What Is ENIE About?
By Park Chang-seok
English Education Failed
Koreans' English proficiency was found to be at the bottom in a survey.
Korea ranked 19th in English proficiency among 20 countries in a recent survey of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) run by the British Council, the University of Cambridge and Australia's IDP Education. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was bottom.
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.
Koreans showed weakness in writing and speaking tests. Koreans ranked 18th in general listening and reading, and 19th in general writing and speaking.
South Africans topped the 2007 IELTS performance for general comprehension in all areas, followed by Singaporeans, Malaysians, Brazilians, and Indonesians.
Korea's three comparable Northeastern Asian neighbors ― Hong Kong, China and Japan ― ranked 8th, 13th and 16th, respectively.
It's unbelievable! It's a shame! It's unimaginable in the light of Koreans' investment in English education.
In Korea, many expectant mothers play English language tapes to their unborn children as a way to build up their children's language skills. Koreans have an ardent desire to be fluent in English. Their language education begins as babies at the embryonic stage. The fever reaches its peak in elementary and secondary schools and lasts right up through university. Koreans' language study craze does not end here. The language war gets fiercer in the job-hunting market.
Koreans spend more time and money on studying English ― something that is incomparable with other countries. The Korean private English education market is estimated at as much as 15 trillion won ($15 billion). English studying is not confined to students ― it prevails among office workers too.
In spite of the never-ending fever for English study, Koreans have shown little improvement in language proficiency. Their English language test scores have been going down further as a result of changing testing methods.
Testing has been going on in such a way as to place greater emphasis on logical speaking and critical writing. TOEFL, now being taken in the format of an Internet-based test (iBT), now gives greater weight to testing speaking and writing proficiency, rather than grammar which was previously emphasized in the computer-based test(CBT) or paper-based test(PBT).
All in all, English education in Korea failed!
Change of English Testing
Since the birth of the modern Republic of Korea in 1948, English education can be said to have developed in three stages over the last half a century. Known as ``English 1.0,'' ``English 2.0,'' and ``English 3.0,'' respectively. Emphasis was placed on grammar in the initial English 1.0 (1950-1980) and then on conversation in the follow-up English 2.0. Now is the time of English 3.0 with stress being placed on logical thinking and critical writing.
After the adoption of iBT in TOEFL in 2006, Koreans ranking went down to 111th among a total of 147 tested countries. iBT TOEFL writing is tested for 55 minutes in the form of essays for two types of topics. It requires those taking the test to be capable of summarizing the main idea of given texts and lectures. It needs the capabilities of logical thinking and critical writing.
This new testing mode has been prevalent even in state-administered tests and corporate examinations. A notable change was announced for the state-administered examination for secondary-school teacher recruitment from 2008, featuring putting greater emphasis on writing and speaking in a logical manner. The alteration aims to gauge the practical language skills of would-be entrants, based on their logical thinking capability.
A growing numbers of companies are no longer relying on TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) or TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) in recruiting new employees.
Questions calling for explaining the meaning of ``진퇴양난 (進退兩難)'' or ``침소봉대 (針小棒大),'' asked by LG, one of many large companies, in an examination, are good examples of the changed testing format.
English teaching (learning) methods have been put into practice in various forms.
A number of hagwon and English immersion-program villages nationwide are now teaching students English ``very earnestly.'' Parents' zeal for their children's language education does not end at home. More than 200,000 Korean students go overseas to study English, at a cost of 23 billion won.
By all accounts, the English learning environment in Korea is not so miserable, compared with other countries. We have made a lot of efforts for English education. But our efforts have brought few tangible results.
ENIE ― A Magic Solution
What is the solution? What should be considered first is the ENIE (English Newspaper in Education). ENIE is seen as an extension of NIE (Newspaper in Education). NIE does exactly what its name says: It is newspapers taking an active role in the education of children.
NIE's main avenue to reach children has been the school classroom. NIE is based on the regular use of newspaper in the classroom. Today, it is an integrated educational program in Korea and the rest of the world. NIE encourages reading, underscores the responsibilities of citizenship and fosters a daily newspaper reading habit.
Adding another function to NIE is ``ENIE" (English Newspaper in Education), which can be effectively applied to building English education and essay writing skills in countries such as Korea not using English as an official language.
ENIE, billed as a new concept of NIE, cultivates logical thinking and critical writing skills with analysis of local, national and world news, political cartoons, and editorials.
It also increases the capabilities of clarifying and developing decision making and life skills through human interest stories, advice columns, and business news.
On top of this, it makes a great contribution to sharpening math and problem-solving skills with sports statistics, stock market listings, and retail ads, while building vocabulary with crosswords puzzles and word games.
Newspapers are interesting, concisely written, easily readable, and deal with issues related to everyday life. An English newspaper is a living textbook and a fine collection of essays as well.
These newspapers, which can be obtained easily at a cheap price, can be used as authentic reading material for students as well as teachers. This presentation aims to shed light on finding a path on which students will walk toward building their language skills.
NIE dates back to 1795 when the Portland Eastern Herald in the United States reported an article on practical education using newspapers.
In its June 8 issue, it reported that newspapers were useful in expanding students' reading power and knowledge as teaching materials with abundant information obtained at the cheapest-possible price.
NIE took its practical root in the United States in 1932 when the New York Times began distributing copies of its newspaper to classrooms on a regular basis, asking them to be used as material for learning current reporting and commentary issues.
NIE took a forward step in 1958 when the American Newspaper Publishers' Association (ANPA) expanded newspaper-using education throughout the U.S.
The full-fledged implementation of NIE was triggered by the shocking result of a survey about middle-school students' contact with print media, which was conducted in Iowa, a mid-western state in the United States.
The survey found that about 40 percent of surveyed students had never had contact with print media outside of their schools. As part of efforts to address this, the Des Moiness Register, a community newspaper, and educational organizations launched a ``Newspaper in the Classroom'' campaign.
In the case of the United States, it was in the late 1950s that NIE was conducted on a full-scale under a cooperative system between educational institutions and newspaper companies. Now, the American Newspaper Association is fully in charge of NIE. Over 750 newspapers in the United States are active in NIE.
NIE was passed on to other countries and began in the United Kingdom and Japan in 1984 and 1989, respectively.
NIE was introduced in Korea by a few newspapers published in Seoul in 1994-1995 and has been conducted under the sponsorship of the Korean Newspaper Association and the Korea Press Foundation
Characteristics of English Newspaper
A) Simplicity, clarity, and emphasis are the main themes of a news story!
B) A news story must hang together logically.
C) All the pertinent facts must be in it.
D) It must be complete and able to stand on its feet.
The reader must be left with an accurate impression of the facts.
The reader must not be led to an erroneous conclusion.
E) Each story has its own demands for logic and facts.
Some stories are clearly understood in a few words.
Others require careful and detailed explanation.
F) Much of the news is the result of an interview, a statement or announcement, or a speech, all of which are written in an emphatic way.
G) The newspaper reader is entitled to know whether a statement is being presented as a fact or as an opinion.
Logicality of English News Story
(A) Deductive Reasoning
English news stories hang together logically in a deductive logic focused on finding general laws from particular facts. Along this line, the broad-based most newsworthy information usually comes at the start of news stories, and the least newsworthy information comes at the end of story.
This is a complete different model from the Korean language news format using an inductive writing method centered on seeking specific reasoning from the beginning. The news story, especially the lead, is written logically on the 5W+1H principle of ``Who, What, When, Where, Why and How,'' a basic structure of logical writing and speaking.
All in all, ENIE is a magical solver for logical writing and speaking!
(B) Inverted Pyramid Format:
The news story is written in the form of an ``inverted pyramid form,'' which makes it possible to present the facts with their greatest impact.
Inverted Pyramid Format Theory by Ken Blake, Ph.D. Middle Tennessee State University:
Just as many use many different kinds of leads, journalists use many different kinds of frameworks for organizing stories. Journalists may tell some stories chronologically. Other stories may read like a good suspense novel that culminates with the revelation of some dramatic piece of information at the end.
Still other stories will start in the present, then flash back to the past to fill in details important to a fuller understanding of the story. All are good approaches under particular circumstances. As with writing leads, though, one should learn the basics before attempting fancier things.
By far the simplest and most common story structure is one called the ``inverted pyramid.'' To understand what the inverted pyramid name means, picture an upside-down triangle _ one with the narrow tip pointing downward and the broad base pointing upward. The broad base represents the most newsworthy information in the news story, and the narrow tip represents the least newsworthy information in the news story.
When you write a story in inverted pyramid format, you put the most newsworthy information at the beginning of the story and the least newsworthy information at the end. How do you decide which is which?
You use the news values.
(C) Top-Down Form:
The news story begins with a lead on its top, which covers inclusive facts and develops down to details arranged in the order of importance.
The lead of a news story summarizes or keys the story and a body of block paragraphs.
● It facilitates the reading of the paper.
● It makes it possible for readers to select the news story from the top.
● A good lead is as clear as a picture.
● The lead paragraph summarizes the event. The lead is the climax of the incidents or events.
D. 5W+1H:
The news story, especially a lead, is written logically on the principle of Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.
The writer is a professor of English media at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.