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http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200605/kt2006050217480810510.htm

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Professors, Students Struggle With English


By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter




An increasing number of Korean universities are offering English-speaking lectures in a bid to train global experts and enhance their international competitiveness.
However, it is not easy for Korean professors and students who are not equipped with English skills to follow up lectures.

More and more universities are adopting the policy to provide English-only classes among liberal arts courses in Seoul and other regions.

``I am taking an English-speaking subject related to my major, given by a Korean professor this semester. But I felt both my Korean professor and other students were ill-prepared for the English-only classes,�� Park Si-soo, a senior majoring in business administration at Hanyang University, told The Korea Times.

``I think there are obvious limitations for Korean professors to exactly convey academic knowledge to students in English. My professor seems to have difficulties speaking proper English terminologies in business administration, although he had overseas study experiences many years ago,�� he said.

Park said the university is recently rushing to pressure Korean professors and students to engage in the English-only lectures to just keep abreast of other universities in a booming English-oriented academia.

He said his professor teaches the class based on texts which are basically translated from Korean to English because the subject was originally a Korean class until last year.

``My professor, who is actually not intended to conduct the lecture in English, had no choice but to accept the school�s policy to expand English-only education,�� he said.

``I don�t think the recent boom in expanding the lectures conducted in English is going so well as both Korean professors and students feel burdened taking the class in English due to a lack of English,�� he said.

He stressed that to keep English-only classes in place, basic education in English such as writing skills and grammar for freshmen and sophomores should take place from the start.

Seoul National University (SNU) is offering 129, or 10 percent of 1,201 liberal arts lectures, in English this semester.

It is the first time for the English-only lectures to represent over 10 percent of liberal arts courses in the university curriculum.

According to SNU, the English-only liberal arts lectures include 79 basic and elective English courses and other basic, science and human studies courses such as math, natural science, literature, anthropology, economics, politics, history, international relations, current affairs discussions and plays.

Apart from liberal lectures, the school said some major subjects are also being conducted in English, at both undergraduate and graduate schools.

The number of English-only lectures totaled 6,515, or 4.1 percent of the university�s whole curriculum.

An SNU official said that to have internationally competitive edges, undergraduate students are supposed to be able to write their papers in English.

``As part of the effort to improve their academic performance, we will expand the number of lectures conducted in English and also other lectures which are designed to give comprehensive and intensive knowledge,�� he added.

In line with the boom in English-speaking lectures at local universities, Korea University has been trying to make 30 percent of courses taught in English to produce global leaders under the Global KU project.

Korea University has also vowed to increase English-speaking lectures to 50 percent of the total by 2010.

Under mounting pressure from the school to strengthen the proportion of English lectures, some Korean professors are getting English instruction from English native speakers during vacations.

Yonsei University raised the ratio of English-only lectures from 17.72 percent last year to 19 percent among liberal arts lectures this semester.

According to the university, newly appointed full time instructors are supposed to offer at least two subjects conducted in English.

Kyung Hee University has increased the number of English-only liberal arts classes from the three last semester to nine this semester.

Hanyang University is also operating 10 English-speaking liberal arts courses this semester, up from the five lectures last year.

The university said that it is gradually raising the ratio of the lectures conducted in English every year.

According to Hanyang, currently 3 percent of 340 liberal arts classes are English-speaking lectures.

However, a Hanyang University official, Ryu Yon-taek, said many students are giving up following through on their English-speaking lectures because most don�t understand much about the class contents.

``In many cases, Korean professors are failing to give a clear picture of academic concepts, which are not familiar with students in English. Also students have to spend many hours to prepare for the class in studying English more than any other subjects,�� he said.

Some universities are giving incentives to Korean professors who give English-only lectures to boost English-only classes.

Dong-a University in the southern port city of Pusan gives 1 million won in incentives to Korean full-time professors who conduct English lectures.

Silla University plans to give 800,000 won per semester to English lecturers.

``The thing is whether the lectures are conduced based on quality and quantity in academia, not whether they are conducted in English or not. What makes it different for students to take Korean history fluently given in English or in Korean?�� Lee Chong-koo, a sociology professor, of Sungkonghoe University, said.