2023, Vol.24, No.

Modern English Education 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.55

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

This research delves into the dynamic interplay between teachers’ cognitions and their teaching practices. It aims to uncover how pre-service teachers’ cognitions of the communicative approach impact their teaching practices and how their teaching experiences contribute to the development of their cognitions. The study included 26 preservice teachers from a University of Education. The research examined their cognitions of the communicative approach and analyzed their teaching practices, emphasizing speaking skills at the elementary level. It also examined the impact of teaching practices on their cognitions development. The main findings revealed that, before engaging in teaching practices, pre-service teachers possessed more robust general cognitions compared to contextual cognitions. The analysis of the influence of teachers’ cognitions on their teaching practices showed that general cognitions were generally consistent with teaching practices. However, contextual cognitions, which contradicted the general ones, were applied in some lessons based on certain contextual factors. The development of cognitions through teaching practices demonstrated its pivotal role in refining general cognitions and creating new contextual cognitions. This research contributes to a clear understanding of the relationship between pre-service teachers’ cognitions and their teaching practices. It offers valuable insights into the development of their professional cognitions.

This study investigates the effectiveness of a short-term pronunciation program for Korean learners of English, exploring the effects of such a program for pronunciation improvement, as well as for motivation. Possible benefits of group and inductive learning are also examined for learning outcomes and motivation. Initial and post-surveys probed participants’ self-efficacy, motivation, and relevant personality factors. Pretest and post-test recordings were rated by experienced raters for pronunciation accuracy. In between were three classroom sessions involving group exercises on particular vowels, consonants, and aspects of prosody, such as lexical stress, rhythm, and linking. The sessions involved group learning, with some groups also experiencing more inductive style lessons. The results showed some modest improvement in pronunciation, as well as in self-efficacy, despite the limited time frame of the program. Some motivational factors and one personality factor (openness to new experiences) were correlated with their improvements. The more inductive style approach had no effect on outcomes, at least over the short term of this study. Implications for pronunciation pedagogy will be discussed, e.g., for interactive learning, and instruction oriented toward affective factors.

The act of exemplification has been recognized as an important rhetorical device for clarity and persuasion in academic writing. The purpose of the present study is to explore the use of exemplification in the introduction sections of research articles (RAs). Using a corpus of 60 RA introductions in the field of Applied Linguistics, this study examined the act of exemplification, with a focus on the lexico-grammatical features of exemplification, rhetorical functions served by exemplification, and semantic resources of exemplification utilized in different move-steps of this part-genre. The results indicate that RA writers used a limited set of exemplification markers and grammatical categories in the exemplified and the exemplifying units that constitute the act of exemplification. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that the roles of exemplification varied across move-steps embedded in the RA introductions, serving different rhetorical purposes with various types of semantic resources such as concept-related, method-related, real-world-related subcategories, relevant studies, and elaborating statements. Based on the findings, the study offers pedagogical implications for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instruction.