Rhetorical Structure and Directives in L2 Writing : A Genre Analysis of Request Letters

Eunsook Shim 한국중앙영어영문학회 2011 영어영문학연구 Vol.53 No.2

The purpose of the study is to examine the rhetorical move structure and politeness strategies used in request letters of Korean university students enrolled in the department of English in Korea. Forty-one request letters were collected for this study. The participants were given a survey about their personal information and writing instruction. Then, they were asked to write a request letter in English. The results of the study revealed that a Justification-Request pattern (Move 3-2) appears to be favored and rather recursive. The high levels of directness seemed to be due to the a writer’s intention of pragmatic clarity as an attempt to communicate with readers clearly. The writers’ choice of certain linguistic patterns, or ‘a need/want statement’, may be due to the different perception of level of imposition. This study suggests that different strategies can be effective in different cultures.

An Exploration of the Institutional Discourse

( Eunsook Shim ) 현대영어교육학회 2007 현대영어교육 Vol.8 No.3

The purpose of the study is to investigate the norms or expectations of native and non-native English speaking students in the academic consultations. In this study, four graduate students participated. Each participant was asked to conduct four different tasks: Free Elicitation Task, Cued Elicitation Task, Discourse Completion Task, and Open-ended Interviews. The results show that the participants are aware of the prototypical patterns of the discourse but seem to have different perceptions in terms of function of small talks, the role and status, and politeness strategies. It is important that English language learners need to be aware of the sociolinguistic norms for the discourse and have strategies for negotiating speech acts in this context in order to have satisfactory interactions with expert members of the community in which they are seeking membership.

Teaching and Learning Hedging in Academic Writing

Shim, Eunsook 한국중앙영어영문학회 2005 영어영문학연구 Vol.47 No.4

The purpose of the study was to reveal cultural and linguistic differences in hedging for the purpose of enhancing the pedagogy of writing instruction for English language learners. Thirty research article introductions were selected from two journals in the field of ESL/EFL education, English Teaching from Korea and TESOL Quarterly from the United States. The results showed that Korean writers tended not to hedge their statements to such a great extent, but are assertive, whereas Korean writers writing English introductions and native English-speaking writers appeared to favor hedging; more frequent use of hedging appeared in indicating a research gap in the field or announcing the implications of the study. For native English-speaking scholars in this study, hedging was considered a polite device in academic writing to gain acceptance for their statements, whereas Korean scholars considered hedging an indication of authors’ uncertainty. These differences can be utilized in teaching so as to enable students studying English to make appropriate choices about the way they write research papers in English.

Academic Writing Needs and Tasks in EFL Writing Classes

Shim, Eunsook(심은숙) 강원대학교 인문과학연구소 2016 인문과학연구 Vol.0 No.50

본 연구는 대학영어작문 교육과정개발을 위한 기초자료를 제공하는 데에 목적을 둔다. 최근 특수목적 영어교육 분야에 대한 관심이 높아지면서 학문목적 영어쓰기 교육의 장점이 중요한 주제로 부각되어지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 대학영어작문 수업을 듣는 대학생들을 대상으로 학문목적 글쓰기에 대한 인식과 중요한 영어쓰기 유형 및 특징을 알아보고자 한다. 영어를 전공하는 35명의 대학생을 대상으로 설문지 자료 수집을 하였고 10명의 학생들을 대상으로 인터뷰 조사를 하였다. 연구결과는 연구 참여자들의 영어쓰기에 대한 낮은 선호도를 발견할 수 있었으나 영어쓰기의 중요성에 대한 긍정적인 인식을 발견할 수 있었다. 또한 영어전공 분야에서 중요시되는 과업은 논제에 대해서 찬반을 논하는 에세이 또는 비평적인 사고가 중시되는 평론으로 평가되었다. 그러나 영어전공 영어작문 수업에서 비즈니스중심의 글쓰기 활동이 제공되어야 한다는 학생들의 요구와 영어전공 분야의 특징 사이에서 큰 차이점을 볼 수 있었다. 학생들의 요구가 교육과정 개발 과정에서 고려되어야 할 부분이나 전공과 무관한 쓰기 과업을 제공하는 것에 대해 많은 어려움을 발견할 수 있었다. 학생들의 요구를 기반으로 한 대학영어교육과정 개발을 위해 교사의 체계적인 계획이 우선시 되어져야 하며 전공과 관련한 영어쓰기 전략의 효율성에 대한 교육이 우선시 되어야 할 것이다. This study was to report on findings from a case study designed to assess English-major undergraduate students" writing needs in the academic writing classes. In order to accomplish this research purpose, data sources were from questionnaire and interviews. A total of 35 undergraduate students of English as foreign language responded to the questionnaires. They were asked to provide importance ratings of academic language skills, to assess their own writing skill status, and to respond to open-ended questions. The findings of data analysis showed that there is much in the skill items identified as very important. In addition to important pedagogical implication, this study suggests a need to be cautious when interpreting needs assessment results because what students consider as an important skill to possess may not be what students need to develop.

Narrative Structure and Tense Use in the Narrative Genres of Korean EFL Learners

Shim, Eunsook 한국중앙영어영문학회 2012 영어영문학연구 Vol.54 No.2

The purpose of this paper was to examine how Korean learners of English express temporal information and use the tense-aspect to report chains of events in their narrative discourse. Ten adults Korean learners of English participated (two intermediate-level and eight advanced-level learners). The participants were asked to produce a Korean-telling-story task first and then a English-telling-story task. Twenty oral narratives were collected and grounding analysis was performed on all narrative texts. The findings of the study revealed that Korean learners tended to use the past tense to express completed actions in the foreground and the non-past to comment on actions or to evaluate the events in the background. This supports that grounding of narrative discourse may influence the distribution of tense-aspect morphology. Further studies should observe the function of the background and its influence on tense-aspect in narratives with a large-scale data.

Use of Citations in Academic Writing

Eunsook Shim 팬코리아영어교육학회(구 영남영어교육학회) 2006 영어교육연구 Vol.18 No.2

  The appropriate use of citations is an important practice in academic writing. English language learners need to learn the acceptable technical rules for citation practices. In particular, those who may not have experience with the western model of citation in academic texts may have problems with the appropriate rhetorical use of citations. Although the appropriate use of citation in academic texts has been considered an important practice in academic writing, little has been written about its rhetorical functions or about varying citation behaviors across languages and cultures. For the purpose of enhancing the pedagogy of writing instruction for English language learners, this study seeks to reveal the similarities and differences in the use of citations in research article introductions written by Korean writers and those written by native English-speaking writers. Thirty research article introductions were selected from two journals in the field of ESL/EFL education. In this study, differences were observed in the number of references and stance toward prior research. Non-integral forms of citation and the present or present perfect tenses were frequently used. The results of the study can contribute to the pedagogy of writing instruction for writing instructors and English language learners, providing implications for instructional practice.

A Comparative Study of Interactional Markers in Academic Texts

( Eunsook Shim ) 한국중등영어교육학회 2021 중등영어교육 Vol.14 No.2

This paper is to identify the use of interactional devices employed in English research article (RA) abstracts from a cross-cultural perspective. A total of 120 English RA abstracts written by Korea-based writers and US-based writers were randomly selected from leading academic journals (30 from English Teaching, 30 from Korean Journal of Applied Linguistics, 30 from TESOL Quarterly, and 30 from Applied Linguistics). A concordance program, AntConc 3.5.8, was used to identify the makers. The results showed that hedges are the most frequent marker in both groups. The most significant cross-cultural difference was found in the use of self-mentions in the academic texts. Korea-based writers tended to avoid of mentioning selves in their texts, whereas US-based writers used self-mention markers frequently to construct authorial identity and to emphasize their contribution to the field and their research claims. This study provides an intercultural understanding of academic texts from a cross-cultural perspective with implications for academic writing in the field of English for academic purposes.

Investigating Professional Language Needs for ESP Courses in Tertiary Education

Eunsook Shim 한국중앙영어영문학회 2010 영어영문학연구 Vol.52 No.2

In designing an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course, a variety of issues such as learners’ needs, appropriate language skills, or specific content knowledge should be considered. The purpose of the study was to identify the professional language needs in health-care settings by examining the perceptions of professors and students on the language skills required in nursing education. A needs assessment was carried out with nursing students and faculty members in the Department of Nursing, which prepared students for careers in the health care field such as hospitals, medical service providers, or public health organizations. Data were gathered by means of questionnaires and interviews. The findings of the study were characterized as three meaningful domains: (a) the understanding of English medical terminology, (b) the appropriate writing skills of a patient’s chart, and (c) the appropriate academic reading skills. These skills appeared to be significantly important for undergraduate students who wish to work as health professionals. A valuable source of information for designing curricula can be provided.

Hedging Strategies in Scientific Research Texts

Eunsook Shim 담화·인지언어학회 2006 담화·인지언어학회 학술대회 발표논문집 Vol.- No.-

CAGE, a novel cancer/testis antigen gene, promotes cell motility by activation ERK and p38 MAPK and downregulating ROS.

Shim, Hyeeun,Shim, Eunsook,Lee, Hansoo,Hahn, Janghee,Kang, Dongmin,Lee, Yun-Sil,Jeoung, Dooil Korean Society for Molecular Biology 2006 Molecules and cells Vol.21 No.3

<P>We previously identified a novel cancer/testis antigen gene CAGE by screening cDNA expression libraries of human testis and gastric cancer cell lines with sera of gastric cancer patients. CAGE is expressed in many cancers and cancer cell lines, but not in normal tissues apart from the testis. In the present study, we investigated its role in the motility of cells of two human cancer cell lines: HeLa and the human hepatic cancer cell line, SNU387. Induction of CAGE by tetracycline or transient transfection enhanced the migration and invasiveness of HeLa cells, but not the adhesiveness of either cell line. Overexpression of CAGE led to activation of ERK and p38 MAPK but not Akt, and inhibition of ERK by PD98059 or p38 MAPK by SB203580 counteracted the CAGE-promoted increase in motility in both cell lines. Overexpression of CAGE also resulted in a reduction of ROS and an increase of ROS scavenging, associated with induction of catalase activity. Inhibition of ERK and p38 MAPK increased ROS levels in cells transfected with CAGE, suggesting that ROS reduce the motility of both cell lines. Inhibition of ERK and p38 MAPK reduced the induction of catalase activity resulting from overexpression of CAGE, and inhibition of catalase reduced CAGE-promoted motility. We conclude that CAGE enhances the motility of cancer cells by activating ERK and p38 MAPK, inducing catalase activity, and reducing ROS levels.</P>