This paper examined whether a younger starting age of formal instruction on a foreign language is beneficial in expanding circle countries. An experimental study was designed to examine to what extent the five varieties of English language teachers are intelligible to Japanese- (JSLs) and Korean-speaking language learners (KSLs), who have…

This study examines the various needs of new professors at a Korean university, focusing on professional development issues and English language challenges for those required to teach in English due to English-medium instruction (EMI) policies. Through a qualitative analysis of coaching reports, we explored the specific needs of professors in…

This study explored high school students' perceptions of using AI chatbots in English learning. Specifically, it aimed to gauge the breadth of chatbot utilization and discern perceptions surrounding potential challenges linked to their use. Thirty students from a high school took part in the survey. Data analysis involved frequency, mean and an…

This study examined how Korean EFL learners in different proficiency levels attest contrasts of L2 phonology. To this end, twenty Korean EFL learners in high and low levels of English proficiency produced words with word-final contrasts of /[esh]/ vs. /[esh]i/, /t[esh]/ vs. /t[esh]i/, and /d[ezh]/ vs. /d[ezh]i/. Acoustic analyses of lexical vs.…

This study explored how the first language (L1) influences discourse marker use in second language (L2) speech. Some studies (e.g., Liu, 2013; Sankoff et al., 1997) have addressed the issue of L1 transfer of discourse markers in L2 speech, suggesting that non-native speakers' L1 use may influence the frequency and usage of English discourse…

Pronunciation plays a crucial role in oral communication within a second language. Recently, the interest in English language learning among elderly adults has led to increased participation of older learners in lifelong education programs in Korea. However, there is a paucity of empirical studies on this specific learner group. This article…

This article mainly focuses on comparing motivation and anxiety levels in native versus non-native English teacher classes based on survey results from Chinese university students majoring in English. Using a 5-point Likert Scale, the participants responded to 48 close-ended survey items regarding English language learning motivation and anxiety.…

Research on communication strategies (CSs) has been drawing much attention in the area of psycholinguistics and applied linguistics. This study examined if triggering instruction can accelerate the cognitive aspects of CSs transference from L1 to L2. In the first part of the experiment, all participants, twenty-one Japanese university students,…

The present study examines the linguistic features of Korean college students' English writings in terms of their writing quality and genre. Forty-eight Korean college students took part in the study, and their writing samples, comprised of narrative and exposition compositions, were collected to analyze on the basis of fluency and syntactic…

This study considered the social emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic. It utilized quantitative methods to investigate the L2 self-images (i.e., ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and feared L2 self) held by EFL college students in formal online English classes, based on Dörnyei's (2005) L2 Motivational Self System. Meanwhile, this research proved the…

This study investigated the effects of explicit and implicit discourse marker (DM) instruction on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' speech. Two different teaching methods were used over seven weeks of online English classes at a university in Japan. Participants were split into two groups, and in the first week, a pre-test comprising…

Considering the importance of willingness to communicate (WTC) as a critical component of effective pedagogy (MacIntyre et al., 1998), the present qualitative study investigated the affordances extramural digital settings (EDSs), as newly emerged popular environments, offer to advanced EFL learners. To this aim, we asked a purposeful sample of 8…

This paper aims to lay the groundwork for better online lectures based on a survey given to students in general university English classes on their learning states and perceptions of online classes. The online classes were conducted as non-face-to-face recorded lectures at a university in Gyeonggi, Korea, during two consecutive semesters in 2020.…

The present study examines the influence of social distance and power factors on the use of internal and external mitigating devices and strategies in the production of requests by Korean learners of Russian. The data was collected by using a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) containing twelve situations that varied in the facts of power and social…

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a vocabulary size test is a valid and reliable measure of longitudinal growth in vocabulary size (VS), and to investigate the relationship between growth in VS and use of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS). Kasahara's (2006) revised version of Mochizuki's (1998) Vocabulary Size Test (VST) was…