A Study of Syntactic Complexity in Children’s Storybooks with a Call for More Attention to Clausal Subordination

Tae-Eun Kim 한국영어어문교육학회 2012 영어어문교육 Vol.18 No.4

This research aims to assess the syntactic complexity in children’ s storybooks often used in elementary English classrooms and to investigate with what syntactic features English language learners would face difficulty as they read storybooks. Guiding this study three research questions are established as follows: (a) What is the nature of sentence length in children’s storybooks measured by T-unit and dependent clause unit?; (b) What is the nature of clausal density in children’s storybooks measured by clauses per T-unit?; and (c) Which kind of dependent clause is most frequently appeared in children’s storybooks? To answer these research questions 30 children’s storybooks of three reading levels were randomly selected for further analysis. For the measure of sentence length, total number of T-units, mean length of T-unit, and mean length of dependent clause-unit were calculated. For the measure of clausal density which reflects the extent of clausal subordination, the number of clauses per T-units was counted. Percentages of T-units containing three main types of dependent clauses were calculated to explore which kind of dependent clauses is most occupied in children’s storybooks. As for the critical findings of the study, on average, 20 to 40 percent of T-units in a storybook contain one or more dependent clauses. In all of the storybooks, nominal clauses were appeared most frequently, and in more difficult storybooks, adverbial and nominal clauses tend to be contained much more than relative clauses. When selecting storybooks, it is imperative to look into the extent of clausal subordination, because dependent clause is the syntactic area with which elementary students would feel unfamiliar and difficult.

A Study of Syntactic Complexity in Children’s Storybooks with a Call for More Attention to Clausal Subordination

김태은 한국영어어문교육학회 2012 영어어문교육 Vol.18 No.4

This research aims to assess the syntactic complexity in children’s storybooks often used in elementary English classrooms and to investigate with what syntactic features English language learners would face difficulty as they read storybooks. Guiding this study three research questions are established as follows: (a) What is the nature of sentence length in children’s storybooks measured by T-unit and dependent clause unit?; (b) What is the nature of clausal density in children’s storybooks measured by clauses per T-unit?; and (c) Which kind of dependent clause is most frequently appeared in children’s storybooks? To answer these research questions 30 children’s storybooks of three reading levels were randomly selected for further analysis. For the measure of sentence length, total number of T-units, mean length of T-unit, and mean length of dependent clause-unit were calculated. For the measure of clausal density which reflects the extent of clausal subordination, the number of clauses per T-units was counted. Percentages of T-units containing three main types of dependent clauses were calculated to explore which kind of dependent clauses is most occupied in children’s storybooks. As for the critical findings of the study, on average, 20 to 40 percent of T-units in a storybook contain one or more dependent clauses. In all of the storybooks, nominal clauses were appeared most frequently, and in more difficult storybooks, adverbial and nominal clauses tend to be contained much more than relative clauses. When selecting storybooks, it is imperative to look into the extent of clausal subordination, because dependent clause is the syntactic area with which elementary students would feel unfamiliar and difficult.

영어-한국어 이중언어 동화책이 초등영어 어휘학습에 미치는 효과

박선미 ( Sun Me Park ),노경희 ( Gyeong Hee No ) 서울敎育大學校 初等敎育硏究所 2015 한국초등교육 Vol.26 No.4

본 연구는 영어-한국어 이중언어 동화책이 초등학생들의 영어 어휘습득에 어떤 영향을 미치는지 또 그 영향은 학습자의 수준에 따라 어떻게 달라지는지를 고찰하고자 하였다. 이중언어책의 효과를 연구하기 위하여 초등학교 5학년 네 개 학급 79명의 학생들을 대상으로 영어-한국어 이중언어 동화책반과 영어 동화책반으로 나누어 읽기 전, 중, 후 모형을 활용하여 15차시의 실험 수업을 실시하였다. 실험 수업 후 두 집단의 어휘 학습 효과를 측정하기 위하여 영어 동화책 다섯 권에서 균등하게 추출한 40개의 단어로 어휘 시험을 실시하였다. 두 집단의 어휘 시험 점수를 통계 분석한 결과, 영어 동화책을 사용한 반보다 영어-한국어 이중언어 동화책을 사용한 반에서 어휘 학습 효과가 높게 나타났다. 또한 이중언어책의 효과는 하위권 학생보다는 상위권과 중위권에서 더 크게 나타났으며, 단어의 의미 추론 전략도 학습자 수준에 따라 다르게 나타났다. 상위권과 중위권의 학생들은 언어적 전략을 사용하여 단어의 의미를 유추하였으나, 하위권 학생들은 삽화와 같은 시각자료에 의거하여 의미를 추론하였다. 이중언어 동화책에 영어와 함께 제시된 한국어는 학생들의 영어 학습에 비계(scaffolding)로서 역할을 하였고, 그 정도는 학습자의 수준에 따라 다름을 알 수 있었다. 본 연구의 결과는 EFL 상황에서 영어를 가르칠 때 모국어의 역할이 부정적인 것이 아니라 긍정적일 수 있으며, 학습자 수준에 맞게 섬세하게 조정된 영어 입력을 제공할 때에만 모국어의 긍정적인 역할을 기대할 수 있음을 시사한다. This study is to investigate the effects of English-Korean dual language storybooks on English vocabulary learning for primary school students and to examine how the effects differ among the learners at different proficiency levels. The participants were 79 fifth graders who were divided into the two groups: a group instructed with the English-Korean dual language storybooks and a group with storybooks written only in English. The storybook type and the proficiency level were the independent variables, and the instructor factor and the instructional procedures were controlled.Each group read five storybooks during 15 class periods. Then, a vocabulary test was administered to each group. The statistical analyses of the test results revealed the followings. First, the group with English-Korean dual language storybooks performed significantly better in the vocabulary test than the group with English storybooks. It seemed that the Korean language provided in the dual language storybooks played a scaffolding role in English vocabulary learning. Second, the effects of storybook types on vocabulary learning differed between the proficiency levels: The effects were much stronger with the high-level and mid-level learners than with the low-level learners.The qualitative analysis of the learner interviews indicated that the high-level learners exploited linguistic resources to guess the meaning of new English words, namely the Korean counterparts in the storybooks, whereas the low-level learners failed to do so.This study implies that learners’ native language plays a positive role in learning English, and that to elicit the maximum effects of dual language storybooks, the level of storybooks should be finely tuned to the learners’ proficiency levels.

Words in Storybooks as Children’s Language Input Environment: Substantives

Min Kyung Han(한민경),Si Yeon Seong(성시연),Sou Jin Choi(최서진) 한국언어청각임상학회 2015 Communication Sciences and Disorders Vol.20 No.4

본 연구는 동화책에 등장하는 단어들 중 체언의 유형과 빈도를 중심으로 그 형태적 특징을 알아보고 연구와 임상에서 동화책에 기반한 어휘목록의 활용방안을 모색하고자 한다. 방법: 1-2세, 3, 4세, 5-7세 각 연령별 26권씩 총 78권의 동화책을 선정하여 동화책에 등장하는 14,728어절 중 체언에 해당되는 일반명사, 고유명사, 의존명사, 대명사, 수사 등 총 7,184어절을 중심으로 각 품사의 유형 수와 사용빈도를 계산하고 일원분산분석을 통하여 연령별 유형 수와 사용빈도 차이를 살펴보았다. 결과: 동화책에 등장하는 단어 중 체언은 전체 유형 수의 38.2%, 사용빈도 26.8%를 차지하였고 3, 4세용 도서에서 가장 높은 유형 수 비율과 사용빈도 비율을 보였다. 품사별로는 유형 수에서는 일반명사>고유명사>의존명사>대명사>수사의 순서로 많았고, 사용빈도는 일반명사>대명사>고유명사=의존명사>수사의 순서로 많이 사용되었다. 수사를 제외한 모든 체언 품사들은 연령이 증가할수록 유형 수와 사용빈도 비율이 유의미하게 증가하였다. 논의 및 결론: 아동의 언어입력환경 중 하나인 동화책은 연령이 높아질수록 다양한 체언을 반복적으로 제공하여 아동의 어휘습득과 발달에 영향을 미치리라 기대된다. The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics of the types and token of substantives in storybooks and to provide suggestions on the use of wordlists based on storybooks. Methods: Twenty-six books in each of three age groups (0-2, 3-4, and 5-7) were selected out of a total of 78 storybooks. Among 14,728 utterances in the selected storybooks, morphological analysis was conducted on 7,184 of the utterances to calculate the types and tokens of substantives including word classes such as common nouns (Common), proper nouns (Proper), dependent nouns (Dependent), pronouns (Pro), and numeral nouns (Numeral). An ANOVA was used to determine the differences in the types and tokens of each word class across age groups. Results: Substantives represented 38.2% and 26.8% of the types and tokens, respectively, with the storybooks for 3- to 4-year olds showing the highest the ratios of types and tokens. From greatest to smallest the order of types was Common>Proper>Dependent>Pro>Numeral and the frequency of tokens was Common>Pro>Dependent=Proper>Numeral. The types and tokens of all substantive word classes except for Numeral increased significantly with age. Conclusion: Storybooks, one of children’s language input environments, provide a variety of and repeated exposure to substantives, increasing as the age of the storybooks increases, which may influence word acquisition and development in children.

아동의 어휘발달 촉진을 위한 언어입력환경으로서의 동화책 어휘 연구: 용언을 중심으로

한민경(MinKyung Han),성시연(SiYeon Seong),최서진(SouJin Choi) 한국언어청각임상학회 2016 Communication Sciences and Disorders Vol.21 No.1

본 연구에서는 동화책에 사용되는 어휘 중 용언의 유형과 사용빈도 등 그 형태적 특징을 알아보고 동화책에 등장하는 용언의 활용방안을 모색하고자 하였다. 방법: 0-2세, 3-4세, 5-7세용 동화책 각 연령대에서 선정한 26권씩 총 78권의 동화책에 등장하는 총 14,728어절 중 동사, 형용사, 보조동사, 보조형용사, 긍정지정사, 부정지정사 등 용언에 해당되는 5,388어절의 품사별 유형 수와 사용빈도를 계산하고, 연령별 유형 수와 사용빈도의 차이를 살펴보았다. 결과: 동화책에 등장하는 용언은 동화책에서 사용되는 어휘 전체 유형 수의 25.9%, 어휘 전체 사용빈도의 18.7%를 차지하였고, 동화책 대상 연령이 높을수록 유형 수와 사용빈도가 증가하였다. 품사별 유형 수는 동사>형용사>보조동사>보조형용사>긍정지정사=부정지정사의 순서로 많았고, 사용빈도는 동사>형용사>보조동사>긍정지정사>보조형용사>부정지정사의 순서로 높았다. 동화책 대상 연령이 높을수록 동사는 유형 수와 사용빈도가 유의미하게 증가하였으나, 형용사는 유형 수와 사용빈도가 모두 유의미하게 감소하였고, 보조용언은 유형 수는 유의미하게 감소하나 사용빈도는 유의미하게 증가하였다. 논의 및 결론: 동화책에서 사용되는 용언 품사 중 동사와 보조동사의 경우 동화책 대상 연령이 높아질수록 다양한 종류가 빈번하게 사용되는 것으로 나타나 동화책은 아동의 구문발달에 긍정적인 영향을 미치는 언어입력환경을 제공하는 것으로 보인다. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the types and tokens of predicates in storybooks and to provide suggestions on the use of storybook predicates in research and clinical practice. Methods: Twenty-six books from each age group of 0-2, 3-4, and 5-7 years were selected, totaling 78 storybooks. Morphological analysis was conducted on 5,388 utterances containing predicates including verbs (Verb), adjectives (Adj), auxiliary verbs (Aux Verb), auxiliary adjectives (Aux Adj), positive copular (P Copula), and negative copula (N Copula) in order to calculate the types and tokens of predicates across word classes and to determine the differences in the types and tokens of each word class across storybook age groups. Results: In the selected storybooks predicates repre¬sented 25.9% and 18.7% of the total types and tokens, respectively, with types and tokens increasing with age. The order of types from greatest to smallest across word classes was Verb>Adj>Aux Verb>Aux Adj>P Copula=N Copula and the frequency of tokens was Verb>Adj>Aux Verb>P Copula>Aux Adj >N Copula. Across storybook age groups both type and token frequency for verbs increased significantly with age and decreased signifi¬cantly for adjectives, and for auxiliary predicates the types decreased significantly with age whereas the token frequency increased significantly with age. Conclusion: Results show that the type and token frequency of verbs and auxiliary verbs increases with age in these storybooks. Thus, storybooks provide a language input environment that may positively influence syntactic development in children.

이야기책 활용 초등 영어교사 연수 과정 제안

안정주(Ahn, Joung Joo),김지영(Kim, Jie Young) 학습자중심교과교육학회 2016 학습자중심교과교육연구 Vol.16 No.5

본 연구의 목적은 문헌 연구와 초등 영어교사의 요구 조사를 기초로 영어 이야기 책을 활용한 초등 영어교사 연수 과정을 제안하는 것이다. 문헌 연구를 통해 초등 영어교사의 전문성 개발에 대한 의미를 고찰하고, 영어 이야기책의 교육적 효용성을 제시하였다. 또한, 영어를 담당하고 있는 현직 초등 영어교사의 의견을 조사하기 위해서 2015년 10월 30일부터 2015년 11월 19일까지 설문조사를 실시하였다. 연구에 참여한 62명의 영어 담당 초등 교사 중에 93.6%(58명)는 영어 수업에서 교과서와 교과서 딸림 자료 외의 다른 자료가 필요하다고 답하였고, 95.2%(59명)의 교사는 현재 다른 교육 자료를 사용하고 있는 것으로 조사되었다. 교사 54명(87.1%)은 영어 이야 기책을 수업 시간에 활용하였다고 응답하였다. 대부분의 교사들이 영어 이야기책 활용에 대한 교육적 효과에 대해서 매우 긍정적인 견해를 가지고 있으며 수업 시간에 영어 이야기책을 효과적으로 활용하기 교사 연수가 필요하다고 답변하였다. 연수 과정에서 배우고 싶은 내용으로는 학년 별로 영어 이야기책을 활용하여 수업을 구성하는 방법, 효과적으로 이야기하는 법, 수업하기에 적합한 이야기책을 선정하는 방법으로 조사되었다. 마지막으로 문헌 연구와 초등 영어교사의 요구 조사를 토대로 30시간의 연구 과정을 개발하여 제안하였다. This study attempts to develop a teacher training program for primary school teachers using English storybooks. The program is designed based on a thorough literature review and a needs analysis of primary school English teachers. The literature review sheds new light on the importance of professional development of primary school teachers and the effectiveness of using English storybooks in English education. The needs analysis was conducted by questionnaire. Sixty-two elementary school English teachers participated in the study. A majority of participants (93.6%) responded that they needed supplementary materials other than the textbook and teachers guidebook distributed by the school, while 87.1% used English storybooks in their classes. Most teachers showed a positive attitude towards using English storybooks in their classes and acknowledged the necessity of teacher training programs to help them teach English using the books. Participants responded that they wanted to learn how to organize teaching using storybooks according to grades, tell the story effectively in class, and choose the right storybooks. Based on this needs analysis, a 30-hour teacher training program was designed. This study offers practical suggestions for primary school English teachers, educators, and program developers who want to integrate English storybooks into the regular English curriculum.

『큰 책 접근법』 이 유아의 쓰기 능력, 쓰기 흥미 및 책 내용 이해능력에 미치는 효과

이선희 ( Lee Seon Hui ),이윤경 ( Lee Yun Gyeong ) 미래유아교육학회 2003 미래유아교육학회지 Vol.10 No.4

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the 「Big Book Approach」 on writing ability, interests in writing and comprehension skills about the contents of storybooks for young children. The subjects were 53 four or five-year-old children enrolled in two classes in the public kindergarten at C city in Chungbuk province and those family environment in language art and socioeconomic status were same. The children were arranged in two groups ; 22 children in an experimental group and 31 children in a control group. The instruments used were “Writing Developmental Stage Test”(Lee & Lee, 1990)”, “Test of Comprehension Skills about Storybooks for Young children”(Lee, 1998), and “Writing Interests Test”(Kim, 2000). The procedure of the study included pre-test, 7-weeks treatments and post-test. While children in the experimental group had experienced 「Big Book Approach」 activities three times a week such as reading Big Books together, re-writing story and making big book, children in the control group had only activities related to the traditional language art. The collected data analyzed by t-test. The results of analysis are as follows : 1. There was no significant difference in writing abilities between the experimental group and the control group. 2. There was a significant difference in interests in writing between the experimental group and the control group. 3. There was a significant difference in comprehension skills about the contents of storybooks between the experimental group and the control group. In conclusion, the usage of 「Big Book Approach」 in early childhood classroom could promote the childrens’ interests in writing and comprehension skills about the contents of storybooks.

Investigating the Frequently Appearing Grammar Forms in Different Reading Levels of Children’s Storybooks

김태은 한국영어교육학회 2013 ENGLISH TEACHING(영어교육) Vol.68 No.4

This paper investigates frequencies and changes in usage for grammatical forms in four different reading levels of children’s storybooks. In particular, it is explored whether differing patterns exist in the appearance of grammatical forms from lower to higher reading levels. The data consists of 56 storybooks divided into four reading levels. The texts of each storybook were segmented by sentence and analyzed according to which grammatical forms appear in the texts. The findings reveal that modals, negatives,coordinate clauses, and adverb clauses are the basic grammatical forms to know because readers would encounter these frequently across all storybook reading levels. At higher levels, the grammatical forms showing a notably greater frequency were participles, adjective clauses, infinitives, and interrogatives. Interestingly, a cumulative frequency pattern for grammatical forms was found from easier to more difficult levels. The modals, and subsequently, negatives, adverb clauses, coordinate clauses, and participles become frequently occurring grammatical forms. The paper ends by drawing some pedagogical implications and suggestions.

그림동화책의 삽화를 활용한 예측활동이 초등 영어 학습에 미치는 영향

김혜리 ( Hae Ri Kim ),이세운 ( Se Woon Lee ) 한국외국어대학교 외국어교육연구소 2013 외국어교육연구 Vol.27 No.1

이 연구의 목적은 그림동화책을 활용하여 예측 전략을 지도함으로써,초등 영어 학습자가 텍스트의 내용을 이해하고 영어를 내우는 과정을 탐구하는 것이다. 연구의 목적을 달성하기 위하여 연구 문제를 설정하였다. 첫째,그림동화책의 삽화를 활용한 예측활동이 텍스트 이해에 미치는 양상은 어떠한가? 둘째,예측활동이 읽기 이해도 향상 이외에 영어 학습에 미치는 영향은 어떠한가? 제기한 연구 문 제에 답하기 위하여 수집된 자료를 질적으로 분석하여 결과를 도출하고 심도 있는 논의를 하였다. 먼저 첫 번째 결과는 예측활동이 학생들에게 텍스트를 이해하는 견고한 토대를 마련해 줄 수 있었다는 것이다. 두 번째 결과는 예측 활동을 통 해서 텍스트 이해를 넘어서는 영어수업이 가능함을 알 수 있었다. 즉 예측 활동은 학생들이 상상력의 확장과 창의력을 산장하고,스스로 하는 쓰기 활동을 가능하게 했으며,영어에 대한 흥미와 자신감을 향상할 수 있었다. The purpose of this study was to investigate the process of primary English learners text understanding, and English learning through teaching prediction strategies using picture storybooks. To attain the objective, the following research questions were proposed: 1) How do prediction activities using picture storybooks impact primary English learners text understanding process? 2) What are other impacts to primary English learners when they were taught prediction activities? To find the answers to the research questions, data were collected and analyzed qualitatively. The first finding is that prediction activities provide students with a solid foundation for understanding the texts The second finding is that prediction activities not only build up students comprehension of the texts, but also have subsidiary outcomes Based on the findings of this study, implications and suggestions for future studies are provided.

패턴이 있는 이야기책 기반 초등영어 학습부진학생의 문자언어 지도에 대한 연구

권현정(Kwon, Hyun-Jeong),김혜리(Kim, Hae-Ri) 한국외국어교육학회 2012 Foreign languages education Vol.19 No.2

The purpose of this study is to explore a new method of teaching literacy to primary English underachievers. In order to attain the objectives, the following research questions were proposed: (1) What aspects are shown in the literacy learning of primary English underachievers through the patterned storybook reading? (2) What changes are shown in the affective domain of primary English underachievers by the literacy learning based on the patterned storybooks? To find answers to the questions, eight 5th grade underachieving students were taught reading and writing. Data from diverse sources were collected and analyzed in a qualitative manner. The data analysis yielded the following results: First, the students in the study could have various experiences in literacy learning because patterned storybooks provided them with opportunities to explore the target language. Second, the study had a positive impact on the students such as overcoming of negative emotions toward their reading and writing, the improvement of reading and writing skills, and increased internal motivation of self-regulated learning. Based on the results, suggestions for future studies are provided.