Korean Job Discussion Forums

[withnail]

Does anyone know to what extent writing in English is taught in Korean elementary schools, middle schools and high schools?

Do you know of any way to get decent information on this other than by conducting one's own extensive survey of Korean English teachers?

Is Writing just done on a case by case basis in the public schools or is there specific provision made for writing in English in the curriculum?

I'd be very grateful for any info or links!

Ta.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Except for lists of vocabulary words written over and over, there was zero writing in English in either of the two high schools I've worked at. According to my adult students, they never wrote anything in English.

[withnail]

Presumably in Elementary School, after learning to say the alphabet and pronounce the sounds each letter makes (phonics), elementary kids will get to learn how to write the letters down. i.e. Aa Bb Cc etc.

I just wonder where it goes after that? Perhaps spelling tests?

And then?

Are there any experts out there who know how the process of learning to write in English continues in Korea or if it just comes to a halt right here....

[schwa]

Writing beyond vocabulary & (maybe) simple sentences is not taught methodically in elementary or middle schools. Its not in the curriculum.

A few teachers give out simple writing assignments as homework & keeping an english diary is a popular vacation homework task, but the problem is most K-teachers themselves are too poor at writing to properly correct them.

[andrewchon]

This is just the text book. ( I think most teachers do more than this)

Grade 1& 2: No English taught to them.

Grade 3&4: English taught orally. Learn phrases verbatim. No grammar.

Grade 5: alphabet is taught. Students trace faint images of words in the text book, repeat 3 times. Max of 4 simple words per chapter.
They are not expected to spell words. Learn phrases verbatim. No grammar.

Grade 6: Expected to hear and then copy simple words. Spelling is not explicitly expected. Learn phrases verbatim. No grammar.

Phonics is not in elementary curriculum.
Hand writing is closer to drawing or painting than 'writing' letters.
Punctuation is not taught.

[outkast_3000]

In short, yes. They write down words every here and there, filling in the blank exercises, perhaps a sentence or two every here and there - but if you're referring to writing beyond simple sentences, then no.

I teach in a high school, and the students don't write at all. They're too busy doing test prep to be concerned with writing. I mean, who can blame them, there is no writing component on the Korean SAT (to the best of my knowledge).

I've also taught a writing class part-time at a unigwon, and the undergraduate students can write proper sentences and even longer pieces, but violate general composition conventions. It just seems to me they've never had explicit practice at it. I'm not sure what the conventions of Korean writing are, but I'd sure like to find out. I kind of always thought that they'd just transfer the structure/form into their English writing, but it seems things like topic sentences, and keeping to one topic per paragraph get lost in the mix.

I think you might have to go to a hagwon that offers an actual writing class to get writing practice in as far as writing English is concerned. There really wasnt' much of it in elementary school, middle school, or high school in what I have seen.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

In a best case scenario, I might get freshmen who have been taught a little bit about five-paragraph essays and thesis statements, but just the idea -- they haven't written an essay.

Typically, I would say they've had mostly grammar instruction and some reading and optimally some discussion, but probably haven't written more than a few response answers or maybe a few sentences on what they did last summer.

I taught Korean English teachers, and some were poor at English themselves, and others were good teachers who were limited by their administrators and textbooks. To put the best construction on this, there are teachers who do a fairly good job at English instruction, but Korean education places very low priority on writing, at least in English.

Korean rhetoric does have a structure similar to the western 5-paragraph essay, which is more like introduction, body, digression, conclusion, but paragraphing is much less of a concern, which is why Korean e-mails often seem like random sentence chunks. I can only theorize that western writing is horizontal and old Korean vertical and perhaps visual paragraph divisions never happened in the same way.

[PeterDragon]

Writing is very deficient in the Elementary School national curriculum, as the OP says. Fortunately, many teachers take it upon themselves to make writing more prominent in the lesson plans. My coteacher and I both make a point of teaching the alphabet to the first graders and working up to complete sentences for the older grades. We also play a lot of writing games that involve the students writing short words and sentences after being asked simple questions. Sadly, we're not really able to get the students to write down their own original thoughts--- the level's kind of low at our school. The students can understand most of the ideas they read, however, so there's definitely hope for them as they enter the more demanding junior high classes.

Reading comprehension is VERY important in junior high, as the students need to read entire paragraphs in English and discuss them. By the final year of junior high, the textbook doesn't even contain any Korean language instructions for the activities. Because of the stress on reading comprehension, nearly all teachers include writing in their lesson plans. But, once again, very little of it is actually required by the state-issued curriculum.

Overall, writing is a real "blind spot" in public language education in SK.