2014, Vol.15, No.4

Modern English Education 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.55

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

In the current small scale study, turn-initial discourse markers were analyzed usingquantitative and qualitative methods for frequency and functioning over four categories, as they were produced during spoken task interaction in two groups of speakers; that of Korean EFL learners at the university level and English native speakers. The results indicated that learners and native speakers showed differences not only in frequency, but also in the functioning of discourse markers. While learners valued referential markers that functioned as textual interaction toward the task at hand (so, and, but, and then), native speakers preferred interpersonal markers that highlighted social cooperation (right, ok, yea, that’s right). These differences suggest how the two groups viewed the interactional situation- that of classroom task activity or as social interaction. These differences, as well as implications for teaching discourse markers to build fluency in EFL learners, will be discussed.

The present study is intended to investigate how copying training in English wouldaffect various proficiency levels of EFL learners in their reading and writing. Twogroups of 50 Korean university students (i.e. copying-training and non-training groupsof 25 each) who had enrolled in an English reading and writing course were recruitedfor this study. Based on the pre-test results, each group was divided again into higher and lower proficiency levels. Their pre- and post-tests scores were compared, and their reading and writing processes during a think-aloud task were observed. Both higher and lower level students in the copying-training group were found to show much more improvement in their overall areas of reading and writing than those in the non-training group. Additionally, even though the higher level students who received copying training were more well aware of what strategies to use and how to use them while reading and writing, it was observed that the overall students in the copying-training group were applying various strategies more effectively by consciously focusing on their weaknesses. These results suggest that copying training can help Korean EFLlearners improve their reading and writing ability and achieve insight into their ownreading and writing processes.

This paper aims to analyze the effects of combined use of questioning by students and indirect feedback given by a teacher on writing activities. Twenty-three female college students in the experimental group were taught to question problematic words,structures, content, and organization of their drafts. The teacher in the study responded only to the questions asked by the students and gave some indirect feedback byunderlining the errors that had not been noticed by the students. They wrote three drafts which were later evaluated by three native English instructors. There were two rounds of interaction between students and teacher: one after the first draft and the other after the second draft. The average scores rated by the three native instructors were used to measure the effectiveness of combining the two methods of questioning and indirect feedback. The results of the paired sample T-test analyses indicate meaningful improvement in their third drafts, compared to the first ones. Among the fourcategories, the students improved significantly in accuracy. The results of thequestionnaire survey and reflective recalls reveal that the students found the combined use of the two methods helpful and effective. The analyses of some students' draftssupport these positive findings.