A Study on Korean EFL Learners’ Perception of English Emotion Words in the NSM Theory

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how sensitively Korean EFL learners (n = 12) at an advanced English proficiency level could distinguish subtle differences in meaning among closely related English emotion words. For data collection, this study conducted two tasks: a sentence-completion task and an explication-recognition task. For the explication-recognition task, this study followed the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) theory postulated mainly by Wierzbicka (1992 and 1999), and guided the participants to choose one word of emotion among seven emotion words to match up with its most appropriate explication. They were also asked to underline the component(s) of the explication that affected their choices to minimize any possible casual choices. Concerning the sentence completion task, the participants were asked to fill out each blank (20 blanks in total) with the most appropriate word of emotion and then briefly explain reasons for their choices. The results of this study support the Leibnizian position that it could be more effective for L2 learners to learn culture-specific words with context than without context.