vol.13, No.3

Modern English Education 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.55

pISSN : 1598-0782 / eISSN : 2586-6141
https://journal.kci.go.kr/meeso

The study was an investigation into how Korean middle-school students perceive their parental support to their studies, and what effect this support may have on their classroom autonomous motivation to study English. Two research questions were addressed. The first question examined how these students perceive their parental involvement and support for their autonomy, based on the results of the Perceptions of Parents Scale (POPS) questionnaire. The second question examined the correlation between results of the POPS and these students’ classroom motivation, as measured by the Self-Regulation Questionnaire-Academic (SRQ-A). These two questionnaire, the POPS and the SRQ-A, were administered to a total of 167 students, ages 13 to 16, studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at two middle schools in Seoul, Korea. A quantitative analysis was performed on the data collected and findings indicated that students’ perceptions of parental support and influence were at a moderate to high level; however the correlation of this support with their classroom autonomous motivation was at a very low positive level. The study concluded with a discussion of study limitations and pedagogical implication.

Most sociocultural researchers have not paid full attention to what classroom writing activities really mean to L2 learners and how these activities relate to learning outcomes from learners’ perspectives. This study explores students' perceptions of writing activities and learning outcomes and the relationships between the activities and the outcomes in an EFL university writing course. A case study methodology was used on the basis of the data collection of students' semester ending learning stories. The data were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. The findings reveal that the peer review activity and the assignment writing practice regarded as the two most representative activities outweighed the importance of teacher feedback and tutorial. These two meaningful activities enabled the participants to gain sense of improvement and change their negative attitudes toward English writing. While the weekly writing assignment helped students to discover the significance of writing processes and to regulate their writing practices, the peer review activity motivated the students to develop a sense of authorship with substantial audience and to have realistic purposes for writing. Therefore, a better awareness of these students' perceptions enables EFL researchers and teachers to develop a more integrated approach to teaching writing responding to students' various perspectives.

With the increasing importance of communicative competence, it is necessary to teach L2 learners communicative strategies (CSs). This study aims to investigate the effects of CSs instruction on Korean college students. In the present study, 45 students received nine-week CSs instruction from a NEST (Native-Speaking English Teacher). In order to examine the effects of CSs instruction in depth, methods of a triangulation were used. That is, data were collected from a questionnaire of 45 students on their strategies use, interviews with a pull-out group consisting of four students, and pre-, during-, and post- discussion tasks of the pull-out group. The findings indicate that CSs instruction affected participants’ use of CSs and enhanced L2 interaction. The students seemed to develop further understanding of L2 interaction after CSs instruction. They employed CSs to negotiate meaning as they learned CSs. Clarification request significantly increased after CSs. Based on the findings, several suggestions for further studies are also offered.