Different Needs between Students and Teachers in the Curriculum Development

Kyong-Hyon Pyo(표경현) 한국외국어교육학회 2006 Foreign languages education Vol.13 No.3

  Given the crucial role of teachers’ forming and modifying a curriculum in a school system, it was questioned if the results obtained from an analysis of learners’ needs could serve the ultimate goal of meeting students’ needs and desires in their language learning. For the grand research question, needs were sought from both parties (111 students and 5 teachers) through the survey and interview research design and elaborated for the potential differences and their underlying reasons. The research findings indicated that, first, needs for the current curriculum were not agreed upon between the two education agents. Students wanted to have more practical characteristics of a curriculum with an addition of courses improving communication skills and an increased interaction with foreign teachers. However, teachers were on a different agenda in the pursuit of a program renewal. The distinctive themes found from the interviews with teachers were in the following: 1) doubts over the worthiness of students’ needs, 2) tenacity to their specialty in the teaching, and 3) anxiety and pressure for changing needs in institution and society. It was concluded that teachers’ needs were better met with students’ needs being left outside the decision-making process, which has been a long-lived ideological problem at a university.

소그룹 활동에 대한 대학생들의 만족도 영향 변인 연구

표경현(Kyong-Hyon Pyo) 한국중원언어학회 2015 언어학연구 Vol.0 No.37

This study (n=27) aimed to explore variables influencing students’ satisfaction toward small group discussion activity in college. The variables included for the current study were English proficiency, pre-perception of group work in class, group cohesiveness, English improvement, participation, advantages of small-group discussion, as perceived by students through a questionnaire survey. A correlation analysis and multipleregression analysis were conducted for the relationships among the variables, and in-depth interviews and class observations were used to back up the findings of the statistical analyses. The results of the statistical analyses were as follows: 1) positive relationships were found between TOEIC scores, participation, and satisfaction, and 2) students’ satisfaction was accounted for by three variables, participation, English improvement and one of the advantages of small-group discussion, a sense of responsibility and autonomy. The results indicated that TOEIC scores somehow played a role in students’ satisfaction, but they were not a critical decider in how students felt toward small group discussion activity. The in-depth interviews and class observations also confirmed the findings of the statistical analyses.

생태학 관점으로부터의 소그룹 토론 활동 이해

표경현(Pyo, Kyong-hyon) 한국외국어교육학회 2012 Foreign languages education Vol.19 No.4

Discursive discussions of small group work have been found in the English language teaching and learning literature, often with pedagogical benefits highlighted for wider classroom applications in the teaching practice. Adding to the ongoing discussion, the current study is aimed at providing a new framework for interpreting small group discussions, with a special focus on two concepts proposed by van Lier(2002)’s ecological linguistics: emergence and affordance. Data were collected through verbal transcriptions and in-depth interviews with five university students. The overall research finding is that students participating in small group discussion had ample chances for linguistic emergence and affordance through interaction. Two types of affordance(self-made and other participants-initiated) were observed in the group work and demonstrated through students’ verbal data in this paper. From an ecological perspective, small group discussion serves as a rich semiotic budget to structure learners’ activities and participation so that access to language is available and engagement is encouraged.

Comparison of Korean college learners’ sense of community between full-sync and half-sync/ half-async English courses

표경현(Kyong-hyon Pyo),양미란(Miran Yang),나경희(Kyeong-Hee Rha) 한국영어교과교육학회 2021 영어교과교육 Vol.20 No.2

As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools to hold online classes, teachers at all levels of schooling could not help utilizing various online modalities, suspending their in-person classes. However, no research findings have thus far been reported on the effects of different online modalities in the field of English teaching and learning. Against this backdrop, the present study aimed at comparing the difference between Korean college students’ sense of community in their fully synchronous and hybrid (a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous) online modalities. A total of 165 college students completed pre- and post-surveys, which were the modified versions of Rovai’s (2002) Classroom Community Scale (CCS) consisting of two sub-constructs, ‘Connectedness’ and ‘Learning.’ In addition, a semi-structured in-depth interview was carried out with six students via Zoom. MANCOVA, multivariate analysis of covariance, was used for data analysis. The findings showed students felt more connected with peer students and instructors in fully synchronous online sessions than hybrid ones. Second, students found synchronous online classes more conducive to their learning than hybrid ones. From these findings, pedagogical implications to enhance students’ sense of community in online classes are suggested.

Action Research on Cooperative Language Learning Classroom

표경현(Kyong-hyon Pyo) 한국외국어교육학회 2005 Foreign languages education Vol.12 No.4

Past 20 years have witnessed the shift of focus in language teaching from teacher-oriented to learner-centered approach. Although there have been several research studies on cooperative learning, they were limited to the defining of its constructs and pedagogical values, and the surveying of teachers’ beliefs and their practices at school. This paper looks into the experiences that a teacher had in the attempt to change her teaching practice with cooperative learning techniques applied in an EFL reading class. It was also an effort to improve from her previous teaching method which had been grammar-translation mixed with a task-based approach. The process of a teacher’s implementation of a newly adopted class approach including decision-making, operating, interpreting/reflecting is shared through the first-person action research. Various data sources were presented to assess the legitimacy of accepting cooperative learning via group work as a valuable, viable instructional method in the real language classroom. A detailed description of a teacher’s experiences in the self-transforming process is provided along with guidelines to make classrooms successful cooperative language learning places.

Students" Perceptions on English Teachers" Assessment Practices in University

Kyong-Hyon Pyo(표경현) 한국외국어교육학회 2008 Foreign languages education Vol.15 No.1

To date almost no research has been reported on language teachers" assessment practices in university, with the belief that those practices are up to teachers" individual decision-making as part of instruction. The present study investigated the long-ignored English teachers" assessment practices (testing and grading) through university student perception indices, found in the questionnaire and interviews, by looking at how students feel about their teacher"s current assessment practices. The research findings revealed that students were concerned about their teachers" low quality of tests, absence of communication channels for checking test results and grades with teachers, and undemocratic testing ambience. Implications for future research and assessment were suggested to look for possibilities of bringing in critical language testing (CLT) to the university classroom.

플립러닝을 통한 영어수업에서의 자기주도적 학습태도와 학업성취도 연구

김예나래(Yenarae Kim),표경현(Kyong-Hyon Pyo) 한국중원언어학회 2017 언어학연구 Vol.0 No.45

Despite ample research on self-directed learning attitude in a flipped classroom, its relationship with academic achievement is not clear. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate university students’ self-directed learning attitude and academic achievement in a flipped classroom at a university setting. The research questions are: 1) What are characteristics of learner’s self-directed learning attitude in the flipped classroom?; 2) Are there meaningful relationships between student’s self-directed learning attitude and academic achievement in the flipped classroom?; and 3) Are there differences in students’ self-directed learning attitude by students’ academic achievement(top 30% vs. bottom 30%)? A student survey questionnaire, 15-week class observations, and in-depth interviews were conducted for data collection. For quantitative analysis, a frequency, correlation and cross-tab analysis were conducted. The statistical analyses produced the following results: 1) Students felt positive about flipped learning in five characteristics of self-directed learning attitude; 2) There were no statistically meaningful correlations between self-directed learning attitude and learning achievement; and 3) There were no statistically meaningful differences in self-directed learning attitude by academic achievement. Pedagogical implications are suggested at the end of the paper.

원어로 진행되는 영어수업에 대한 비판적 재고

문장학(Moon, Jang-hak),표경현(Pyo, Kyong-hyon) 한국영어교과교육학회 2010 영어교과교육 Vol.9 No.2

As with the change of TETE policies at school, many positive findings of TETE have been introduced regarding its affective and cognitive effects. However, an in-depth discussion of realistic problems teachers are facing in the classroom has not been made in the previous studies. At this junction, the study aims to provide a critical perspective on TETE through the investigation of TETE classrooms and dialogs with TETE participating teachers. In order to achieve the overall aim of the study, multiple sources of data were solicited from three middle school teachers: two-month non-intrusive classroom observations (video recordings), questionnaires, and teachers' assessments of TETE classrooms. The results of the study are as follows. First, teachers were having great trouble in having an effective TETE due to the wide range of students' language levels. TETE was useful to the high-achieving students, giving more motivation and interest in English; in contrast, low-achieving students developed greater fear and reluctance to study English and refused to engage in English instruction. Second, teachers pointed out a hostile environment for efficient TETE. Most of the teachers worried about large-sized classrooms and lack of class hours. Suggestions for improving the TETE classroom realities are in order.

플립러닝 영어수업에서 언어 불안 및 의사소통의지의 변화

조민희(Minhee Cho),표경현(Kyong-Hyon Pyo) 한국중원언어학회 2020 언어학연구 Vol.0 No.55

The current study explores whether flipped classroom helps to lower language anxiety and heighten willingness to communicate (WTC) in English. For the purpose of the research, two questions were established as follows. First, is there positive change in language anxiety before and after English flipped classroom? Second, is there positive change in WTC before and after English flipped classroom? With those research questions in mind, the researcher observed a course during a semester of 15 weeks. A survey questionnaire of 52 students was conducted twice on the 5th and the 14th weeks. For statistical analysis, paired samples t-test and its alternative test were conducted depending on the normality assumption. The study revealed the following results. First, there was no significant change in language anxiety over time. However, in-depth interviews and class observations demonstrated the flipped classroom helped to alleviate students’ speaking anxiety to some extent. Second, there was a significant change in WTC, which means that students showed improved WTC in English through the flipped classroom. Pedagogical implications are provided along with suggestions for future studies.

Qualitative Analysis of Using Self-Assessment for EFL Students

Kyeong-Hee Rha(나경희),Kyong-Hyon Pyo(표경현) 한국콘텐츠학회 2016 한국콘텐츠학회논문지 Vol.16 No.4

평가도구가 갖는 객관성은 평가의 주요 원칙 중의 하나이다. 그러므로 지금껏 자기평가도구는 객관성이 미흡하다는 이유로 공식적인 평가도구로 사용되지 못하였다. 본 연구에서는 우리나라의 대학생들이 영어강좌를 수강하는 과정에서 자기평가도구의 사용에 대하여 어떻게 인식해 나가며, 또한 평가과정에 직접 참여하는 과정에서 스스로의 성취에 대한 평가를 어떠한 시각으로 바라보게 되는지에 대하여 양 · 질적으로 조사, 분석해보고자 하였다. 연구 자료로서는 학생의 자기평가지와 심층면담방법을 활용하여 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 다음과 같은 결론을 얻을 수 있었다. 첫째, 자기평가에 대한 인식의 변화는 소규모 활동을 진행하면서 긍정적으로 되어 갔으며, 또한 자기평가라는 기제는 학생들이 그룹 활동에 적극적으로 참여하도록 유도하는 장치로써 작용하고 있음을 발견할 수 있었다. 결론적으로 자기평가의 가치를 타당하게 이해하기 위해서는 자기평가 연구가 교실 현장의 사회문화적인 맥락에서 이루어져야함을 제안하고 있다. Achieving a certain degree of objectivity is one of main assessment priniciples to meet and self-assessment has been under-used as a formal instrument for assessing students achievement due to lack of objectivity. Now, this research attempted to look into how students perceived self-assessment and how they engaged in the assessment process. Self-assessments and in-depth interviews with students were collected as main data sources. The results of data analysis are as follows. First, a student perceptions of self-assessment have been observed to change over a course of a semester. Furthermore, changes in perceptions might have led students to get ownership of their learning. Conclusively, this research proposes that the research of self-assessment be accommodated into the socio-cultural context to demonstrate its desirable influence on students learning.