Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Old fat expat]

The Korean Problems
Korean hogwon owners are not educationalists. They are businessmen whose focus is return on investment, not educational outcomes.

Korean men are not open to receiving information or advice from anyone they perceive as being below them socially. Korean men perceive all foreigners as being below them socially.

Korean universities seem driven by the formalization of hierarchies rather than the pursuit of knowledge. Ideas are not tested or arguments made against competing ideas because of these hierarchies. Confucianism is based on the maintenance of structures, not the challenging of ideas.

Koreans are driven by short-term outcomes. They do not see education as a life-long process of learning. They are not concerned by practices that have short-term achievements but long-term detrimental effects on a student. This results in practices like the memorization of 1000 words that have no meaning or relevance to the student learning and long hours of study at an early age with the consequence of the learning process becoming a punisher.

Many Koreans believe that ��the Korean way�� is the best way for Koreans. Because a particular teaching style has been in place for a number of years, it is assumed that Korean children have a particular learning style. This assumption is not tested in any meaningful way; it is just a known fact amongst Koreans.

Best practice in learning outcomes appear to be ignored. What is learning, how learning can be measured, feedback to the student, type of feedback provided, learning strategies and planning, goal setting, curriculum, acquisition, retention, transfer; none of these things appear to be a concern. The system in place here is dominated by the traditional approach; a top down system where the teacher possesses and provides knowledge to a passive receiver. This is in line with the Confucian world view.

Best practice regarding the use of technology is ignored. CD ROMs are not used in the majority of hogwons, nor is the available technology for computer assisted learning generally employed. For a country that prides itself on being technologically savvy, this is really surprising. This may be changing.

There are few Koreans who are fluent in English. What they do know about English is grammar forms; therefore they arrange ESL programs and assessment around grammar. Yet it is clearly shown that grammar translation methods and memorization of word lists are not the best ways for the learning of a second language to occur.

Discussions on the latest theory and research in ESL do not occur because Koreans cannot understand the language that journal articles are written in.

Teacher Problems
Most wae-gok English teachers in Korea have B.A. degrees and have no formal training in learning theory, teacher training, classroom management, assessment practices, English grammar, phonics, reading pedagogy, language acquisition, or any formalized training in research methods that would allow controlled experimentation to achieve knowledge about what needs to be learnt in an ESL environment.

Many ESL teachers have mediocre GPA��s and no real interest in learning theory or teaching. Given their GPA��s and unrelated field of study regarding ESL it is little wonder many under-perform as teachers.

Given the confusion within ESL some might say this is a good thing; of course the retort is that the majority of teachers are so far behind they are yet to achieve the state of confusion.

There is the perception amongst the teachers and hogwon owners that teaching is easy and that anyone can do it. If you have this view please read ��Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science�� (Moats).

Many young graduates come to Korea with no intent of pursuing ESL as a career but rather because:
• jobs were easy to get
• They have got the degree their parents wanted for them but have no idea what they really want to do with their lives
• no real opportunities back home due to their mediocre academic results.
• they are on a working holiday between uni and a real life
• they need time to think

Above are the problems but it must be said that there are many good teachers here in Korea. Some may have begun working in the industry because of the above reasons and have stayed and developed. I challenge even the good teachers to say that they are not negatively affected by the above.

ESL Problems
ESL is not yet a science. Linguistics is the study of English grammar as structure and has no theory as to what function language has for humans. Thanks to Noam Chomsky the first major attempt at a functional analysis of language has been excluded from study by the majority of linguists.

The above problem occurs because of confusion over what functionalism and structuralism is within the field of linguistics and especially ESL writers (see Brown who has a sub-heading Behaviorism/structuralism in his text; or Harmer who doesn��t even know Skinner��s proper name let alone his theory).

Claims by Chomsky that first aligned his analysis with a structuralist researcher and then switched because he discovered the researcher was not a structuralist illustrates the problem (see Chomsky RE: Ferdinand de Saussure��s ��Cours de Linguistics Generale�� ).

Painting Behaviorism as structuralism when all major writers of psychology acknowledge Behaviorism as a functionalist paradigm illustrates linguists�� philosophical confusion. With such a shifting foundation over its theoretical roots it is no wonder ESL is in a state of confusion.

ESL assumes that language is declarative knowledge and strives to structure learning on a mentalist model. The result is a focus on input-storage-retrieval using executive control as seen in Krashen��s Monitor; it teaches students that all inputs are stored and that the problem is retrieval. This mistake is repeated in schools of education which teach and indoctrinate the next generation of teachers to promote the mentalist model. For an alternative view more in line with recent research see ��A Neurobiological Perspective��
(Daniel C. Strack).

Text for students are often poorly written; sometimes for the above reasons, often because the publishing industry is also a business enterprise. Again dollars take precedence over learning.

There appears to be very little work being done to incorporate what has been learnt from other disciplines regarding practice, learning, and transfer. For a better understanding see ��New Conceptualization of Practice�� (Schmidt & Bjork).

Conclusion
ESL is confused over it philosophical stance and is relying on an out of date model of how the brain functions.

Please, if there are things I have left out tell me.
Apologies for the long post-thought about splitting into 3 but ... we're English teachers, we like reading.

[poet13]

all that in one post! thanks for saying it. i am sure many of us think about these issues in smoe small way or another, but its nice to see it all in one place. food for thought....

[Yu_Bum_suk]

That just about covers it. As a high / middle school teacher I'd also add that the absurd hours are especially counter-productive to language learning as students have little opportunity to explore foreign culture on their own. Korean teacher conducting 99% of their lessons in Korean certainly doesn't help, either.

Korean society's general disregard for foreign culture that doesn't have to do with movies, soccer, or wrestling doesn't help either.

Regarding teachers, it would be a very different world here if teachers could change jobs with less hassel. Good teachers wouldn't stick around bad schools and good schools would have to pay a premium for better teachers.

Are you hoping to publish this? I hope you do.

[ontheway]

There are many good points above. However, the biggest problem with eduacation, not only in Korea, but worldwide, is that we let government take it over. This was a plan designed and implemented by socialists who desired to control the masses by controlling their minds.

Educational reform in Korea, what little there is, is being driven by the hogwans. Parents are running away from the public schools, where kids learn little or nothing, to the private institutions. True, there are many bad hogwans, but many provide excellent education in selected areas of study. This has embarassed the government into two kinds of action. First, they have acted repeatedly in ways to destroy the hogwans that make them look so foolish. Second, they have made a few small steps to try to improve the schools under their purview.

Many ESL teachers here, educated in the government controlled marxist based education systems of the west, are unable to see the truth. The government schools suck. The hogwans are better. But, people being people, many teachers prefer easy work and long vacations to actually helping a few kids really learn. Although some hogwan owners have been incompetent and others dishonest, EVERY hogwan I have seen in Korea offers an educational program superior to the government schools.

If the government were to keep its hands off the hogwans, and let them compete in a free market, the bad hogwans and all the government schools would be driven out of business. The kids could get a good education and a decent night's sleep and still have time to play and be kids.

[Scott in Incheon]

[Scott in Incheon]

[ontheway]

Scott,

Try the late 1800s, visit the various US state house legislative archives, and read it all. Of course most people were farmers and relatively poor by today's standards. Private education was high quality. The socialists took it over in its infancy. The reasons are admitted in the archives.l

And all government is socialism. Since the schools are controlled by the government, naturally they didn't tell you this.

[jajdude]

Koreans kids in grade 5 can learn English with an American grade 5 book?

That's a problem.

Some students are more important than others because dad or mom is important?

Kids doing books way out of their league to impress?

Bosses without English or understanding of foreigners, though sometimes they are fine, and sometimes those with English and lots of foreigner exposure are jerks.

Just a few ideas.

[voth]

[Col.Brandon]

Ontheway, did you check under your bed lately? Watch out, those damn commies are everywhere! EVERYWHERE, I TELL YOU!

[indytrucks]

Old Fat Expat,

Is this a sampling from your completed MA dissertation, or are you working on it now?

[Scott in Incheon]

[pest2]

[pest2]

[TheUrbanMyth]