Title: Perspectives on Obstacles to SLA among High School Graduates in South Korea
Subtopics(five)
1. The position of English in schools in Korea
(The Attitudes of Students towards Non-native English teachers)
2. Obstacles to Linguistic Competence: What makes it really difficult?
3. Glocalization of English
4. Analyzing exam discourse in Korea: the relationship between KSAT and SLA in Korea
5. English as a Lingua Franca(or EIL) in South Korea
2010년 3월 28일 일요일
2010년 3월 21일 일요일
An interesting topics in English teaching for your TESOL-MALL study
Perspectives on Obstacles to SLA among High School Graduates in South Korea
: Why is it still difficult for Korean students to acquire English as a Second Language?
In this globalized world it seems quite possible for high school graduates to acquire English as second language after graduation from high schools in Korea considering such huge amount of time and efforts both from them and from their parents. But in reality it looks like there is such a long way to go until Korean students have the command of English. Most of them find it difficult to use English for daily uses. It is not because they do not study hard enough or because their teachers do not teach them with passion and dedication.
In this article, first of all, we are going to look inside the position of English both in Korea and in the world, in the past and now. Second, we will discuss the reasons why we are left behind in terms of the ability to communicate with others in English compared with other English speaking countries where they use English as a second language or foreign language. In particular, we will look into the matter of the exam structure, especially CSAT, which has a great influence on other secondary mid-term and final exams. Finally, I am going to suggest some ideas with which we can open up a new era of English education in Korea for the generations to come, which means the radical and immediate change in the current exam format. Without the change, I insist that there would not be much progress in terms of so-called communicative competence of high school graduates in Korea.
: Why is it still difficult for Korean students to acquire English as a Second Language?
In this globalized world it seems quite possible for high school graduates to acquire English as second language after graduation from high schools in Korea considering such huge amount of time and efforts both from them and from their parents. But in reality it looks like there is such a long way to go until Korean students have the command of English. Most of them find it difficult to use English for daily uses. It is not because they do not study hard enough or because their teachers do not teach them with passion and dedication.
In this article, first of all, we are going to look inside the position of English both in Korea and in the world, in the past and now. Second, we will discuss the reasons why we are left behind in terms of the ability to communicate with others in English compared with other English speaking countries where they use English as a second language or foreign language. In particular, we will look into the matter of the exam structure, especially CSAT, which has a great influence on other secondary mid-term and final exams. Finally, I am going to suggest some ideas with which we can open up a new era of English education in Korea for the generations to come, which means the radical and immediate change in the current exam format. Without the change, I insist that there would not be much progress in terms of so-called communicative competence of high school graduates in Korea.
Response to the Swales Reading
Before reading the Swales reading, I have not much thought about such details necessary for academic writing. In other words, I thought keeping grammar rules while maintaining the basic format of an introduction, a main body and a conclusion would be enough to form a good writing. I did not consider it as an approach to academic writing to include such elements as audience, purpose, organization, style, flow, and presentation. (p.7)
However, while reading the article, I began to realize how important those elements are. Especially, among the considerations, my understanding of audience reminds me of the fact that when I write I should know whom I am writing an article for and that depending on the target group the way I write should be shifted. Secondly, the purpose of academic writing is not to show how deeply my emotion or passion is involved but to display familiarity, expertise and intelligence. (p.8)Thirdly, the article insists that we should be able to organize information following problem-solving process. The four steps of the process are expected to make the presentation more persuasive. (p.12) Fourth, the importance of style was also stressed because academic writing is a formal presentation. For example, as attending a funeral service or a wedding ceremony without wearing a formal suit is considered inappropriate, informal presentation with common phrasal or prepositional verbs, for example, is naturally considered nonacademic.(p.15) Finally, in terms of flow and presentation I agree that it is important to maintain a natural flow throughout the whole writing process and to avoid simple mistakes such as incorrect homophone, basic grammar errors, and misspelled words since they make the presentation less acceptable to the audience. (p.29)
In short, the overall description of an appropriate academic writing is considered very useful, informative and practical. With the understanding of the explanation, I think I should be more careful when I write in order to make the writing more academic and knowledge-based.
However, while reading the article, I began to realize how important those elements are. Especially, among the considerations, my understanding of audience reminds me of the fact that when I write I should know whom I am writing an article for and that depending on the target group the way I write should be shifted. Secondly, the purpose of academic writing is not to show how deeply my emotion or passion is involved but to display familiarity, expertise and intelligence. (p.8)Thirdly, the article insists that we should be able to organize information following problem-solving process. The four steps of the process are expected to make the presentation more persuasive. (p.12) Fourth, the importance of style was also stressed because academic writing is a formal presentation. For example, as attending a funeral service or a wedding ceremony without wearing a formal suit is considered inappropriate, informal presentation with common phrasal or prepositional verbs, for example, is naturally considered nonacademic.(p.15) Finally, in terms of flow and presentation I agree that it is important to maintain a natural flow throughout the whole writing process and to avoid simple mistakes such as incorrect homophone, basic grammar errors, and misspelled words since they make the presentation less acceptable to the audience. (p.29)
In short, the overall description of an appropriate academic writing is considered very useful, informative and practical. With the understanding of the explanation, I think I should be more careful when I write in order to make the writing more academic and knowledge-based.
2010년 3월 12일 금요일
Yamada-Plagiarism
What prevents ESL/EFL writers from avoiding plagiarism?: Analyses of 10 North-American college websites -Kyoko Yamada
The title of Kyoko Yamada’s journal, “what prevents ESL/EFL writers from avoiding plagiarism?,” is quite intriguing to me since as a potential writer for MA degree thesis which is supposed to start at the end of this year, I have been worried about this matter seriously. Before I started this MA course, I didn’t know or think much about plagiarism. I had never thought that it was a crime. I thought that it was a kind of borrowing something rather than cheating or stealing.
But now things have changed since Dr. Mark Love pointed out that there were some problems with my papers for the previous course, Issues in TESOL, last year concerning plagiarism. He stated that he could find some plagiarism and difficulties in my papers which did not follow the rules of APA style for writing and that he could not accept my papers. I sincerely recognized and apologized for the mistakes I had made in the papers. Only after that could I barely pass the course under the consideration of all the efforts I had made for the course including dedicated participation in the activities of the course.
Yet still I find myself in trouble of being trapped in the doldrums where I cannot easily get out because I am still not quite familiar with APA style and I am already under the stress that I should be able to write my thesis properly enough to be accepted by the professors. In that sense, this writing course can be something I should have been looking forward to.
When it comes to Kyoko Yamada’s journal, I find it informative and useful in the sense that it reminds me that universities and colleges in North America make a lot of efforts to prevent plagiarism from occurring and even to provide students with alternative steps such as how to use paraphrases appropriately using one’s own words and where to put quotation marks. Even though there are some skeptical opinions of the effectiveness of paraphrases for ESL/EFL writers, I still think the efforts they make deserve complimenting.
Thinking about the Korean EFL environment at universities and colleges, actually I do not know much about it. The tendency or situation related to plagiarism must have been changed because it has been far more than twenty years since I graduated from the university in 1988. But in so far as I know about the TESOL Mall at WOOSONG University, plagiarism is strictly forbidden. And I believe that it is natural that the policy is applied to other academic fields in Korea as well. I hope that not much plagiarism is going around.
Back in those days, probably because of lack of understanding what plagiarism is and why it is infelicitous or maybe because of cultural differences, quite a lot of plagiarism was going on without much consciousness of intellectual property rights what so ever. As Kyoko Yamada’s statement, professors and researchers were reluctant to make the matter a real issue. It was such good times that what was supposed to be guilty was not guilty at all.
In a nutshell, colleges throughout the world including those in Korea should try harder to prevent plagiarism by informing students of what it is and why it is not allowed. As for academic writers, we have the obligation to inform students of plagiarism and not to plagiarize others’ writings without their consents as we can see from Kyoko Yamada’s statement: “Clearly, writing instructors, researchers, and textbook writers need to provide more accessible and unambiguous information on paraphrases.”(p.251)
The title of Kyoko Yamada’s journal, “what prevents ESL/EFL writers from avoiding plagiarism?,” is quite intriguing to me since as a potential writer for MA degree thesis which is supposed to start at the end of this year, I have been worried about this matter seriously. Before I started this MA course, I didn’t know or think much about plagiarism. I had never thought that it was a crime. I thought that it was a kind of borrowing something rather than cheating or stealing.
But now things have changed since Dr. Mark Love pointed out that there were some problems with my papers for the previous course, Issues in TESOL, last year concerning plagiarism. He stated that he could find some plagiarism and difficulties in my papers which did not follow the rules of APA style for writing and that he could not accept my papers. I sincerely recognized and apologized for the mistakes I had made in the papers. Only after that could I barely pass the course under the consideration of all the efforts I had made for the course including dedicated participation in the activities of the course.
Yet still I find myself in trouble of being trapped in the doldrums where I cannot easily get out because I am still not quite familiar with APA style and I am already under the stress that I should be able to write my thesis properly enough to be accepted by the professors. In that sense, this writing course can be something I should have been looking forward to.
When it comes to Kyoko Yamada’s journal, I find it informative and useful in the sense that it reminds me that universities and colleges in North America make a lot of efforts to prevent plagiarism from occurring and even to provide students with alternative steps such as how to use paraphrases appropriately using one’s own words and where to put quotation marks. Even though there are some skeptical opinions of the effectiveness of paraphrases for ESL/EFL writers, I still think the efforts they make deserve complimenting.
Thinking about the Korean EFL environment at universities and colleges, actually I do not know much about it. The tendency or situation related to plagiarism must have been changed because it has been far more than twenty years since I graduated from the university in 1988. But in so far as I know about the TESOL Mall at WOOSONG University, plagiarism is strictly forbidden. And I believe that it is natural that the policy is applied to other academic fields in Korea as well. I hope that not much plagiarism is going around.
Back in those days, probably because of lack of understanding what plagiarism is and why it is infelicitous or maybe because of cultural differences, quite a lot of plagiarism was going on without much consciousness of intellectual property rights what so ever. As Kyoko Yamada’s statement, professors and researchers were reluctant to make the matter a real issue. It was such good times that what was supposed to be guilty was not guilty at all.
In a nutshell, colleges throughout the world including those in Korea should try harder to prevent plagiarism by informing students of what it is and why it is not allowed. As for academic writers, we have the obligation to inform students of plagiarism and not to plagiarize others’ writings without their consents as we can see from Kyoko Yamada’s statement: “Clearly, writing instructors, researchers, and textbook writers need to provide more accessible and unambiguous information on paraphrases.”(p.251)
2010년 3월 7일 일요일
Concernig TESOL Mall
I am absolutely terrified to write a MA thesis under the regulation of APA style.
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