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<td class="style7" valign="center" align="middle" height="70"><u>English Education under Japanese Rule</u></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr>
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<td class="caption" bgcolor="#ebebeb"><img alt="" src="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/news/081112_p05_english.jpg" width="450" border="0"><br>Japan's desperate measures, which drove Korean young adults into battle lines and labor mobilization, left few educational opportunities for students in higher education, and the field of English language education suffered along with higher education in general.</td>
</tr></tbody></table><br><i>This is the 17th in a series of articles about history of English education in Korea ― ED.</i><br><br>By Kim Eun-gyong <br>Contributing Writer<br><br>In May 1938, the Japanese governor-general ``…flatly reject[ed] corrupt customs that are based on the abstract, individual European and American thoughts, which have nothing to do with our history and national body.'' Accordingly, the government banned the importation of Western books, which it viewed unfit for its national policies and ideologies and the climate of Japanese imperialism; it also restricted the use of American and British authors' works as textbooks. It banned the display of English language signs on school facilities and prohibited study in or travel to the United States and Europe. <br>
<br>In 1939, the government initiated a drastic reduction of the instructional hours of English in middle school and removed the subject from the higher-education entrance exams, a decision that had an especially negative impact on mission schools, which had concentrated on English language education. The government declared English as an enemy language and fired all Britons and Americans from official positions. Missionaries were removed from schools and forced to leave the country. <br>
<br>As Japan's entanglement in the war deepened, foreign language instruction, as with the school curricula in general, underwent substantial changes. The ordinance for middle schools in January 1943 reduced the middle-school years to four and the years for girls' high school to two, thus curtailing the general amount of foreign language instruction that secondary-school students received. In the revised curriculum of middle school, foreign language was reduced to an optional subject in the third and higher grades. The proportion of the weekly instructional hours of foreign language decreased from the previous 15 percent to 10.7 or 5.3 percent. In the curriculum of girls' high school, foreign language was offered as an elective in all grades. Malay or another foreign language was added as a new choice. <br>
<br>The curriculum of normal schools consisted of a five-year regular course and two-year practice course for men while women were offered a one-year practice course in addition to the regular course. Foreign language was a required subject in the regular course for males but offered as an elective for female students, a consistent practice continued from the previous curricula. Previously, in the 1922 curriculum, English had been offered as the only choice of foreign language, but the new curriculum included Chinese, German and French as well. English language instruction had been offered four to six hours per week for men, that is, 14.9 percent of the overall instructional hours, but with the elimination of English as the only required subject of foreign language, the instructional hours of foreign language were reduced by less than half, at 7.1 percent. <br>
<br>As Japan geared the colony to the needs of war against the English-speaking United States and especially Britain, English language education in higher-education institutions, most of which were run by American missionaries, endured a serious setback. Mission schools became a target of the government's harsh suppression and experienced a significant decline reducing the quality of English language education that these schools offered. <br>
<br>Furthermore, the government banned all student and research activities, including English-language activities such as English speech contests and the publication of English language works. The subject of English was removed from entrance exams, a blow to the missionary-run professional schools such as Yeonhi and Ewha that had emphasized English language education. With the removal of English from the exams came a decrease in schools' and students' interest in English language education. <br>
<br>More significantly, Japan's desperate measures, which drove Korean young adults into battle lines and labor mobilization, left few educational opportunities for students in higher education, and the field of English language education suffered along with higher education in general. <br>
<br>Here is a case of a professional school that had made significant contribution to the development of English-language education in Korea. At Ewha, the government-general gradually forced itself into the school's management and academic affairs, resulting in the removal of a number of teachers whose educational background included studies in the United States or Europe and those who did not have Japanese language ability. English language activities, such as English-short story contests and the publication of English newspapers, were discontinued in 1938 and in 1940, respectively. Regarded as an enemy language, English was banned in school, and all English language textbooks were burned. In 1943 by the government's coercion, the department of liberal arts, which had been considered as an English department, became the department of national (i.e., Japanese) literature. In December of the same year, the government renamed the school, ``Leadership Training Institute, Female!
Youth Development Institute, Gyeongseong Women's Professional School.'' The existing four departments were integrated into one, and without the distinction of school years, students were organized into groups and received three-month training before being assigned to ``female youth development institutes,'' instituted by the government nationwide, and used as a vehicle to convert women in rural areas to part of the labor force. Ewha Professional School had been one of the major engines leading the development of English language education in Korea, but the school was forced to desert the role until Korea's liberation in 1945.<br>
<br>In sum, during the period between 1938 and 1945, Japan attempted to assimilate Koreans and convert the entire colony into a war supply base, hauling Korean youth for labor mobilization and battle lines. The colonial government strictly enforced a Japanese monolingual policy, compelling Koreans to use Japanese in daily activities outside school and in class. Moreover, as Japan engaged in a war against the United States and the Allies, the colonial government declared English as the language of the enemy and created an environment that suppressed the use and learning of English. The Japanese government's strict monolingual policy, exploitation of students for the purpose of war, and suppression of English use resulted in a serious decline in English language education in Korea. English instructional hours and school years were cut short. In higher education, liberal arts were discouraged while the government expanded science and engineering programs. Study in English-speak!
ing countries and the use of American and British authors' works were banned or restricted. Mission schools, which had served as the main source for quality English language education in Korea, withered under the anti-US government. Missionaries were removed from the schools and eventually forced to leave the country. Moreover, Japan's desperate measures that drove Korean students into battle lines and labor mobilization robbed them of educational opportunities. This was a truly adverse period for the field of English language education in Korea: English language education underwent the most profound decline since the Japanese annexation of Korea. <br>
<br><i>Kim Eun-gyong is an associate professor of applied linguistics and Associate Dean of the Center for International Affairs, Information and Communications University (ICU) in Daejeon. She can be reached at <a href="mailto:egkimrivera@icu.ac.kr"><font color="#000000"><a href="mailto:egkimrivera@icu.ac.kr">egkimrivera@icu.ac.kr</a></font></a>.</i> </font></p>
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<div><a href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2008/11/181_34300.html"><a href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2008/11/181_34300.html">http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2008/11/181_34300.html</a></a></div>
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