A Survey on Korean high school English teachers’ perception of English education policies.

Abstract

The present study explores how high school English teachers perceive recently proposed or implemented English education policies. Among the policies are performance assessment, the departmentalized classroom system(DCS), 2011 revised national curriculum for English, the two-Ievel (Types AㆍB) English tests in College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT), and National English Ability Test(NEAT). The study examines three aspects of teacher perception on each policy: knowledge, attitudes, and implementation. A questionnaire was administered, and the responses of 395 high school English teachers were analyzed. The results showed that the knowledge aspect scored the highest for all five policies while differences were revealed as to specific aspects of knowledge, attitudes, and implementation across different policies. It was also revealed that the attitude aspect was positively correlated with the implementation aspect and that correlation between attitude and implementation was higher than the correlation between attitude and knowledge. The factors identified to be highly correlated with all five policies were teacher’s academic attainment, age, and teaching experience, the number of students per class, and the implementation of English creative school. Implications are suggested for in-service teacher development, English education policy-making, and effective policy implementation.