Bill Calls for More Practical English Learning

By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter

A lawmaker said Wednesday that he will propose legislation to remove English from the college entrance exam known as the Korea Scholastic Aptitude Test (KSAT).

Rep. Park Jun-seon of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) told The Korea Times that he plans to submit the bill to the National Assembly by April after gathering public opinion and making minor changes.

Under a draft of the bill obtained by the paper, the English test of the KSAT would be replaced with a government-accredited English proficiency test.

Under the measure, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology would be required to develop an indigenous version of the TOEFL focusing more on practical English communication skills, or consign the task to a government-run research institute.

"The object of learning English among the young has turned into getting better scores on the college entrance exam," Park said. "We must scrap the English test for college entrance and allow them to spend more time in learning practical English at school."

If the bill is approved by the legislature, students will be able to sit for the alternative English test at any time, year round.

Park claims that this will boost English communication skills among Koreans and reduce spending on English, which stands at 33 percent of the total 21 trillion won ($18.3 billion) spent on private education.

The draft bill also calls on the ministry to overhaul the current examination for the selection of English teachers by including an essay writing test and the evaluation of candidates' listening and speaking skills.

Korea has been pushing for the development of a domestic English proficiency test to reduce the country's dependency on foreign tests such as the TOEIC and TOEFL.

The government plans to develop three state-run, Internet-based tests by the end of 2011 to meet the growing demand for English proficiency certification.

The number of the test takers of the four major English tests, namely the TOEFL, TOEIC, TEPS and PELT, has tripled from 779,224 in 1996 to 2,359,590 in 2007.

Korea had more TOEFL test takers (102,340) than any other country in 2005, accounting for 19 percent of the world's total.

However, some say that many obstacles remain for a government-run test to replace the English section of the KSAT.

"To my understanding, the government is also planning to adopt a state English proficiency test after gathering opinions in 2012," Rep. Lee Yoon-sung of the GNP said. "But the test will need to gain public trust first."

leeth@koreatimes.co.kr

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