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The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 26, No. 0, pp.855-874
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Jul 2026
Received 02 Apr 2026 Revised 02 Jun 2026 Accepted 21 Jun 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.26..202607.855

Referential Choices by Korean Learners of English: Pronouns or Names?

Seungjin Hong ; Hye-ryeong Hahn
(First author) Assistant professor, Department of English Linguistics Hansung University sjhong@hansung.ac.kr
(Corresponding author) Professor, Department of English Education Seowon University 377-3 Musimseo-ro, Seowon-gu Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea., Tel: +82-43-299-8325 hyerhahn@seowon.ac.kr


© 2026 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This study addresses L2 learners’ referential choices in varying local discourse contexts. Specifically, the study investigates whether Korean learners of English can acquire target-like referential patterns despite the typological differences between the two languages. A total of 109 adult Korean learners completed a cloze test in English in which passages contained blanks requiring either proper nouns or pronouns. The blanks occurred in topic-continuing or topic-shifting conditions, either within or across paragraphs. Learners chose between pronouns and proper nouns to refer back to antecedents. Referential choice data were analyzed using generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLMMs). The results revealed significant effects of topic continuity and paragraph boundaries, indicating that learners produced pronouns more frequently in topic-continuing contexts and less frequently across paragraph boundaries. A significant interaction between topic continuity and proficiency further showed that higher-proficiency learners increasingly differentiated their referential choices across discourse contexts, preferring pronouns in topic-continuing contexts and proper nouns in topic-shifting contexts. Additional analyses of referential distance revealed no significant relationship with proficiency, although higher-proficiency learners exhibited numerically greater referential distance than lower-proficiency learners. The findings suggest that despite L1-L2 differences, increased exposure and proficiency enable learners to approximate native-like referential patterns in English discourse.

Keywords:

L2 referential choice, discourse context, Korean EFL learners, pronouns, proper nouns, full NPs

Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by Hansung University for Seungjin Hong.

This research was financially supported by Seowon University for Hye-ryeong Hahn.

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