2013, Vol.14, No.1

Modern English Education 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.55

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

The present study examined email requests made by Korean college learners of English in terms of the level of directness, the amount and type of internal and external modifications used to soften the requestive force, and the types of request perspectives taken. For this study, 151 emails were collected over a period of three years. Data analysis reveal that in making email requests the students relied more on direct strategies, which are considered less polite, than conventionally direct or indirect strategies. Among several subcategories of direct strategies, imperatives and want statements were the two most frequently used ones. On the other hand, the students frequently used both internal modifiers and external modifiers with preference for internal modifiers, which helped to soften the requestive force. Of external modifiers, the grounder or a combination of the grounder and the sorry statement was frequently used. Results of the study indicated that an inappropriate use of imperatives, upgraders, or aggravating moves could lead to pragmatic failures by making the email requests sound impolite and coercive. Finally this study calls for an instruction for appropriate use of politeness features in making requests.

The purpose of this study is to investigate EFL college students’ perceptions of learning subject areas through English in an attempt to measure the perceptions of their experiences of CBI. The participants in this study were 130 college students who enrolled in the subject areas via English mediated instruction in a university in Korea. Data were collected through a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The findings showed that students felt higher interest and strong motivation for acquiring content knowledge and English in CBI and paid more attention to the lesson. Furthermore, they showed a very positive response about the necessity of CBI. With regard to the beneficial effects of CBI for students, this study showed that students highly evaluated CBI in light of the contribution to lower levels of anxiety and the enhancement of motivation of learning English, convincing the value of CBI in the content and language learning process and the desire of taking more CBI courses in the future. However, the students, especially at low-level, expressed a great deal of anxiety due to the difficulty in understanding and also due to worrying about their own proficiency levels in comparison to others having higher English proficiency. Based on the findings, the present study offers some implications for effective CBI courses and also future studies.

The current study explores potential differences among in-service teachers in Asian settings in terms of their attitudes, needs, and teaching beliefs. With the great emphasis placed on INSET programs for teacher qualifications, the current study attempts to evaluate the efficacy of an INSET program as a case study. Since the 90-hour program for 16 Chinese English teachers in this study was hosted by a recognized TESOL institution in Korea, the focus of the study was placed on cultural and contextual variables affecting language teaching and teacher development. At the same time, efficacy of the current INSET program was examined through particular contextual variables of the trainees within the general framework of INSET efficacy issues. Trainee confidence level and perception of achievement were the main criteria, and a comparative analysis of one Chinese trainee’s pre- and post-program performance was made to objectify lesson applicability for the particular training involved. The research findings support the idea that teaching is a situated practice, and cultural and contextual variables truly affect teaching needs and INSET characteristics.