A Comparative Study on First-Year Composition Courses at Universities in Korea and the USA

Cho, Sookyung(조수경),Park, Chanho(박찬호) 한국비교교육학회 2019 比較敎育硏究 Vol.29 No.2

[연구목적] 미국에서 일학년 작문 수업(First-Year Composition, FYC)은 1885년 하버드 대학에서 처음으로 실시된 이후로 가장 중요한 필수 교양 과목으로 자리 잡아 100년 이상의 역사를 지니고 있다. 그러나 이러한 미국 역사와 비교하여 한국의 FYC 과목은 2000년대 들어 꽤 최근에 등장하였다. 이러한 미국과 한국의 FYC 과목의 현 상황 비교는 한국의 FYC가 나아가야할 방향성을 지시하는 데 도움이 될 것이다. [연구방법] 본 연구는 한국과 미국의 FYC를 강좌 개설 이유와 교과과정, 수업 내용에 있어서 비교·대조하고자 한다. 본 연구에서는 대학 요강과 수업 목표 및 강의계획서, 프로그랩 웹사이트와 같은 문서 자료를 분석하였다. [연구결과] 한국과 미국 대학 사이에 다음과 같은 차이점을 발견하였다. 첫째, 미국의 FYC가 작문에 있어서 다른 사람과의 관계를 강조하였다면 한국의 FYC는 저자 개인의 인지적 발달에 집중하였다. 둘째, 미국 대학에서는 한국에 비해 더 많은 수의 작문 과목을 필수로 요구하였으며, 다양한 전공 영역에서 작문 중심 수업(Writing-Intensive Courses)을 제공하고 있었다. 마지막으로 한국의 FYC가 대체로 작문 기술 위주의 수업을 진행하는 데 반하여, 미국의 FYC는 주로 주제별 수업을 진행하고 있었다. [결론] 이러한 차이에 기반하여 본 연구에서는 한국의 FYC가 좀 더 다양성과 유연성을 가짐으로써 학생들로 하여금 다양한 작문 과목을 스스로 선택하여 수강할 수 있도록 하 고, 좀 더 다양한 전공을 통해 작문을 가르칠 수 있음을 시사하였다. Purpose: First-year composition (FYC) has been established as one of the most important requirements in many US universities since its advent at Harvard University in 1885, and has a more than 100 year history. On the other hand, Korean universities started their FYC programs only recently, entering the 2000’s. The comparison of the status quo of Korean FYCs with that of American ones might be helpful in guiding the direction where Korean FYCs should head from now on. Methods: This study compares and contrasts FYCs of Korea and the USA in their causes, curricula, and course contents. A wide variety of written documents, such as university catalogs, course descriptions, course syllabi, and department and program websites are analyzed. Results: The results reveal the following differences: American FYCs emphasize more interactions with others in writing while Korean FYCs place more focus on the cognitive development of individual writers; American universities require more writing courses than Korean universities and offer a number of writing intensive courses across different disciplines; and Korean FYCs tend to adopt a technique-based approach in teaching writing, but American ones follow a more theme-based approach. Conclusion: This study implies that Korean FYCs should allow for more room for diversity and flexibility so that students can take various kinds of writing courses, and so that writing can be taught across various disciplines.

A Comparison of a Novice Writing Tutor with an Experienced Tutor: Focusing on Changes in Their Interactions with Tutees

Sookyung Cho,Dahee Kim,Cheol Baek 한국영어학회 2020 영어학 Vol.20 No.-

Use of L1 Private Speech in a Speaking Test Across School Grades

Sookyung Cho,Chanho Park 한국영어학회 2021 영어학 Vol.21 No.-

Does Tutor Feedback Make a Difference? Focusing on EFL Korean Student Writing

Sookyung Cho 한국영어학회 2019 영어학 Vol.19 No.3

Online vs. Offline Interactions During Writing Tutorials: Focusing on Korean Learners of English

Sookyung Cho 한국영어학회 2023 영어학 Vol.23 No.-

This study aims to explore differences found both at the surface level and at the interactional level between online and offline writing tutorials at a university located in Seoul, Korea. To date, tutors’ online interactions with tutees have not been examined as much as the offline ones, despite the surge of online teaching since the global outbreak of COVID-19. In order to examine how online and offline conditions affect tutor-tutee interactions, this study audio-recorded a total of 16 online and offline writing tutorials conducted by four different Korean writing tutors. Each tutor met two tutees twice— meeting one online and the other offline at first, and then the other way around for the second. Additionally, the tutees’ writings, including their first and revised drafts, were collected to better understand the tutor-tutee interactions. The surface-level comparison reveals that backchannels and overlaps hinder the communication in online tutorials and that tutees have limited access to the shared text because of technical limitations inherent to online communication. The interactional-level comparison shows that more collaborations occur during the offline tutorials than during the online counterpart. Based on these findings, this study argues for further technical development in the area of online courses, and suggests that both tutors and tutees need training and experience in order to efficiently communicate online.

The Effects of Giving Peer Feedback

Sookyung Cho 한국영어학학회 2011 영어학연구 Vol.17 No.2

This study explores how giving peer feedback helps English language learners to write their own writing. To date, studies on second language writing have been mostly interested in how feedback English language learners received from peers affects their writing, and scholars seem to agree that it helps raise their awareness of audience, despite their limited proficiency. Using a case study methodology, this study compares three Korean learners of English enrolled in an intermediate writing class, focusing on their perceptions of peer feedback, the types of feedback given, and their revisions. The results reveal that even the act of giving peer feedback may help learners develop a critical view of writing and enable them to apply the same critical perspective to their own writing, resulting in their making the same kind of corrections they asked of their peers. The findings of this study show positive effects of giving peer feedback in addition to those of receiving it and thus suggest to writing teachers that they can utilize peer feedback in the class, the students’ limited proficiency and writing ability notwithstanding.

Alignment of Self-assessment and Peer-assessment with Teacher-assessment in a University EFL Writing Classroom

Sookyung Cho 한국영어학회 2014 영어학 Vol.14 No.1

Identity Development of Korean Writing Tutors of English : Working on the Border

Sookyung Cho 아시아영어교육학회 2019 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.16 No.1

This study examines the identity development of Korean graduate students who worked as tutors of English writing at a Korean university, outside of the context of a writing studio. While many studies have been conducted to better understand the experiences of writing tutors at writing centers, several scholars have emphasized the importance of examining the identity construction of writing tutors who work outside writing centers. They argue that these tutors have more flexibility in developing their own identities compared with writing center tutors, who are more likely to have predetermined roles required of them by writing centers. This study, therefore, focuses on four graduate students who received training on giving feedback in a graduate course and tutored undergraduate students. The analysis of interview data and their feedback to tutees’ written texts illustrates that these four graduate students felt insecure as writing tutors, but that they utilize their perspectives as both teacher and student when giving feedback. According to Lave and Wenger’s situated learning, these tutors are taking steps towards full participation from legitimate peripheral participants by participating in the community of practice. Further studies can investigate how writing tutors develop and change their identities across other multilingual and local contexts.

The Placement Test

Sookyung Cho 한국영어학회 2012 영어학 Vol.12 No.3

Comparison of Views on Korean and English Writing: Focusing on Bicultural Koreans in the United States

Cho, Sookyung(조수경) 한국비교교육학회 2018 比較敎育硏究 Vol.28 No.2

The numbers of Korean immigrants and students in the United States are steadily increasing, but there have been very few studies of their second language literacy development (Cole, Maddox, Lim, & Notari-Syverson, 2002; Scarcellar & Chin, 1993; Shin, 1994; Skilton-Sylvester, 2001; Yu, 1994). Nor do the very few studies explore the inseparable relationship between Korean literacy and English literacy within a cultural context. This study aims to compare their views on Korean writing with those on English writing to see trace the multiliteracy development of Korean learners of English in the United States. I conducted in-depth oral interviews with Korean immigrants and students of various ages. They were asked to state everything they could remember about what they have learned to write and read in their native language and in their second language across their lifetimes, focusing particularly on the institutions they attended, materials they used, people involved in their learning, and their motivations for writing. The results reveal that the participants developed a view of writing specific to the Korean context and after they moved to the United States, they struggled to readjust the values and meanings they had had for Korean literacy to the second language context. The results of this study suggest future multiliteracy studies are needed to explore multiliteracy development in terms of the meanings and values language learners associate with their multiliteracy and help educational institutions and communities to approach second language learners’ multiliteracy development as a life-long experience. 미국에서 한국 이민자들의 수가 계속적으로 증가함에도 불구하고 이들의 문해력 발달에 대한 연구는 많지 않다 (Cole, Maddox, Lim, & Notari-Syverson, 2002; Scarcellar & Chin, 1993; Shin, 1994; Skilton-Sylvester, 2001; Yu, 1994). 또한 이러한 연구들조차 한국어 문해력과 영어 문해력 사이의 뗄 수 없는 관계에 주목 하는 경우는 드물다. 따라서 본 연구는 한국인의 한국어 작문과 영어 작문에 대한 인식을 비교 연구함으로써 이들의 다언어간 문해력 발달을 살펴보고자 한다. 이를 위해 다양한 연령대의 한국인들을 대상으로 모국어와 영어 작문을 어떻게 배웠는가에 대해 면담을 진행하였다. 특히 어떤 기관과 사람들, 그리고 어떤 동기로 작문을 배웠는가에 집중하였다. 그 결과 본 연구의 피실험자들은 각각 한국적 상황에서 터득한 작문에 대한 개념을 미국적 상황에 맞추어 재정립하는 과정을 겪고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 앞으로 다언어간 작문에 대한 연구는 학습자들이 작문에 대해 부여하는 가치와 개념을 연구할 필요가 있으며 이를 통해 교육자들은 문해력 발달이라고 하는 것이 인생 전반에 걸쳐져 연장선상에 위치하고 있음을 인식할 필요가 있겠다.