Coping with Cultural Obstacles to Speaking English in the Korean Secondary School Context

| January 31, 2012
Title
Coping with Cultural Obstacles to Speaking English in the Korean Secondary School Context

Keywords: No Keyword

Authors
Kim Sung Jin
Yeamoon Girls’ High School, Busan

Bio Data
The writer is currently teaching English at Yeamoon Girls’ High School, Busan. He has a B.A. in English Education, Hong-Ik University and a M.A. in American Studies, Graduate School of International Studies, Hanyang University, Seoul

Abstract
The Korean Ministry of Education has given priority to communicative competence in this current 7th curriculum, a major shift from previous curriculum methodologies. But the Korean English teachers have expressed their skepticism about the efficiency compared with the amount of time and money being put in, citing various reasons such as large class size, different levels of students’ spoken English, and teachers’ poor spoken English. The presenter singles out Korea’s collectivistic culture as one of major factors which impede the improvement of students’ spoken English. He analyzes various negative features of Confucianism and collectivism, and other English environmentally negative factors in the Korean secondary school context which discourage students from speaking English. He also provides possible solutions to these cultural barriers.
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