Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brown University, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references.

For many years, linguists, ESL writing teachers, and especially students have puzzled over the phenomenon where non-native English writers' sentences are grammatically correct, but their paragraphs and complete essays often appear illogical to native English speaking readers. From the perspective of Kaplan's original contrastive rhetoric theory where American rhetoric is "linear," Korean L2 writers' apparently circular rhetoric causes problems. Even though Korean writers are trying to write paragraphs that are logical for native English readers, this illogical output results in Korean ESL students being perceived as poor writers. In order to discover more about the nature of the rhetorical problems Korean ESL writers face, this study reports on a close contrastive analysis of a corpus consisting of 25 Freshmen Korean ESL students' unedited, first draft essays and 25 Freshmen native-English speaking American Freshmen's unedited, first draft essays randomly collected from a series of 1st year writing classes at a U.S.-based university. The analysis focused on areas where the logical flow breaks down from a native English reader's perspective. The Topical Structure Analytical approach (TSA), developed by Lautamatti (1987), was used to analyze the data. Results show that both American and Korean Freshmen have difficulty controlling topical subjects and discourse topics in their writing. Instead, they often introduced irrelevant subtopics that did not advance overall topic development, making their writing difficult for general readers to follow. The key finding of the study shows that to overcome these rhetorical weaknesses, both Korean and American Freshmen need to be educated in academic writing regardless of their first language.

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Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study investigated the occurrence of pragmatic transfer in the refusals of Korean EFL learners at three proficiency levels due to the cross-cultural differences in refusal patterns in Korean and English. Forty native speakers of Korean, 37 native speakers of English, 22 beginning, 43 intermediate, and 46 advanced Korean EFL learners participated in this study. Data were collected using a written discourse completion test taken from Takahashi and Beebe (1987) and Beebe et al. (1990), which elicited refusals of requests, invitations, offers, and suggestions :from interlocutors of different status (i.e., higher, equal, and lower status). The data were also categorized according to the refusal taxonomy of Takahashi and Beebe (1987) and Beebe et al. (1990), and were analyzed in terms ofthe :frequency and content of the semantic formulas used by the subjects. The learners' refusals were compared to those of native speakers ofKorean and English in order to examine the extent of pragmatic transfer from Korean to English. Evidence of pragmatic transfer was found in the refusals of learners at all three proficiency levels. Further, pragmatic transfer increased as learners' proficiency increased, supporting Takahashi and Beebe (1987)'s positive correlation hypothesis. Beginning level learners' refusals, due to a lack of target language knowledge, tended to be short and abrupt, deviating from both native and target language speakers' refusals. Intermediate level learners were able to express Korean norms of politeness in their target language refusals to a greater degree than were beginning level learners. Advanced level learners' refusals, however, resembled those of native speakers ofKorean to the greatest degree. They had sufficient linguistic means to transfer the forms as well as the tentative, figurative, and philosophical tone of their native language to the target language. In addition, advanced learners were at times more verbose than native speakers of Korean or English since they elaborated and mitigated their refusals by using the preferred semantic formulas of both their native and target languages. The implications of the findings for teaching and learning pragmatics in the EFL classroom were provided. / 2999-01-01

Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-161). / Electronic reproduction. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xiii, 161 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Thesis by publication. / Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Department of Linguistics. / Includes bibliographical references. / Introduction -- Translation error analysis: a systemic functional grammar approach -- Systemic functional approach to the issues of Korean theme study -- A corpus based study on the system of THEME in Korean -- Using systemic functional text analysis for translator education: an illustration with a foucus on the textual meaning -- Readability analysis of community translation: a systemic functional approach -- Conclusion. / Most linguistic communities have textual resources for organizing experiences into coherent text. The way that the resources are used may not be the same but vary from one language to another. This variation can be a source of translation difficulty in rendering a natural-reading translation. This thesis investigates the question of how the choices of Theme, which is one of the main textual resources, have an impact on textual meaning in translation between English and Korean. -- The premise underlying the study is that a translation that is not inaccurate in lexical choices may still read as unnatural to the target readers if a careful consideration is not given to Theme choices at the clause level and Thematic development at the text level in the source and target texts. This assumption is derived from systemic functional linguistic (SFL) theory, which postulates that Theme at the clause level plays a critical role in constructing a text into a coherent linear whole at the text level. This brings in another equally important question of the study: how Theme works in Korean. No research has been done to investigate the system of THEME in Korean from a systemic functional point of view or on the basis of extensive discourse analysis across a range of registers. Therefore, this study investigates the THEME system in Korean using a corpus consisting of a number of authentic Korean texts in three different text types. -- These two coherent questions are investigated in five self-contained journal articles included in the thesis. Two of them have been published (Chapters 2 and 5), one has been submitted for publication (Chapter 6) and the other two will be submitted (Chapters 3 and 4). The journal article format for thesis has recently been introduced at Macquarie University as an approved alternative to the traditional thesis structure. / Chapter 1 introduces a number of preliminary issues for, and information relevant to, the study such as research questions and background, the corpus, the underlying theoretical assumption and anticipated contributions to this area of research. Chapter 2 is a report of a pilot-project that motivated the current study. It discusses how to use text analysis based on systemic functional grammar to analyze translation errors/issues and provides systematic explanations relating to such issues. Chapter 3 reviews issues that have been raised by Korean linguists in relation to the study of Theme in Korean and provides suggestions on how to resolve these issues drawing on systemic functional theory. Chapter 4 describes the features of Korean THEME system based on the analysis of clausal Themes and thematic development of 17 texts of the corpus. Chapter 5 is a discussion about the pedagogical efficiency of using systemic functional text analysis for translator education with a particular emphasis on the textual meaning in translation. Chapter 6 attempts to analyze the readability issue of community translations in Australian context. Chapter 7 concludes the thesis with a number of suggestions for further study. --As the research investigates the question of textual meaning in translation, which has not been rigorously studied, and the question of Theme in Korean, which has never been studied on the basis of a corpus and of discourse analysis, it is anticipated that this work will make considerable theoretical and practical contributions in both fields. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xiv, 329 leaves ill. (some col.)

Literacy development, particularly spelling development is an important topic in SLA because spelling ability is the foundation of literacy skills (Venezky, 1989). However, little is known about the development of spelling in ESL. Research on the development of spelling skills has focused on native English language. This study investigated English L2 spellings among Korean L1 learners of English on the basis of linguistic differences in their L1 and L2 phonology and orthography. Two groups of 3rd graders, Korean L1 English learners (N=36) and native English speakers (N=30), performed a pseudoword spelling task, in which they listened to an audio recording of a total of 34 pseudowords and dictated what they heard. The task material targeting phonological difference consists of two types of pseudowords: the consonants that exist in both English and in Korean (congruent type) and the consonants that do not exist in Korean but exist English (incongruent type). The task material targeting orthographic difference consists of two types of pseudowords: more consistent vowels and less consistent vowels. Data were tested with an experiment with a 2 x 2 factorial design with “group” and “word type” as independent variables. The groups included two groups who are from contrasting L1 backgrounds: English and Korean. For phonological difference, word type included two contrasting types: congruent and incongruent. For orthographic difference, word type included two contrasting types: more consistent and less consistent. The results support the prediction that Korean L1 learners of English would have difficulty in spelling pseudowords containing phonemes which do not exist in Korean but are present in English phonology and that learners whose L1 is relatively transparent had difficulty in spelling L2 words whose grapheme phoneme correspondence is less transparent. Further analysis on error types and pedagogical implications regarding English L2 spellings are addressed. / Department of English

Korean art songs are valuable cultural assets that exhibit their own cultural spirit and ethnicity, however, they are not introduced to Western singers because of the language barrier. As there are European-language diction books for singers used in pedagogy, this dissertation introduces Korean diction for non-Korean-speaking singers by using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to pronounce Korean ‘Hangeul'. Moreover, this document aims to help singers enter into a new world of Korean art songs by introducing ten Korean art songs selected from various compositional periods, along with transcriptions using the IPA, transliterations, translations, and the musical scores.

The focus of this study was to explore how prosodic position and word type affect the phonetic structure and resulting perceptual identification of Korean stops and fricatives. When there is less contextual information, speakers tend to produce clearer speech. For example, consonants at the beginning of prosodic domains, such as syllables, words or phrases, are known to be more clearly articulated and distinguishable than later-occurring consonants. However, it is not yet clear whether the prosodically conditioned realizations of a segment are perceptually distinctive in continuous speech. In addition, there are few studies examining whether the properties of prosodic domain-initial segments are affected by the information content of words (real vs. nonsense words). The acoustic properties of stops and fricatives were compared across IP, PP and Wd-initial positions both in real and nonsense words. It was found that segments in the higher prosodic domain-initial positions showed enhanced durational properties compared to the lower prosodic domain-initial positions. However, the enhancing strategies were different among phonation types. Relative to lenis and aspirated stops, and lenis fricatives, tense stops and fricatives showed less consistent variation as a function of prosodic position and word type. In the perception study, the identification error rates and reaction time for same-spliced CVs were compared to those for cross-spliced CVs. Korean listeners identified the same-spliced CVs more accurately and faster than cross-spliced CVs. In addition, the distinctive acoustic properties of each prosodic domain-initial position were perceptually distinguished by Korean listeners. Due to relatively shorter duration and less distinctive contrast, the target CVs extracted from lower prosodic domain-initial positions caused more confusion in the identification of target segments. In conclusion, this study provides the evidence that speakers modulate their speech clarity depending on information content. By enhancing phonetic properties and phonological contrast, speakers tend to provide perceptual cues for prosodic positions with less contextual information. / text

In the era of globalization, growing numbers of children are living in situations where the language of their formal schooling is different from that of the everyday communication in their family. In such a bilingual context, this study documents biliteracy development of two Korean background children growing up in Australia. The children?s written texts (both in English and Korean) were collected over the period of 5 years 8 months (from preschool through primary school) both in home and school contexts, and analyzed using the Systemic Functional Grammar as well as genre and register theory. Throughout the researcher?s regular classroom observation and participation in their school?s literacy activities as well as in the home context, a detailed documentation of the children?s socio-linguistic environment is also provided as an important part of this longitudinal case study?s data collection and analysis. Over the period, the children?s writing in both English and Korean developed quite significantly in terms of their control of the register in text. With the introduction of Genre-based Approach in their school, they had opportunities in learning to write a range of genres such as Narrative, Report, Explanation, Argument and Procedure in English to meet the expectations of the mainstream curriculum. The children?s writing in Korean was mainly developing to satisfy their personal and interpersonal communication needs, largely through diary writing, E-mails and personal letters to extended family. Their developmental patterns of writing different genres as well as their control of written language have been examined largely through the analysis of the system of Transitivity, the use of nominal groups, Theme choice and Mood system. The similarity and difference in literacy practices between the two children (the brother and the sister) are also discussed. As the key to the two ESL background children?s successful biliteracy development throughout their primary schooling period, this case study emphasizes the importance of the supportive parents? role through mother tongue maintenance and an effective literacy program, such as Genre-based Approach, which provides practical guidance for developing written language through learning a range of genres with different social functions and purposes. The literacies in English and Korean have been found to be mutually supportive and thus it is argued that the whole biliteracy development in this case study has an enhancing effect on the children?s academic achievement in their Australian schooling. Simultaneously, with their continuous biliteracy development, the children were able to enjoy being part of a caring Korean-speaking family and community. Moreover, this whole process of biliteracy development certainly provided the two ESL children with a positive self-concept and socio-cultural identity as a balanced proud bilingual. In this regard, it is argued that the successful outcome of this case study of the ESL children?s bilieracy development can be identified as a case of an ?empowering? additive bilingualism.