English Learning Experiences of the Korean Students in American Classrooms

English Learning Experiences of the Korean Students in American Classrooms

  This study investigated how the Korean students in American classrooms experienced their learning in reading, writing, and vocabulary and how their teachers’ pedagogical decisions influenced the students’ learning experiences and outcomes. Data was collected by classroom observations, researcher’s journal, analysis of writing and reading samples, and interviews with the participants and teachers. Data analysis revealed that a student’s learning experience in reading, writing and vocabulary was largely dependent on the pedagogical decisions of the teacher. The study found that the students who received more informed instruction from their teacher were more successful in language development than the other students who did not. It suggested that teachers should consider how reading, writing and vocabulary tasks engage student learning, and should consider whether activities should be completed as individuals, in pairs, in small or large groups, or as a class, according to what works for each task.