Korea's dismal placing on a British-sponsored English test was only the latest of repeated confirmation that its education methodology has problems. The time seems to be well past for all parties concerned ― the government, schools and people ― to stop for a while and think why do Koreans fare so poorly while their fervor to master the lingua franca is the hottest in the world.
The three countries in Northeast Asia have long been regarded as belonging to the poorest learners of English in the world. So many Koreans might have been disappointed with their ranking placed even lower than those of the Chinese and Japanese. And this is happening in a country, where the people spend $15 billion a year just on studying English, pregnant women teach English to their fetuses and mothers and children live abroad mainly for mastering English, leaving a number of ``lone-goose'' fathers at home.
All the fuss even begs the question: Are the Korean people not cut out for English or is this because this country was a ``land of hermits'' as recently as a century ago? Both don't seem to be the answer, which brings one back to question of the right methodology.
The problem before was mostly with the speaking, as most students focused on reading, grammar and vocabulary. These days, however, many college, or secondary and even elementary school students, speak better than their parents, but their reading and writing skills seem to have improved little, if not got worse.
As in everything, English education here seems to be influenced too much by specific fads of the times ― from one extreme to the other. If learning a foreign tongue is not for just mastering the street language or simple daily life but for understanding high levels of foreign culture and academic achievement, the current conversation-oriented method should give way to a more balanced study of reading, writing and speaking.
Provided the government keeps certain points in mind and makes due preparation, the ``English immersion'' program is a worthy attempt. Most of all, the education ministry should ensure that students' level of understanding of their subjects should be the same whether they are taught in English or in Korean, and that their ability in their mother tongue should not be impaired.
With the launch of pilot programs with qualified native speakers, the government needs to start the cultivation of capable local teachers en masse to expand the immersion program.
Most countries that placed high in the test results, such as Finland, did little more than implement immersion programs on a selected basis and created an English-friendly atmosphere in overall society, including major network broadcasters.
There are few reasons Korea cannot emulate this with a calmer, better-planned approach and keep its people from becoming ``English patients.''