[lg policy] South Korea bans English up to third grade

[Harold Schiffman]

 South Korea bans English up to third grade Posted on Mar 6, 2018
<https://thepienews.com/news/south-korea-bans-english-third-grade/> by Claudia
Civinini <https://thepienews.com/author/claudia/> Posted in ELT
<https://thepienews.com/section/news/elt/>, Government
<https://thepienews.com/section/news/government/>, News
<https://thepienews.com/section/news/>, under Asia
<https://thepienews.com/region/asia/>.
Tagged with South Korea <https://thepienews.com/tags/south-korea/>.
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<https://thepienews.com/news/south-korea-bans-english-third-grade/>.

South Korea has banned the teaching of English to first and second graders
in a move that was contested by parents and teachers, Al Jazeera reports
<https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/south-korea-bans-english-education-graders-180302100352881.html>
.
[image: English won’t be part of the curriculum until grade three to allow
children to develop their Korean language skills. Photo: Pexels]English
won’t be part of the curriculum until grade three to allow children to
develop their Korean language skills. Photo: Pexels Share this:
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*About Claudia Civinini*
Born and bred in Genoa, Italy, Claudia moved to Australia during her
masters degree to teach Italian. She studied and worked in Melbourne for
five years before moving to London, where she finally managed to combine
her love for writing and her passion for education. She worked for three
years as a reporter for the EL Gazette before joining The PIE News.

Some parents are worried this will increase demand for expensive private
institutions teaching English to young children

The South Korean government cited concerns around the pedagogical validity
of early foreign language learning and its effect on the child’s first
language ability.

English won’t be part of the curriculum for primary schools until grade
three to allow children to develop their Korean language skills first,
government officials said.

“The issue of best starting age in language learning is complex and has
been the subject of numerous articles and research papers”

“According to many English education experts and neuroscientists, the right
age for learning English as a second language is the third grade,” South
Korea
<https://thepienews.com/data/south-korea-record-high-growth-in-intl-student-numbers/>
MoE official Kwon Ji-young said*.*

However, language policy expert Andy Kirkpatrick of Griffith University
told *The PIE* *News* that the government may have a point in delaying
foreign language learning.

“I believe it is probably best left until children are about 11 and have
fluency and literacy in their first language before they embark on
English,” explained.

“Schools are not natural language learning environments.”

Some parents are worried that this will increase demand for expensive
private institutions teaching English to young children and will mean that
students from poorer families will miss out on educational opportunities.

An estimated 7,000 English language teachers are also at risk of losing
their jobs. Many more will follow suit with the implementation of a ban on
English education for pre-schoolers, which was temporarily delayed after
widespread protests
<http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/02/181_242568.html>, the Korea
Times reported.

Commenting on the news, a British Council spokesperson told *The PIE *that
they will work to improve the teaching and learning of English within the
national policy framework that education authorities deem “the most
appropriate” for the context.

“The British Council does not believe in any one size fits all solution,
and does believe that people of all ages can learn English.

“The local context is paramount and the overall best interests of children
should be the primary driver in any educational decision,” they said.

“The issue of best starting age in language learning is complex and has
been the subject of numerous articles and research papers.”


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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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