Korea: Rash implementation of English immersion policy will have negative side effects

[Harold Schiffman]

Policy Not Ideal for English Education
 Rash implementation of immersion policy will have negative side effects

Choi Bok-soon

 Published 2008-08-16 15:21 (KST)



Since the South Korean government announced the policy of English
education called "Immersion," it has been a controversial issue. As
you know, the policy means teaching other subjects besides English,
such as math, science, and social studies, in English in order to
acquire proficiency in the language. Now, the world is globalizing
rapidly and the importance of English as an international language is
increasing. So it has become a necessity to be able to communicate in
English and people strive rigorously to learn English skills.
Immersion may be one of the most effective ways to acquire English
proficiency naturally, but it may also cause many negative side
effects, and those side effects are prevalent especially in Korean
elementary schools.

First, elementary school students have not yet mastered the Korean
language to be able to express themselves accurately and effectively
when reading and writing in their own mother tongue. Immersion can
hinder students' Korean literacy. Some Elementary school teachers in
charge of low grade students are worried about the students who
graduated from the English kindergarten.

Many of them have some problems delivering their ideas by speaking or
writing in Korean class. Even if we ignore that a language is the soul
of a country, it is very important that we should be able to speak,
comprehend, read and write our own language correctly and efficiently.

Second, we cannot be assured that students will master the subject
contents. It is very hard for Korean students. Even in English class,
only a few students understand what the teacher is saying in English.
It can be connected to the lowering of scholastic ability.

Third, it will lead to an increase in expenses for private education.
To understand the subject contents, students need to learn more
English words and expressions. Korean parents who are eager about
their children's education will be sure to send their children to
private English academies for the upcoming school curriculum.


Last, we are not ready for immersion. There are not enough teachers
who can teach other subjects in English. And there are too many
students in a class. We can only obtain the desired results when we
have enough capable teachers for immersion and fewer students in a
class.

Therefore, introducing immersion is not appropriate to current Korean
education. If we do implement immersion, I suggest teaching other
subjects besides English only for review. Students can review what
they learned in the unit. And also, we can teach students how to
introduce our country or culture in English, because English is a kind
of tool for communication for delivering our ideas.

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=383410&rel_no=1

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