Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The Hammer]

How come English education in Korea has been so successful?

The Hammer

[JacktheCat]

[The Hammer]

[JacktheCat]

[tomato]

I've thought about this question, too.
Here are a few possible answers I've come up with:

The Koreans think a foreign language is nothing more than the inside of a textbook.

Korea has only recently ventured out of its hermitage. Until recently, there was little foreign language study because there was little need for foreign language study.

Consequently, they do not fully understand what a foreign language is. They do not realize that English is a real language spoken somewhere else by real people. All they can see is the inside of a textbook, so they think that is all English is.

The author of a textbook can only present the material. The author cannot apply the material. The student has to do that. But a Korean student or teacher, thinking that the author is omnipotent, fails to do that.1

Let me give you an example: a Korean teacher showed me a page from a new English textbook. She asked me how I would teach that page. I told her of the many possibilities of applying the material on that page--varying the subjects, varying the predicates, varying the objects. Her suggestion, on the other hand, was to repeat the page until all the students had it memorized.

Any foreign language abounds with children's books, children's songs, and countless other treasures which could make a foreign language sparkle. If you've taken a look inside the Fukuoka Library, I'm sure you know what I mean. But do you see any of this in a Japanese class in Korea? Most likely not. Japanese education in Korea is in the same rut as English education in Korea.

The Koreans think learning can take place only in the classroom.

For centuries, most Koreans lived on the farm. Rural living has engrained in their minds the notion that cooperation is the solution for everything. That is one reason why elementary and middle school students go to �п�'s after school. That is one reason why high school students go to school until 10:00 at night.

But the strongest variable for foreign language learning is not the number of classroom hours. Rather, it is the number of hours spent thinking in that language. And you can't think in a foreign language until you can get some solitude.

The number of hours of practice time is also important. There are millions of English students of all ages all over Korea. And what do they do outside the classroom? They ignore each other! After all, it would be pointless to practice English with each other unless it is prescribed by the author of the textbook!

The Koreans underrate creativity in foreign language teaching.

For that matter, the Koreans underrate creativity, period. On another thread, someone said that the teachers at his school gave awards for creativity. The parents complained because they were not awarding intelligence instead.

You have probably seen English textbook series which come with cassette tapes, teacher's manuals, worksheets, and everything else but the kitchen sink. In the teacher's manuals, the teachers are guided from the first minute to the last. But do the teachers complain of being slave-driven? Heck, no!

If the teacher cannot give anything of himself or herself, I wonder how much that teacher is inspiring the students.

It amazes me that any of the Koreans ever learn!

[tomato]

The Hammer asked for solutions.
That's a good question.
I hope I have a good answer.

WHEREAS it takes many hours to learn a verb tense

WHEREAS Korean teachers are intent on covering a page a day

WHEREAS we can't change the minds of Korean teachers

BE IT RESOLVED that someone publish a textbook series which spends at least 100 pages on each verb tense.

Book I might be entitled Simple Present Tense. For verbs which are regular in the simple present tense, the book will give plenty of practice on all persons, singular and plural (I eat, you eat, he/she eats, we eat, you eat, they eat). The book will also give plenty of practice on verbs which are irregular in the simple present tense (I am, you are, he/she is . . .).

The author will search Anglophile culture for songs, jokes, and any other gems which involve the simple present tense. A simple Google search should reap oodles of illustrations applicable to this purpose.

There will also be exercises in which the students speak to each other. "What do you eat for breakfast?" "What do you eat for lunch?" "What do you eat for dinner?" This exercise should benefit the students even if all three answers are "rice and kimchi."

After 100 pages, or about 5 months, of the simple present tense, the students will move on to 100 pages of Book II, which might be Present Continuous Tense, then 100 pages of Book III, which might be Simple Past Tense, and so on.

I hope that the students will become proficient in each verb tense. This should put a stop to utterances like "Teacher, bathroom" and "Pencil no."

This series should also fit into Korean culture. A Korean teacher, seeing that the requisite page a day is covered, should be as content as if that much space were covered in a TOEIC manual.

[jajdude]

Well, there is a growing need to communicate with the world. Lots of Korean live abroad, and more travel every year. They are the ones who know English is important and a very real language.

But Korea does not have the environment to acquire real skills in using the language, so it remains like math -- mainly a classroom subject.

If it were like some countries with big tourism industries and many foreigners, more people would speak it better. As it is, most Koreans simply do not have to speak it. They do not have foreigners in their world, except rarely.

One wonders about the future though. How open will this still largely closed society become? How about Japan? They suck at English too.

[Eazy_E]

I wonder about that myself jajdude... how will Korea look in 10-20 years? The same homogenous, arguably xenophobic former hermit kingdom? I think it will be different, mostly for reasons of economics:

Similar to Japan, Korea has a very low birthrate. A self-evident truth of developed economies is that the birthrate becomes quite low, usually to below the replacement level (less than two children per woman). The older generation keeps getting older without an accordingly large younger generation to enter the workforce and pay the bills for public spending.

Canada, the US, and other immigrant countries recognize this and accept a certain amount of immigration per year. These immigrants are usually of working age. Without immigration, Canada's population would begin to decline and become top-heavy with old people, similar to Korea or Japan.

I think that economic necessity may soon force Korea to accept immigration on a more large-scale basis. Maybe not all at once, but soon Korea could become something of an immigrant nation. Will this help Korea's English ability overall? It couldn't hurt....

[ajuma]

I think that one of the main problems with the Korean English education system is that they see English as a "subject" not as a language. English can't be taught the same way as math and science can. There is (usually!) no ONE right answer. Students aren't encouraged to try different things or be creative (witness: "Fine thank you, and you?).

Anyone who has been here any lenght of time has seen that there HAVE been some significant changes in the education system, but until Korean PARENTS start taking the education of their children (in English) seriously, the problems will prevail. I've encouraged my adult students to actually VISIT the hagwons that their children attend and TALK to the foreign teacher. Sit in on a class. Are the children learning anything, or is the teacher just a "pet monkey." Having fun in the class is a great thing for learning a language, but not at the expense of bad pronunciation (how many of you let your kids get away with "H-chee" and "bus-uh"?) and poor grammar.

[bibimbap]

How many here are Canadians?

How's your French?

It's the same thing (and Spanish for Americans). We 'learn' French from an early age; many of us have 10 or more years of classroom French, but our spoken French is dreadful.

I went and lived in Quebec for a 2 month exchange and my French improved more in a single month than in the previous ten years of 3x40m classes/week.

Though Canada is a 'bilingual' culture, we resist French in the English provinces in many ways. How many French movies have you seen at the theatres? (and there are many good ones; a Canadian French movie won an Academy Award last year... yet it wasn't showing in a single theater outside Toronto).

Having said that, I'm not 'ashamed' or 'embarrassed' to speak French with a francophone. I just returned from Thailand and had many enlightening conversations with French people. I can't, however, say the same for Koreans. They would not speak to me in English *or* Korean.

Korea is an insulated culture. They've created an insulated world for themselves in this little plot of peninsula and it's difficult for anything to come (or go) through the barrier they've built.

...including knowledge. Cultural and linguistic.

[Kimchi Cha Cha]

[kylehawkins2000]

It's not just English Language Education that is flawed in Korea, it's the entire Education system.

THe amount of time and money invested into education in Korea provides a very small return.

Graduates from even the top universities in Korea are not prepared to compete globally. We've harkened in an era of globalization in a post-coldwar, pro-capitalist world. This is an era in which creativity and new ideas are what will allow companies to succeed and excel. The Education system here is totally centered on memorzing a limited set of facts and figures simply to regurgitate them on standardized examinations.

Once entrance exams are passed and students gain entrance to universities their parents, society, and the universities no longer provide any pressure to continue to be diligent in their studies.

The absolute pinnacle of student achievement in Korea is to gain entrance into Seoul National University, a university that is ranked around 50th in the world despite being the top university in the world's 11th ranked economy.

The system teaches the students to memorize facts, not to think creatively. As a result there is little or no innovation coming out of Korea. Look at their art schools (or lack of) as an example. It seems like someone is considered a good artist or musician if they are able to closely replicate famous songs or paitings of other people.

Even look at the number of innovations that have come out of the west compared to what has come out of Korea. Korea has produced little or no significant innovations a couple of hundred years. Can anyone name a famous korean inventor since King Sejong invented Hangeul?

I can forsee major economic problems arising in Korea if drastic changes are not made to the education system and to society at large. Similar circumstances in Japan have helped lead to an economic recession that has lasted more than a decade.

[kylehawkins2000]

An interesting fact to highlite what kind of return Korean's are getting on their investment in English Language Education:

Korea's rank in spending on English Education: #1
Korea's rank in English proficiency: #117

(This was reported in the Korean Herald several months ago)

[Blue]

A part of it comes down to koreans have an amazing knack for avoiding anything difficult. in the americas and japan for example we fully belive that if its harder then the end reward is greater. in korea they have a ... different philosophy.

you can see it in many aspects of the culture. for example in computer games koreans use cheats and hacks alot more than other cultures and they think its fine and if you beat the game with a hack its just as good as winning on the hardest difficulty.. in fact winning on the hardest difficulty is quite senceless to them. in the west using a computer hack or cheat code in a game is usually saved for after beating the game the real way or reaching an impassable point. or simply for the fun of it but with the understanding that your not really getting the full experiance.

of course this does not apply to all koreans but the society as a whole promotes the short cut and the easy way out, avoid the difficult or confrontational. this mentality is why korean build buildings have a tendancy to fall, kids learn but do not gain knowlage, and their world view is so totaly screwed.

[Gord]