해외 장기체류 경험 유무에 따른 초등학생 영어 쓰기 코퍼스 비교 분석: Coh-Metrix 기반으로 = A Comparative Analysis of Elementary Students’ English Writing Corpora Based on the Presence or Absence of Long-term Overseas Experience: Using Coh-Metrix

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze differences in elementary school students’ English writing proficiency based on their long-term overseas experiences using a corpus-based approach. The study created a corpus of English writing samples from 728 elementary students and analyzed the samples using Coh-Metrix. The main analysis metrics were word count, average sentence length, lexical diversity (TTR), syntactic complexity (noun phrase density, number of words before the main verb, number of modifiers per noun phrase), cohesion (referential and semantic cohesion), conjunction usage, readability (FRE, FKGL), and lexical information (age of acquisition, concreteness).
A multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to examine the influence of long-term overseas experience on these metrics. The results revealed that both word count and lexical diversity improved as the grade level increased, with students who had long-term overseas experience displaying higher lexical diversity. Thus, natural exposure to English is essential for vocabulary acquisition. Long-term overseas experience did not significantly affect syntactic complexity, indicating that other factors, such as native language proficiency, may play a more significant role. Interestingly, students without long-term overseas experience demonstrated higher semantic cohesion and conjunction usage, indicating that overseas experience does not necessarily equate to superior writing skills. Regarding readability, students with long-term overseas experience in higher grades wrote at a level equivalent to 7th grade in the USA, whereas those without such experience wrote at a 5th-grade level, and lower grades produced texts at a 4th-grade level, all of which reflect relatively high proficiency. The lexical information metrics, such as age of acquisition and concreteness, were not influenced by long-term overseas experience. In conclusion, this study confirmed that students can achieve excellent English writing skills even without long-term overseas experience. Therefore, natural English exposure and vocabulary learning should be enhanced in public education. Furthermore, follow-up studies should explore effective methods for teaching English writing within the public education system.