A Study of Alerter Strategy of Pragmatic Competence on Request in EFL College Learners

Jaehwang Shim 한국응용언어학회 2009 응용 언어학 Vol.25 No.1

The purpose of this study is to investigate pragmatic competence on request for Korean college learners. 75 college students were divided into two groups by genders: male(39) and female(36). Six DCT items on request were provided for the students and asked to write down the answers in each situation. Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP) coding scheme (Blum-Kulka, House, & Kasper, 1989) was used for written responses of request sequences. This study focused on the use of alerters in three speech units on request: alerters, head act, and supportive moves. Some strategies were heavily skewed to ‘attention getter’ and ‘title/role.’ A number of learners in both genders used ‘attention getter’ as their main strategies among eight alerters, and ‘title/role’ as a higher rate. They also made use of minor alerter strategies such as ‘surname,’ ‘first name,’ and ‘endearment term,’ though they showed somewhat different use in each gender. However, there was no occurrence in three alerters: ‘nickname,’ ‘offensive term,’ and ‘pronoun.’ Other alerter strategies were different depending on situations and genders. The results imply that students have drawback in the appropriate use of pragmatic abilities. Teachers in EFL classroom should teach various types of alerter strategies on request and reflect clear sociocultural factors in speech acts.

Supportive Moves on Request for Vietnamese Learners of Korean Language

Jaehwang Shim 한국문화융합학회 2020 문화와 융합 Vol.42 No.3

이 연구의 목적은 한국어를 학습하는 베트남 학습자의 요청 전략에 대한 영어와 한국어 보조행위 전략에 대한 활용 능력을 비교하는 것이다. 연구 참여자들은 한국 대학교의 국제교류센터에서 한국어를 학습하고 있는 33명을 대상으로 하여 4가지의 요청 상황을 제시하여 각 문항에 대한 DCT 실험을 실시하였다. 수집된 자료는 요청 전략 중에서 9가지 유형의 보조행위에 분류 형식에 따라서 분석하였다. 학습자들의 한국어 학습 기간은 거의 1년으로서 중급 이하이며, 영어 구사능력은 중급 수준을 초과하지는 않았지만, 요청 보조행위 전략의 빈도는 주어진 상황의 사회적 친밀감과 언어에 따라서 비슷하거나 차이를 보이고 있다. 즉, 기존의 연구에서 나타나는 바와 같이 학습자들이 주로 사용하는 주요 전략은 영어와 한국어 모두 grounder에 치우쳐 있으며 다른 전략의 사용에는 다소 한계가 있었다. 학습자들은 모국에서 중등학교 과정의 영어를 학습했으며, 이러한 학습 내용에서 영어 요청에 대한 보조행위 표현을 이해하고 있기 때문에 영어 말하기 스타일에 익숙한 점이 있다. 이러한 차이점은 한국어의 문화적 특징과 실제적인 사용에 영향을 줄 수 있다. 결과적으로 한국어 교사는 외국어 학습 상황에서 이러한 문화적 요인을 고려하여야 한다. This study aimed to investigate “supportive moves on request” strategies in English and Korean languages. The participants were 33 Vietnamese students who were studying the Korean language at a university in Korea. The four discourse completion test items on request were provided for the students, and they wrote down the answers for each item. The answers were analyzed by classifying nine types of supportive moves on request. The main strategy that the learners used in English and Korean languages was heavily skewed although their responses were different depending on their social intimacy. Furthermore, the study showed some limitations in the use of other strategies. As the students already studied English at the secondary school in Vietnam and understood the strategies of supportive moves on request in English, they were used to the English styles. However, the cultural factors in Korean language may affect their pragmatic features. The findings suggest that language teachers should consider the cultural aspect of supportive moves, especially in foreign language situations.

Speaker’s Perspectives on Request of Junior College English Learners

( Jaehwang Shim ) 21세기영어영문학회 2018 영어영문학21 Vol.31 No.3

This study examines the use of different types of perspectives on request. The subjects were two groups of junior college learners of English. The first group was 81 students of three conversation classes, and the second group was 94 students of three reading classes at a college near Seoul. At the end of the semester, the students were presented four pragmatic situations on request and answered the open-ended questions with four types of perspective. In the preference of perspectives, most students skewed to speaker-oriented and hearer-oriented strategies. However, some results show a difference depending on the class types. In the analysis of gender, the total mean scores are skewed to the hearer-oriented strategy. Compared with differences of class type, the factor of gender rarely influences the use of perspectives. This study suggests that various types of perspectives should be taught to the college learners of English.

The Expression of Gratitude for Korean Learners of English Based on Social Status and Imposition

( Jaehwang Shim ) 글로벌영어교육학회(구 호남영어교육학회) 2016 Studies in English education Vol.21 No.2

This study investigates the degree of gratitude in Korean EFL learners of English in different situations. Data were collected from 84 undergraduate students studying at a university near Seoul. A self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ) was administered to examine the understanding of gratitude in different social status and imposition. The results of this study illustrated that the students revealed certain similarities in terms of the degree of gratitude and used a significant degree of gratitude irrelevant to the appropriate contexts. The results show that the two contextual factors do not significantly affect the intensity or degree of gratitude. First, the participants showed the similar responses of gratitude regardless of social distance or social status. Second, the aspect of gender did not show any significant difference though the diverse intensities of situations were given to the participants. Third, regarding gender, the results do not show any significant differences in ten given situations. Therefore, the results demonstrate that the various strategies or items on gratitude should be taught in English class, and more gratitude expressions or items should also complement textbooks and additional materials.

A Study of Apology Strategies between Genders in EFL College Students

Jaehwang Shim 한국영어어문교육학회 2009 영어어문교육 Vol.15 No.2

This study investigates the use of different speech act of apology strategies between male and female EFL college students by comparing the components of intensity, stylistic competence, and semantic formulas. The data was collected from 37 participants who were studying freshmen English reading course at the Department of English Education of C University in Seoul. Most students were English majors taking pre-teacher course of teaching English for secondary school students. The participants were divided into two gender groups of male and female. The discourse completion test (DCT) which was revised from the speech act of apology by Olshtain and Cohen (1990) was provided with the participants after the researcher explained the speech act of apology in ten situations. The speech act of apology depends on situation variables: social solidarity, severity of offense, and social status. The results show that in the preference of intensity, male and female have almost the similar ratio in high (female: 24.7%, male 24%) and low intensity (female: 75.3%, male: 76%). In the use of stylistic competence, male group (21%) expresses more diversely formal features than female group (12%), while female (87%) use more informal features than male (66%). Most of participants show a limitation in the use of speaking four types of semantic formulas: expression of apology (APOL), acknowledgment of responsibility (RESP), offer of repair (REPR), and promise of forbearance (FORB). As nonnative speakers, the participants cannot conduct the semantic formula in some situations regardless of the tasks provided. The results suggest that English teachers should recognize pragmatic variations in which students feel difficulty in appropriate speaking strategies on apology. This study also contributes to teaching learners the strategies and speaking patterns in the course of various apology situations.

A Study of Supportive Moves on Request for Korean EFL Students

Jaehwang Shim,Duk-Yong Kim 21세기영어영문학회 2008 영어영문학21 Vol.21 No.1

The purpose of this study is to investigate pragmatic competence on request for Korean college learners. 175 college students were divided into two groups by the test score of English: low level(81) and high level(94). Ten DCT items on request were provided for the students and written down the answers in each situation. Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns(CCSARP) coding scheme was used for written responses of request sequences. This study analyzed supportive moves in various aspects. Although the learners used the grounder strategy, they also used the apology strategy as a higher rate. They also made use of the different supportive moves such as disarmer, imposition minimizer, sweeter, preparatory, promise of reward, etc. The frequency rate of other eight strategies except grounder strategy was somewhat different depending on the levels. Most learners in low and high level heavily skewed to the grounder because of their lack of the pragmatic abilities. The findings imply that the teachers in EFL classroom should teach the supportive strategies of request by means of real data.

Types of Alerters on Request Items in Korean College Scholastic Ability Test

Jaehwang Shim 한국영미어문학회 2010 영미어문학 Vol.- No.96

The purpose of this study is to investigate the request items of alerter in Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (KCSAT). The data were selected 102 items of listening and speaking scripts from six years of KCSAT(2005-2010). Each test contains 17 items of listening and speaking activity: 12 listening items and 5 speaking items including five options of multiple choice question. The results show that in eight types of alerter strategy, a lot of strategies are heavily skewed to 'attention getter' (79.1%) as main strategy. They make use of minor alerters such as 'endearment term' (7.3%), 'title or role' (6.4%), and 'first name' (6.4%). There is no occurrence in three alerters: 'surname,' 'offensive term,' and 'pronoun.' In social variables, the strategy is highly skewed to 'speaker and listener equal situation': S=L (55.9%), S<L (24.1%), and S>L (20%). This result suggests that test item developers should consider various types of alerter strategies for the practice of reflection on request in the secondary classroom.

A Study of Foreign Language Learning Motivation in Korean University Students

Jaehwang Shim 한국영미어문학회 2011 영미어문학 Vol.- No.99

The purpose of this study is to examine the university students’ motivation for foreign language learning. The study was conducted in the English conversation and reading classes for one semester. The students were asked to fill out the foreign language learning motivation questionnaires at the end of the course. The questionnaires were two types of learners’ motivation: integrative and instrumental motivation for learning English as a foreign language. The 107 students in different majors completed the questionnaires of 14 modified items. The results showed that most of Korean university learners have high degree of motivation and positive attitudes towards learning English. They rely on more instrumental motivation than integrative one. The results suggest that teachers should provide learners with various motivation strategies in English class. The learners should also be motivated in their foreign language class integratively as well as instrumentally.

Feminine Aspirations with the Real World of Men in George Eliot"s Middlemarch

Jaehwang Shim 한국영어어문교육학회 2007 영어어문교육 Vol.13 No.4

  The story treats each individual"s vision as well as social reality that the author intends to describe. The purpose of this article is to search for the conflict between vision and reality, especially in feminist problem that critics have treated on the works of women writers. Though some articles have studied on the issue similar to this article, I try to analyze the narratives in the text that the author herself confesses to us. I think that we can find out clear messages from the individuals who construct the human relationship and build up their personal history through their dialogue or monologue. We can also catch their main problems in the community. I discuss the topic by mentioning the detailed discourses referred to the heroine and other characters in the text. The passages mentioned by the characters in the story may be a confession for the present and future generation that the author tries to confess. From the excerpts of some discourse, I can conclude that though Dorothea has a vision for her ideal, she is a failed feminist, for society is too strong for her as Miller (1990) argues.

Experimental observations of spectral changes produced by individual microscopic spheres.

Jung, JaeHwang,Park, YongKeun Optical Society of America 2015 Optics letters Vol.40 No.6

<P>Spectral changes in individual micrometer-sized scatters are experimentally measured. Using an interferometric microscope equipped with a wavelength-swept illumination, the optical fields diffracted from the individual scatters are measured precisely, from which 2D light scattering spectra were retrieved as functions of the wavelength and scattering angle. In the measured scattering spectra of individual scatters, spectral shifts were clearly observed, which is also directly explained using the Mie scattering theory.</P>