My research is motivated by my years of experience in teaching Korean. By mentoring and teaching Korean language learners, I became interested in why some learners are successful in language learning while others struggle and how to better help these learners develop language competence. Given this, my action research aims at contributing to the second language acquisition theory and practices through developing effective instructional practices. I have interests in four areas: 1) second language learning via technology, 2) curriculum design to develop learners’ intercultural competence, 3) language assessment, and 4) second language reading.
Research Grants and Program Donation
| Year | Role | Name and Source | Purpose | Amount |
| 2021 | PI | Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, Transformation and Innovation Grant | Virtual reality for accessibility and diversity | $5,166 |
| 2020-2023 | Co-PI | Academy of Korean Studies | Seed program for Korean Studies | 159,000,000 KRW |
| 2020 | PI | Academy of Korean Studies | Exploring the effects of using VR and AR on developing Korean language learners’ intercultural communicative competence | $22,000 |
| 2019 | PI | Brown Teaching Grant | From virtual reality to real life inquiry | $2,750 |
| 2018 | PI | SK Innovation Donation | Developing and managing Korean-related programs | $50,000 |
| 2018 | PI | Brown Teaching Grant | Developing assessment tools using virtual reality | $5,000 |
| 2018 | PI | Undergraduate Research Assistance Grant | Hiring a research assistant for collecting and analyzing research data | $3,000 |
| 2018 | PI | Course Development Grant | From a virtual reality to real-life inquiry | $1,500 |
| 2017 | PI | SK Innovation Donation | Establishing Rice-in-Korea program scholarship | $50,000 |
| 2017 | PI | Brown Teaching Grant | Integrating mobile-based telecollaboration into foreign language curriculum | $5,000 |
| 2017 | PI | Teaching Innovation Fund | Integrating virtual reality into foreign language curriculum | $5,527 |
| 2017 | PI | CLIC Summer Grant | Developing authentic Korean language and culture data | $5,000 |
| 2014 | PI | Doctoral Research Grant from Educational Testing Service | Small grants for doctoral research in second or foreign language assessment | $2,000 |
[Second Language Learning via Technology]
- The effects of using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) on developing learners’ language competence
- Virtual Reality (VR) training for the Rice-in-Korea study-abroad program URL: http://news.rice.edu/2018/04/27/study-abroad-students-get-a-virtual-encounter-with-south-korea/
- Immersive Korean language learning with 360 virtual reality videos URL: clicvr.rice.edu http://news.rice.edu/2017/11/16/rice-students-experience-next-frontier-in-language-acquisition-virtual-reality
- Cognitive, social, and teaching presence in a mobile-based telecollaboration project
- Second language learning in a virtual world: A study of a trans-national collaborative language learning experiences
[Curricula initiatives to develop learners’ intercultural competence]
- The impacts of a short-term study abroad program on developing students’ intercultural competence
- Comparing the impacts of telecollaboration and study-abroad programs on learners’ intercultural competence
- The impact of group composition and task design on foreign language learners’ interactions in mobile-based intercultural exchanges
[Language assessment]
- Using virtual reality to assess L2 oral ability
- The effects of test takers’ language proficiency on their role-play tasks and face validity in a virtual reality interactive speaking assessment
- Comparing face-to-face and virtual world group oral tests
[Second language reading]
- Examining the relationships among foreign language reading anxiety, reading processing, and reading comprehension
- The incidental acquisition of prepositions through enhanced extensive reading instruction
- The effects of anxiety on Korean ESL learners’ reading strategy use and comprehension and reading comprehension
©2021 Jayoung Song