Based on the Theory of Contrastive Analysis and Inter-language Theory, this paper investigates the common initial errors of Korean fundamental Chinese learners in different groups. The data were analyzed by listening to it and were described with IPA. 7 initial errors were found in this paper, such as a) errors of recognizing and pronouncing “b” and “p”; b) errors of “z/c/s” and “zh/ch/sh” c) errors in pronouncing “r” and so on. In order to avoid contributing all the errors to the impact of first language transfer, the students were chosen with 3 different nationalities, including Korean, Pakistani and Brazilian. The participants are all at the same age without any experience of learning a third language. This research analyzed the errors’ reasons in terms of interlanguage transfer, intralingual transfer, students’ learning attitudes and the impact of target language. Softwares called Praat and Cooledit were used to analyze the data. The reasons were analyzed with the help of the format, burst and VOT of the spectrograms. The results indicated that some errors made by all the students from different countries are due to the difficulties of the target language. As for these mistakes, even some native speakers may make them in their daily life. The reasons for these errors can be traced back to the target language itself, rather than relating them to the negative transfer of the first language. At last, some useful pedagogical recommendations were mentioned to facilitate the Chinese language education. 本文以对比分析理论与中介语理论为理论基础，以调查分析法为研究方法对 韩国初级汉语学习者的汉语声母偏误进行了分组对比研究。语音资料以由经过专 业训练的母语者听辨的方式进行统计，并得出韩国学生声母偏误共7 个，例如： 送气音与不送气音混淆；舌尖前音与舌尖后音混淆；舌尖后浊擦音闪音化，舌面 音尖音化等。 为了避开当前研究将偏误原因完全归结于母语负迁移的错误，笔者通过对比韩国、巴基斯坦、巴西三类同等水平、无第三外语、年龄相同的汉语学习者的不同偏误情况，对偏误产生原因进行了细致分析。本文从语际迁移、语内迁移、学习者学习态度和目的语语言本体角度；以Praat、Cooledit 等语音软件为分析手段；通过观察共振峰、冲直条、嗓音起始时间等元素来分析韩国初级汉语学习者声母偏误产生的原因。 经过分析，本文得出结论：即某些所有国家学生都出现发音偏误的声母，其自身都有相当的难度，母语学习者在学习的时候也会出现种种错误。这种情况下，偏误则是由目的语本身的难度等级影响而来。母语负迁移只是影响了学生声母偏误的形式。另外，笔者还针对韩国学生出现的不同偏误提出了针对性的教学方法，希望可以对对韩汉语声母教学方面有所启示。 / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

English as a foreign language (EFL) is quite different from English as a second language (ESL) in many respects. Few EFL studies, however, have been conducted with consideration given to the unique EFL environment. This case study of South Korean elementary EFL was designed to evaluate the previous (1997--2000) and new (2001-- ) curricula and materials based on the researcher's experience and a review of the literature. / This study first suggests communicative language teaching (CLT) criteria appropriate for elementary school pupils who are beginning to learn EFL in Korea, and then evaluates the two CLT-based curricula for the 4th grade based on the suggested criteria. Second, this study aims to examine the two different material sets for the two curricula focusing on spoken language communicative activities. For the material comparison, the Sisayoungasa Co. material set, one of 16 sets based on the previous curriculum, is compared to the new material set based on the 7th curriculum. / Perceptions of the curriculum and material change were considered from three perspectives: three teachers, a policy maker and a researcher. It was revealed that opinions from the three perspectives vary considerably. The study also found that despite the recent attempt to implement CLT-based elementary EFL, there are still deficiencies in the Korean elementary EFL curriculum and materials.

This inquiry explores six Korean students' personal narratives about their living and learning experiences in their study abroad contexts. My goal is to examine the relationships between learner agency and symbolic power embedded in these six students' second language (L2) sociocultural contexts such as school, home and communities. The theoretical framework is derived primarily from Vygotskian sociocultural theory, Bakhtinian dialogic theory, and Bourdieuian critical approach to language practices. Drawing on an interpretive qualitative approach, I examine social, cultural, historical and political forces that influence the ways these students perceive, evaluate and negotiate their challenges and struggles in their social worlds. In a conventional approach to language studies, students are often seen as passive objects to be controlled by task instructions provided by classroom teachers. A growing number of L2 researchers challenge the artificial distinction between language learners and their social worlds. They emphasize that L2 learning should go far beyond mastery of vocabulary and syntax. However, over-simplified understanding of sociocultural influences on L2 practices can stereotype L2 students from the same cultural background assuming they share similar knowledge, beliefs and values. A reductionistic stance of culture has the danger of neglecting the complexity of L2 individuals' different voices and meaning-making processes. I argue that these L2 learners are far more complex than just 'ESL students' or 'non-native speakers'. I collected the participants' narratives for a six-month period primarily through open-ended interviews, including a variety of documentation such as samples of course work, personal notes, emails, and field notes. The analyses of the data suggests that although all six participants share certain commonalities such as being Korean and being educated in a Korean national educational system, they are quite diverse in the challenges they experience and types of symbolic power they perceive, evaluate and negotiate in their different social worlds. While engaging in various L2 literacy practices, they were consciously crossing different social spaces, taking different positionings, and negotiating among multiple beliefs, values and meanings about social relations of power. Their agency to negotiate the complex social relations of power manifests in the ways they invest in achieving different forms of capital, such as 'cheong' relationships as social capital and searching for meaning in life as spiritual capital. The data implies that L2 students are complex yet active social agents. Thus, these students' struggles in their L2 learning processes should be conceived as a complex process of exercising learner agency in their multiple social worlds, rather than be attributed only to cognitive capability or lack of motivation.

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The objective of the present research is to explore the present state of EFL (English as a foreign language) in Korean culture which is assumed to be different from that of English speaking countries, and to investigate learners' attitudes toward needs and motivation for the English language. Since it seems to be recognised that language and culture are inseparable, EFL in the Korean cultural context might reflect its own typical aspects. Chapter 1 deals with problems in EFL in Korea, and the relationship between foreign language acquisition and cultural background. The meaning of culture and its importance in a foreign language learning and teaching is elaborated. Chapter 2 reflects the characteristics of Korean culture, with an account of her history, education system and national policy of EFL. Current implementation of English language teaching at Korean universities, with its developmental history, is presented with evidences obtained from previous research. Chapter 3 reviews the theoretical literature on needs, attitudes, interest, anxiety and motivation in foreign/second language learning, since they are recognised as central to foreign language acquisition. Research studies on these variables are introduced, compared with each other and critically discussed. In Chapter 4, research questions and hypotheses are drawn, based on the theoretical framework reviewed in Chapter 3. The research design (sampling, methods of and procedures for data-collection) is elaborated. Chapter 5 begins with a description of data-interpretation methods employed in the study. Data obtained from these instruments were statistically analysed through a computer programme `SPSS'. The findings of the research are presented, followed by a discussion of the results. In Chapter 6, more detailed profiles of analysis than those given in Chapter 5 are presented. Particularly, item-by-item comparison is made between the college students' and graduates' questionnaires. Chapter 7, as a closing chapter of the present research, reviews the foregoing chapters and derives conclusions, suggesting implications for further research. Key implications arising from the research are: priority for teaching EFL from intercultural perspectives, and (so far as learners are concerned) to tolerating the new approaches to teaching that are required.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between lexical and grammatical knowledge in the L2 acquisition of English by Korean EFL learners by examining how the depth of lexical knowledge that Korean learners have about English verbs is related to their grammatical knowledge. For this study, L2 research into depth of lexical knowledge and generative syntactic theory have been reviewed to suggest the interdependent nature of vocabulary and grammar in L2 acquisition (Nation, 1990, 2001; Chomsky, 1981, 1986, 1995; Herschensohn, 2000). Data were collected from Korean EFL learners through a depth of vocabulary knowledge test which focused on semantic, morphological, and syntactic properties of English verbs and a grammar test. The results showed that there was a high positive correlation between vocabulary and grammar knowledge in L2 English acquisition by Korean learners, and that semantic, morphological, and syntactic properties of lexical knowledge all contributed to the prediction of L2 learners' grammatical knowledge. In particular, the syntactic property of lexical knowledge was found to be the most important predictor of grammatical knowledge. However, it was also found that the morphological property was not as important in the prediction of L2 grammatical knowledge as the syntactic property. Based on these findings, it was argued that the in-depth view of L2 lexical knowledge might be appropriate for explaining the interdependent nature of lexical and grammatical knowledge, since this in-depth perspective sees lexical knowledge as consisting of various properties such as semantic, morphological, and syntactic features. On the other hand, a generative view on syntax also seems to provide an account of how each property of lexical knowledge would be related to overall grammatical knowledge. Thus, the syntactic property of word knowledge such as argument structures and subcategorization frames might serve as a connector which links lexical and grammatical knowledge. Finally, some possible accounts of why the morphological property of vocabulary knowledge did not contribute as much to the prediction of L2 grammatical knowledge as the syntactic property were provided on the basis of the notion of argument structures, the characteristics of morphological knowledge assessed by the in-depth vocabulary test, and L2 lexical development model proposed by Jiang (2000).

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts