English as International Language Revisited: Implications on South Korea’s ELT Context (original) (raw)
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This paper is an attempt to investigate the status of English language teaching (ELT) in South Korea. To do so the historical background of ELT, and the reform movement, as a measure taken by the government to boost language education in this country, have been discussed. The outcome of this measure and the philosophical underpinning of education in this country along with different issues related to language teaching, such as: learning strategies, beliefs, language ideology, and the use of technology-assisted language teaching programs have been elaborated. Attempts have been made to demystify the ELT problems in this country with the aim of alleviating the shortcomings and improving the strengths of such an educational system. Putting different pieces of the ELT puzzle in South Korea together, some of the stunting factors were recognized to be: the ideological basis of the reform movement, lack of utilizing critical pedagogy, and insufficient attempts aimed at teaching language learning strategies and technology-assisted language learning normalization. Though this paper has focused on the status of ELT in Korea, many of the raised suggestions can be utilized in other countries, in particular Asian countries with Confucian background.
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English is considered the most important language after Korean in South Korea; thus, it is a compulsory subject in schools. English lessons begin in year three of the primary school and continue until the end of schooling, including at the university level. This was not always the case, as English was not considered to be significant until the Korean government needed people who could speak it in order to communicate with the US military during the Korean War. After a period where English was backgrounded by more pressing issues, it re-emerged as necessary to promote globalisation which was seen as a challenge for the Korean people. More recently, additional pressure to improve Korean students’ English language competence has come from an increasing economic dependence on international trade. The Department of Education has responded differently to these three main points of pressure to improve English language competency. Initially, they adopted a grammar-translation method to resp...
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English Fever" is an ongoing phenomenon in South Korea that represents the strong obsession for English language proficiency through education. The growing prevalence of a foreign language is surprising considering South Korea's linguistic history. However, the significance of English bolstered by globalization, has undoubtedly permeated into South Korea's government, schools, and public language ideologies (LI) and language policy & planning (LPP). This obsession for English proficiency is contradictory to reports of South Korean English language competency levels. Therefore, it is critical to analyze English language practice in South Korea. Examining South Korean youth who are greatly influenced by these surrounding LI and LPP, this thesis argues that there are limitations to South Korea's "English Fever" or pursuit towards English proficiency. These limitations are found to be the reliance on instrumental motivation, notions of the native speaker, and ...