Research Projects

My research centers on the relationships among language, literacy, learning, and educational innovation. I previously completed a research project on the implementation of online learning in schools under the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education during the COVID-19 pandemic, examining how remote instruction was prepared and delivered when students from elementary through high school were unable to attend school in person. Conducted from May to August 2020, the project addressed the realities and challenges of emergency online instruction in Korean schools.

A major line of my research has investigated the role of background knowledge in L2 reading comprehension. In this area, I have examined how topic background knowledge shapes college students’ L2 reading comprehension and how topic familiarity affects EFL high school students’ comprehension of expository texts, particularly in science and history.

My current research extends this line of inquiry by critically examining how the Simple View of L2 Reading has been applied in L2 reading research. In particular, I investigate whether the framework has at times led to problematic hypotheses about the role of linguistic comprehension, especially in studies that have treated written grammatical and vocabulary knowledge as direct indicators of the language comprehension component of the model. This work seeks to clarify the conceptual and measurement issues involved in applying the Simple View to L2 contexts and to offer a more theoretically grounded account of how written linguistic knowledge contributes to L2 reading comprehension. I am also conducting a longitudinal study of elementary students’ L2 reading development in an online AI-based game learning environment.

In addition, I have been actively involved in AI and Education projects at Seoul National University. Beyond research, I directed the Siheung City English Mentoring Program and currently lead an English Mentoring Program at Dongil Girls’ Commercial High School.