By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

Koreans spend a lot of energy and money on studying English but their efforts seem futile as they always remain at the bottom of tests measuring English capability compared with other countries.

The Korean private English education market is estimated at as much as 15 trillion won ($15 billion). On top of students, office workers are bent on studying the language.

About seven in 10 office workers are showing signs of ``English addition syndrome'' where they feel uneasy if they are not studying it, according to YBM Sisa.
The leading language institute surveyed 1,837 office workers and more than 40 percent of respondents said they spend over 100,000 won ($100) per month on English education. More than half of those surveyed answered that they are currently studying the language.

Asked whether they feel the need for English studying, nearly 97 percent said, ``yes.''

Mired at Rock Bottom

Despite this frenzy, Koreans are showing no marked improvement in international scores on English tests.

The British Council announced Tuesday that Korea ranked 19th on the general training module of the IELTS among 20 countries ― Korean applicants averaged 5.21 out of a full score of 9.

IELTS is short for International English Language Testing System. Run by the British Council, University of Cambridge and Australian IDP Education, IELTS has two types of tests: a general training module for emigrant hopefuls and an academic module for students applying to overseas schools. It is on a par with TOEFL in terms of the number of test applicants.

Korean applicants especially showed weakness in writing and speaking tests, the British Council said. South Africa, which has adopted English as a business language, ranked top with an average score of 7.46. Singapore came next with 7.01, followed by Malaysia with 6.9, and Brazil with 6.43. China ranked 13th with 5.77 and Japan was placed 16th with 5.52.

In the case of the academic module, Korea scored 5.71 ranking 15th. Germany topped the test module with 7.16 followed by Malaysia with 6.65, the Philippines with 6.58 and Russia, 6.48.

IELTS test organizers said Korea has to adopt a new system for English education.

``Although Korea spends more money on English education and Koreans are trying to study English at an earlier age the test scores have remained the same,'' the British Council said.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr