Experience, Methodology Matter in English Teaching
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
A U.S. English language officer said that when Korea selects foreign English teachers, it should put more emphasis on their experiences and teaching methodology than the mere fact that English is their mother tongue.
``People think, if you have an English native speaker, you have a good teacher. It is more important to have teachers who have experience and ideas of methodology rather than having native speakers,’’ said Michael E. Rudder, regional English language officer (RELO) of the embassy of the United States of America in an interview with The Korea Times.
The RELO assists, facilitates and helps out in English teaching in a total of 18 countries all over the world.
Rudder, based in Jakarta, Indonesia, has been covering eight countries in East Asia since November 2006. He travels from time to time to Korea, Japan, East Timor, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines and Indonesia.
During his visit to Korea last week, the language officer said that speaking skills are nothing to do with teaching ability and well-trained Korean teachers will be the key for success in English education.
``They don’t have to have American English, British English, Australian English or Canadian English. If foreign teachers have training experience and special methodology, they can be wonderful teachers. But if they don't, then they can be disasters,’’ he said.
He continued ``It is not necessary for English teachers to speak fluent English. Often many Korean teachers have low confidence. What they need to do is to raise competency.''
``It is important in English classes to use the language in a real meaningful context and regular base everyday. Also teachers need to make their students to enjoy English classes as entertainment. But in many countries including Korea, teachers are accustomed with their traditional methodology and it makes them difficult to change,'' he added.
The officer also has been involved in many short or long programs to train English teachers in Korea by inviting English specialists. The language expert also mentioned Korea needs to remove the gap between teaching and assessment. ``Most countries have English tests in their national exams, it measures a certain level of grammar and reading comprehension. But it's not measuring the ability to communicate, to interact, therefore the evaluation system also used to be modified.’’
``In Malaysia, for example, there were discussions about eliminating English as a subject from the national exam. Although I don't think it is necessary. However, there is a gap between teaching and testing. That's the problem. What do you need to do is to close this gap and tests should measure communication competence.’’ ``English tests should measure communication skills. The problem is not unique to Korea. It is general problem through all the regions I am covering,’’ he said.
Regarding immersion English programs, the English expert said it could bring positive effects. ``The more you use the target language, the better it is.’’
Before arriving in Indonesia, he served as RELO in Central America based in San Jose, Costa Rica between 2003 and 2006 as well as in Brasilia, Brazil between 2000 and 2002.
He holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University, an M.A. in TESOL from Columbia University Teachers College, and a B.A. and M.A.T. in French from the University of North Carolina.
Prior to joining the foreign language service, he worked primarily in the Middle East as a teacher, teacher trainer, and academic consultant in the area of English Language Teaching. He has published several papers in EFL journals.