The purpose of this study is to explore the distribution and the selection of anaphora by analyzing a survey filled out by Korean EFL learners and Americans, and to identify the semantic functions of English referring expressions, and to compare the cognitive differences of Korean EFL learners and Americans. The findings can be summarized as follows: first, regardless of the type of a topic, Korean EFL learners and Americans have common patterns of referring expressions. Second, Korean EFL learners and Americans share similarities in the types of referring expressions and their meanings. Third, Korean EFL learners have more restrictive (in focus, activated) cognitive statuses than Americans with less restrictive (in focus, activated, uniquely identifiable) cognitive statuses. Thus, this paper argues that Korean EFL learners have a narrow range of referring expressions, while Americans possess a wide range of referring expressions. This study is meaningful in that the findings from the survey, in which parameters (distance between two anaphors, interfering referents) occur, can help Korean EFL learners to understand the use of other anaphoric forms, instead of overusing pronouns as a referring expression.