Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T07:19:04.949Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - English Language Teacher Education in South Korea: Changes and Challenges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2020

Amy Bik May Tsui
Affiliation:
The University of Hong Kong
Get access

Summary

This chapter outlines the various English teacher education policies and the corresponding measures introduced by the South Korean government to emphasize the importance of English to its national competitiveness. It points out that, despite these policies and measures, English teaching in schools has not significantly improved. It observes that in contrast to official rhetoric ostensibly supporting varieties of English, even teachers who speak fluent English set native-speaker English, especially American English, as the norm and feel burdened about teaching in English as they feel they lack English proficiency. In addition, in-service English teachers continue to raise the question of whether Communicative Language Teaching pedagogy developed in the ESL environment is appropriate for South Korea in which English is taught as a foreign language. Many teachers also experience reform fatigue due to frequent changes in policies for political purposes. The chapter concludes that there is an urgent need for research on English education policies and English teacher education policies that will create the environment where new English teachers can put theory into practice.

Type
Chapter
Information
English Language Teaching and Teacher Education in East Asia
Global Challenges and Local Responses
, pp. 159 - 174
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahn, H. (2014). Teachers’ attitudes towards Korean English in South Korea. World Englishes, 33(2), 195222.Google Scholar
Ahn, K. (2008). Teaching as one has been taught: The impact of teacher socialization on the implementation of English curricular reform. English Teaching, 63(3), 91117.Google Scholar
Butler, Y. G. (2004). What level of English proficiency do elementary school teachers need to attain to teach EFL? Case studies from Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. TESOL Quarterly, 38(2), 245278.Google Scholar
Carney, B. (1996). Process writing and the secondary school reality: A compromise. The English Journal, 85(6), 2835.Google Scholar
Choi, I.-C. (2008). The impact of EFL testing on EFL education in Korea. Language Testing, 25(1), 3962.Google Scholar
Choi, T.-H. & Andon, N. (2014). Can a teacher certification scheme change ELT classroom practice? ELT Journal, 68(1), 1221.Google Scholar
Choi, S.-J. (2011). A Lingua Franca model as a potential English education framework in Korea: College students respond. The Korean Journal of Applied Linguistics, 27(4), 125.Google Scholar
Choi, Y.-H. (2007). The history and policy of English language education in Korea. In Choi, Y.-H. & Spolsky, B (Eds.), English Education in Asia: History and Policies, 3360. Seoul: Asia TEFL.Google Scholar
Chung, J. & Choi, T.-H. (2016). English education policies in South Korea: Planned and enacted. In Kirkpatrick, R (Ed.), English Language Education Policy in Asia, 281299. Cham: Springer International Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gnutzmann, C. (2005). Standard English and world standard English: Linguistic and pedagogical considerations. In Gnutzmann, C & Intermann, F (Eds.), The Globalization of English and the English Language Classroom, 107118. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.Google Scholar
Hayes, D. (2012). Mismatched perspectives: In-service teacher education policy and practice in South Korea. In Tribble, C (Ed.), Managing Change in English Language Teaching: Lessons from Experience, 99104. London: British Council.Google Scholar
Hiver, P. (2013). The interplay of possible language teacher selves in professional development choices. Language Teaching Research, 17(2), 210227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jee, M.-J. (2012). Teachers’ and students’ perceptions on L1 and L2 use in Korean high school English classrooms. Studies in Foreign Language Education, 26(2), 167190.Google Scholar
Jeon, J. & Lee, H. (2017). Secondary teachers’ perception on English education policies in Korea. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 14(1), 4763.Google Scholar
Jeon, M. (2009). Globalization and native English speakers in English programme in Korea (EPIK). Language, Culture and Curriculum, 22(3), 231243.Google Scholar
Jung, S. K. Norton, B. (2002). Language planning in Korea: The new elementary English program. In Tollefson, J. W. (Eds.), Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues, 245265. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Kim, E.-J. (2008). Status quo of CLT-based English curricular reform: A teacher’s voice from the classroom. English Teaching, 63(2), 4369.Google Scholar
Kim, S. S. (2000). Korea’s Segyehwa drive: Promise versus performance. In Kim, S. S (Eds.), Korea’s Globalization, 242281. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kwon, O.-R. (2015). A history of policies regarding the English section of Korea’s college scholastic ability test. English Teaching, 70(5), 334.Google Scholar
Lee, H. & Lee, K. (2016). An analysis of the failure(s) of South Korea’s National English Ability Test. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 25(5–6), 827834.Google Scholar
Li, D. (1998). ‘It’s always more difficult than you plan and imagine’: Teachers perceived difficulties in introducing the communicative approach in South Korea. TESOL Quarterly, 32(4), 677703.Google Scholar
Mackenzie, I. (2014). English As a Lingua Franca: Theorizing and Teaching English. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahmoud, A. (2006). Translation and foreign language reading comprehension: A neglected didactic procedure. English Teaching Forum, 44(4), 2833.Google Scholar
Matsuda, A. & Friedrich, P. (2012). Selecting an instructional variety for an EIL curriculum. In Matsuda, A (Eds.), Principles and Practices of Teaching English As an International Language, 1727. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Education. (2016). 교원양성기관 평가 결과 [Teacher Education Program Evaluation Reports]. Seoul: Ministry of Education.Google Scholar
Mitchell, R. & Lee, J. H. W. (2003). Sameness and difference in classroom learning cultures: Interpretations of communicative pedagogy in the UK and Korea. Language Teaching Research, 7(1), 3563.Google Scholar
Moodie, I. & Feryok, A. (2015). Beyond cognition to commitment: English language teaching in South Korean primary schools. The Modern Language Journal, 99(3), 450469.Google Scholar
Park, J.-K. [Joo-Kyung] & Kim, M. K. (2014). Teaching and learning of EIL in Korean culture and context. In Marlina, R & Giri, R. A. (Eds.), The Pedagogy of English As an International Language: Perspectives from Scholars, Teachers, and Students, 4761. Cham: Springer.Google Scholar
Park, J.-K. [Joo-Kyung] (2009). Teaching English as a global language in Korea: Curriculum rhetoric and reality. Asian Englishes, 12(1), 124129.Google Scholar
Park, J. K. [Jin-Kyu] (2009). ‘English fever’ in South Korea: Its history and symptoms. English Today, 25(1), 5057.Google Scholar
Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. (2017). 2017 학년도 중등교사 임용 시험 수험자 분석 [Test Taker Report for the Secondary Teacher Employment Examination in 2017]. Seoul: Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.Google Scholar
Shim, R. J. (1999). Codified Korean English: Process, characteristics and consequence. World Englishes, 18(2), 247–58.Google Scholar
Shim, Y.-S. (2015). Korean EFL teachers’ perceptions of World Englishes. Korean Journal of Applied Linguistics, 31(1), 149172.Google Scholar
Shin, S.-K. (2008). Fire your proofreader!: Grammar correction in the writing classroom. ELT Journal, 62(4), 358365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shin, S.-K. (2012). ‘It cannot be done alone’: The socialization of novice English teachers in South Korea. TESOL Quarterly, 46(3), 542567.Google Scholar
Tollefson, J. W. & Tsui, A. B. M. (2007). Issues in language policy, culture, and identity. In Tsui, A. B. M. & Tollefson, J. W. (Eds.), Language Policy, Culture, and Identity in Asian Contexts, 259270. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Yim, S. (2007). Globalization and language policy in South Korea. In Tsui, A. B. M. & Tollefson, J. W. (Eds.), Language Policy, Culture and Identity in Asian Contexts, 3754. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Yook, C. M. & Lee, Y. H. (2016). Korean EFL teachers’ perceptions of the impact of EFL teacher education upon their classroom teaching practices. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 44(5), 522536.Google Scholar
Yoon, H.-S. (2007). Rethinking teaching goals for English as an International Language. Studies in Foreign Language Education, 21(1), 209231.Google Scholar
Young, T. J. & Walsh, S. (2010). Which English? Whose English? An investigation of ‘non-native’ teachers’ beliefs about target varieties. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 23(2), 123137.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×