Korean English Teachers Slam Gov't Education Plans

[Harold Schiffman]

Korean English Teachers Slam Gov't Education Plans

Professors of English language and literature from universities across
the country on Saturday slammed what they said were unrealistic plans
by the government to improve the English-language communication skills
of Korean students. They said any plans to enable high school
graduates to talk freely with foreigners in English without additional
private tutoring were pie in the sky. They called for a consistent and
firm policy of not imposing English tests in academic fields where it
is not really necessary.
They made the call at a seminar at Ewha Womans University under the
joint sponsorship of Scholars for English Studies in Korea and the
Korean English Teachers Group.

In the seminar, participants proposed that English as a foreign
language should not be taught at the expense of the Korean mother
tongue. They proposed the government cancel the plan to replace the
current CSAT English-language exam with a new state-certified test,
and lay more focus on balanced education of speaking, listening,
writing and reading rather than putting excessive emphasis on
¡°superficial¡± communication skills.

Lee Byung-min, a professor of English education at Seoul National
University, said, "Goals for education which can be attained through
public education have been set arbitrarily or been exaggerated." With
some 730 hours of English classes from elementary to high school, it
is hard for a student to engage in free conversation with foreigners.
¡°It will be still hard for the student to engage in significant
communication with foreigners even if they are given double the amount
of the English classes,¡± Lee added.

The government should therefore reset goals attainable through public
education more realistically, he said. Lee warned of ill effects of
the early English education frenzy. "There is no evidence that early
English-language education for children under 11 is more effective
than intensive education for children from 11 up," he claimed.

Kang Ji-soo, a professor of English literature at Inha University,
said, "The ideal English-language education for Korean students should
be premised on close cooperation and role-sharing between Korean
English teachers and native English speakers." Such programs as
'English villages' might damage students' respect for their mother
tongue, and this could lay a hurdle to Koreans accepting and speaking
English as a genuine global language, Kang added.

Other participants said no matter how innovative a new English
language curriculum is, it is still difficult to apply it to the
Korean high school classrooms, because the students' placement is
determined by slight differences in CSAT scores. Lee Dong-hyun, an
English teacher at Kaewoong Middle School in Seoul who serves as chief
administrator for English teachers in Korea, said, "If we adopt the
presidential Transition Committee's plan on reading and listening, and
speaking and writing, the English section will be eliminated from the
CSAT and English education in high school classes will most likely be
ruined. It'll be difficult to normalize public English-language
education unless society stops paying overly high attention to
English."

Kim Myung-hwan, a professor of English literature at SNU, said, "The
goals for college English education are not to hone students'
conversational skills focusing on speaking and listening but to
cultivate their academic English so that they can read and write
high-level English." He proposed that the government put its efforts
toward developing English education programs suitable for the Korean
students and developing the skills of Korean English teachers, rather
than indiscriminately employing native English speakers or increasing
the number of English classes.

The government is proposing to hire some 23,000 English teachers
capable of teaching in English over the next five years.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200803/200803180014.html

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