Resolution of PP attachment ambiguities by Korean learners of English: Effects of linear distance and proficiency

Soondo Baek 한국영어학학회 2014 영어학연구 Vol.20 No.3

Baek, Soondo. 2014. Resolution of PP attachment ambiguities by Korean learners of English: Effects of linear distance and proficiency. English Language and Linguistics 20.3, 35-58. This study examined the effect of linear distance and proficiency on L2 online resolution of PP attachment ambiguities in verb–NP–PP sequences, where the PP can be attached to either the verb or the NP. Forty two Korean college students of English contributed reading time data through a self-paced reading task. Test sentences were designed so that the PPs were construed with either the verb or the NP in terms of semantic plausibility (e.g.,The burglar opened the safe with a [large hammer/broken lock].). The length of theNP was also manipulated (e.g., The burglar opened the [safe/enormously big black safe] with a large hammer.). The results showed that VP attachment of the PP wasgenerally preferred over NP attachment and that the strength of the preference was larger for higher than lower proficiency learners. The effect of linear distance was reliable only for higher proficiency learners, who showed a weakened VP attachment preference with the increase of the distance between the verb and the PP. The results suggest that attachment preferences and linear distance effects in L2 PP attachment disambiguation should be understood in relation to the learners’ level of proficiency

An Exploration of the Relationship Between Motivation and Boredom Attribution in Korean University Students’ EFL Learning

Baek,Soondo(Soondo Baek) 이화여자대학교 교과교육연구소 2024 교과교육학연구 Vol.28 No.4

The present study explored the relationship between motivation and boredom attribution in learning English as a foreign language in Korea. Participants were university students majoring in the English language and literature. Ninety-one participants responded to a questionnaire probing their motivation and perceived boredom precursors in English learning. Motivation and perceived boredom precursors were operationalized by three motivational factors (integrative/intrinsic, instrumental-social status, instrumental-desired career) and two boredom precursors (being over-challenged, lack of meaning). Bivariate correlation analysis showed that lower integrative/intrinsic motivation and instrumental-desired career motivation were associated with greater boredom attribution to both types of precursors whereas the instrumental-social status motivation was not significantly related to any type of boredom attribution. Stepwise multiple regression analyses further suggested that the instrumental-desired career motivation acts more like the integrative/intrinsic motivation than the instrumental-social status motivation especially in relation to boredom arising from lack of meaning. The findings suggested a complicated pattern of links between motivation and boredom, offering theoretical and pedagogical implications for how to better address boredom in EFL learning.

Phonological interference effects during silent reading of L2 sentences by Korean learners of English

( Soondo Baek ) 한국외국어대학교 언어연구소 2016 언어와 언어학 Vol.0 No.70

The present study investigated the role of phonological representations during silent reading of L2 sentences by Korean learners of English in comparison with the effect of pragmatic plausibility thereof. Eighteen Korean college students of English participated in two self-paced reading experiments. In Experiment 1, the participants read sentences containing object-extracted relative clauses for which pragmatic plausibility was manipulated (e.g. The thief/policeman that the policeman/thief arrested was known ...). The result showed that increased processing difficulty for implausible propositions occurred at and after the relative clause verb (e.g. arrested). In Experiment 2, the same participants read sentences of similar structure, in which the phonological similarity between the main and relative clause subjects was manipulated (e.g. The runner/baker that the banker always feared bought ...). The result showed that increased processing difficulty due to phonological overlap occurred at the relative clause subject (e.g., banker). The results are discussed in terms of L2 learners` use of phonological representations in silent L2 reading.

Dative Alternation in Korean L2 English Learners’ Essay Writing

Soondo Baek 담화·인지언어학회 2016 담화와 인지 Vol.23 No.1

This study investigates the effects of discourse-related factors on the English dative alternation in Korean L2 learners’ writing by comparing a learner corpus (YELC) and a corresponding native speaker corpus (LOCNESS). Factors of interest are pronominality, definiteness and linear length of the two post-verbal arguments of the dative construction, which have been shown in previous studies to affect the choice between alternative double object and prepositional constructions. The results suggest (i) that Korean learners generally prefer the prepositional construction over the double object construction as compared with native speakers and (ii) that constraints involving pronominality are acquired earlier or more easily than those involving definiteness or length. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of instruction and L1 transfer in L2 acquisition of the English dative construction.

Psychological reality of the trace in L2 English sentence processing by Korean learners

( Soondo Baek ) 한국외국어대학교 언어연구소 2017 언어와 언어학 Vol.0 No.74

This study tested the psychological reality of a syntactic trace in L2 sentence processing by capitalizing on the finding that sentences are read faster when discourse-given information precedes discourse-new information. In a self-paced reading experiment, 32 Korean learners of English read English indirect wh-questions in which one of the two objects of a double object construction was extracted. The unextracted object was either discourse-new or discourse-given (e.g. I wondered which cookie the woman would give the/a dog). The overall results suggest that the unextracted object was more difficult to read when it was given than new. This finding is interpreted as suggesting that information structure was perceived by the participants based on the surface position of the wh-phrases, not on their trace position.

Celebrating the New Start of 50 Years at the 2016 KATE International Conference

Soondo Baek 한국영어교육학회 2016 KATE Forum Vol.40 No.2

Online Processing of English Articles and Information Structure by Korean College Students

Soondo Baek 한국응용언어학회 2014 응용 언어학 Vol.30 No.2

English articles mark the definiteness of co-occurring noun phrases (NPs), which in turn correlates with the information status of the referents described by the NPs (e.g., Clifton & Frazier, 2004). Previous studies show that the information given in the discourse tends to be encoded earlier in an utterance than the information to be newly introduced (e.g., Arnold, Wasow, Losongco, & Ginstrom, 2000). The present study investigates an aspect of the knowledge that adult Korean learners of English have of the English articles by testing their sensitivity to the link between the definiteness of NPs and the NP’s preferred order in a sentence. Twenty-four learners of English read double object (DO) and prepositional object (PO) constructions on a word-by-word basis, in which the two postverbal NPs were contrasted in definiteness by switching the and a (e.g., The pitcher showed the boy a ball, The pitcher showed a boy the ball; The pitcher showed the ball to a boy, The pitcher showed a ball to the boy). The results show that the participants read the definite?indefinite post-verbal NP sequences more rapidly than indefinite?definite sequences in the DO constructions but not in the PO constructions, which indicates their sensitivity to the given-before-new preference in the discourse informational organization as well as to its interaction with syntactic alternation. The findings are discussed in terms of L2 acquisition and instruction of English articles.

Working Memory as an Independent Predictor of Second Language Sentence Comprehension

Soondo Baek 한국응용언어학회 2013 응용 언어학 Vol.29 No.4

The present study investigates how working memory capacity in a second language (L2) is associated with individual differences in L2 sentence comprehension and assesses whether its predictive power is independent of proficiency in the L2. Working memory capacity was operationalized as reading span, and proficiency as cloze test performance. Thirty-two advanced L1-Korean L2-English learners read sentences on a word by word basis that contained a subject-modifying relative clause (e.g., The banker that irritated the lawyer played tennis every Saturday). Comprehension was checked for each sentence. The participants were also administered a reading span task and a cloze test. The results show that the two individual differences measures both reliably predict learners’ sentence comprehension accuracy independently of each other, suggesting the possibility that working memory capacity and proficiency reflect different components of the ability to interpret L2 sentences. These findings are discussed in terms of the potential implications for better understanding of individual differences in L2 sentence comprehension.

The Effect of Noun Type on Plural Marking in Korean Students’ EFL Writing: A Corpus-Based Study

( Baek Soondo ) 한국중등영어교육학회 2023 중등영어교육 Vol.16 No.1

Second language acquisition of plural marking on English nouns is recognized as causing persistent difficulty for Korean EFL learners. This learning difficulty has often been attributed to the morphosyntactic and semantic differences between Korean and English nouns, such as optional vs. obligatory plural marking and cross-linguistic mismatches in the countability of nouns. This study was intended to add to the existing literature by examining whether and how Korean EFL learners’ plural marking on English nouns is modulated by animacy and abstractness, which are known to constrain the distribution of the Korean plural morpheme-tul. To that end, a large Korean EFL learner corpus (Yonsei English Learner Corpus) was analyzed with regards to how consistently nouns were marked as plural when preceded by one of the three count quantifiers: many, (a) few, and several. The nouns were categorized into three types based on what they denote: human beings (e.g., teacher), concrete inanimate objects (e.g., picture), and abstract concepts (e.g., problem). The results showed that Korean learners had greater difficulty in overt plural marking of abstract nouns relative to either human or inanimate object nouns, with the latter two categories showing a similar pattern. Pedagogical and theoretical implications can be drawn from the findings.

Effects of radio-frequency on oviposition and development of Callosobruchus chinensis L. (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) on three leguminous seeds

Rameswor Maharjan,Soondo Bae,Hwijong Yi,Youngnam Yoon,Yunwoo Jang,Inyoul Baek 한국응용곤충학회 2017 한국응용곤충학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2017 No.10

The Azuki bean weevil, Callosobruchus chinensis L., is a common insect pest of stored products in the world. Radio-frequencydependent oviposition, development and adult performances of C. chinensis were examined at five radio-frequencies of0 (control), 5, 10, 20, and 30 kHz on azuki bean, cowpea, and mung bean seeds. The effects were studied on two successivegenerations of C. chinensis. The results showed that radio-frequency application have significant effects on the life variablesof C. chinensis. Radio-frequency exposures on three seed species not only impacted on developmental time, adult longevityand adult weight but negative effects were also transmitted to the successive generations. Longer developmental time andthe least adults of C. chinensis were emerged with shorter longevity in case of radio-frequency treatment than untreated.Decreasing the radio-frequency level further reduced the adult longevity and increased time for development of adults.The least adult emergence and short longevity was recorded for 5 kHz treatment. Radio-frequency treatments have alsoaffected on the adult performance such as weight of adult. The life variables of C. chinensis are discussed in terms oftargeting susceptibilities to radio-frequencies in storage as an alternative to chemical treatments.