ef Koreans Lack Confidence in English Communication
The following is the fifth in a series of articles highlighting alternative ideas on the Lee Myung-bak administration’s plan to strengthen English education. ― ED.
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
Learning English must be rewarding in many ways. But many Koreans are frustrated when they see the apparent difference between real communication with foreigners and what they were taught during school.
In classes, most Korean students write down what the teacher says and answer questions in an exercise book containing written English questions.
After school, they typically go to private institutions to upgrade their English scores for the college entrance exam. Most high school students focus only on learning easy technical skills.
``If we compare English education in Korea with that of Singapore, we can clearly see the problems,'' said Chae Eun-young, a Korean tour conductor and housewife residing in Singapore for about three years.
She said Singapore emphasizes fluent English communication because it is an international city. ``For example, in a typical large elementary school, more than 30 languages are spoken ― but the official language is English.''
Therefore, most students become bilingual naturally in the course of their daily schoolwork, Chae said.
Citing the cases of her children, Chae said the problems of Korean English education are critical. ``Our classes are too grammar-oriented. Korean English teachers focus on grammar because of their generally poor speaking ability. As a result, English classes in public schools are often boring. Learning is passive, not active.''
Korea also has a low supply of foreign teachers, and they are sometimes of poor quality, she said. ``For example, a foreigner with no teaching experience can easily be hired, even by public schools. Plus, typically large class size makes it difficult for even good foreign teachers to teach effectively.''
Chae stressed that all students face a big burden ― constant studying for exams ― so they think that only test scores are important.
``Because of Korea's weak public education system, some parents invest in education in English-speaking countries rather than spending money on extracurricular study in Korea,'' she said.
Chung Eui-kyoung, a Korean man in his 30s who is working for a foreign company in Seoul after residing in Sydney for seven years, said he believes there are several key solutions for these problems.
``It is important to develop domestic teachers' ability by sending them abroad to study English, and hire competent, experienced foreign teachers, and reduce class size if possible,'' he said.
``I wish the government would invest wisely in public education,'' he said. ``Many critics point out that government spending on education is not efficient or based on serious research.''
He also called for reducing the weight for university entrance examination scores and increasing that of the student's high school record when selecting students for college.
``This could result in more enthusiastic class participation. In-class activities could encourage students to take the initiative in learning, rather than learning only what they need to score well on tests,'' he said.
Saying that effective communication and an active attitude are essential elements of mastering a language, he stressed, ``This should have been our focus in English education.''
Worship of American English
South Koreans are far more familiar with American English than other forms and many of them want to speak and hear only American English.
Some Koreans, though good at American English do not easily comprehend the non-American pronunciation of native speakers from such countries as Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
Furthermore, some Koreans make fun of those with a Singapore or Philippines accent when speaking English.
In Korea where quite a few American English words are used in everyday transactions, foreigners including those who speak English as their mother tongue have to learn U.S.-style speaking.
Foreigners can't ask for a ``takeaway.'' They have to say ``takeout.'' A lift is an elevator, the ``pavement'' is the ``sidewalk,'' and the ``loo'' is the ``restroom.''
``Sometimes in the mornings I like to buy a scone from Starbucks,'' an Englishman who works for a Korean company said. ``For quite a while, I couldn't make the lady behind the counter understand that I wanted to have the scone warmed up.''
He had to use body language as the saleswoman did not understand the British pronunciation of ``hot.''
A Korean told him this: ``You should say haht. That's how we've been taught to pronounce hot.'' The Englishman did so and he hasn't had a problem since.
Erroneous Textbooks
English textbooks authorized by the government contain a large number of errors, despite a growing boom in learning the language in Korea.
Rep. Lee Joo-ho of the Grand National Party (GNP) has released a report on five high school English textbooks showing 30 errors.
``The textbooks contained grammatical errors, wrong vocabulary, improper punctuation marks. Some illustrations also had wrong explanations,'' Lee said.
For example, a textbook published by one of the nation's largest textbook companies, had a sentence: ``The boy, whom was thought to be absent-minded, really had a very active mind.''
The relative pronoun ``whom'' is wrong and should be changed into ``who.''
Another textbook carried a sentence: ``Emoticons is a new word made up of two other words, emotions and icons.'' The plural subject should be changed into ``Emoticon'' to correlate to the singular verb.
The report also said some sentences even in a textbook publication guide by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development contain wrong expressions and spelling mistakes.
A sentence in the guide said: ``I'd glad to meet you, Mr. Kim.'' The sentence should be corrected to ``I'm glad to meet you, Mr. Kim.''
``The contents of high school English textbooks for first graders were developed in 2002, but the errors and mistakes have not been corrected although they have been republished every year since then,'' Lee said.
English teachers agree that the authorities and textbook publishing companies need to pay more attention to errors and proofreading.
``Once textbooks are made, the authorities and companies do not care about them anymore. We need measures to correct the problems after publication,'' said a member of the Korean English Teachers Group, who identified himself as Hong.
But he said many such errors are mistakes made in the course of printing rather than by the authors. He said the errors were not that critical but problems resulted from the curriculum.
``The authorities changed the previous style of English education, which focused on grammar, to one emphasizing communication. Thus, people did not take grammatical errors seriously in the new textbooks developed in 2002,'' Hong said.
He said the changes have made the aim of the curriculum ambiguous, so it neither concentrates on grammar nor on listening and speaking.
The lawmaker proposed that the nation adopt various learning materials besides textbooks, such as videos with English subtitles.