English educational policies of the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea from 1945 to 1948 and their effects on the development of English language teaching in Korea

Abstract

This study examines the English language teaching (ELT) policies and measures taken under the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) from 1945 to 1948, in an attempt to illuminate their implications on the current ELT in Korea. The study analyzes data derived from documents of the Korean and the U.S. governments, literature on Korean history, and literature on Korean education and language education. During the previous decade of Japanese colonial rule, the development of ELT had been stalled due to Japan’s war against the U.S. and its allies and the colonial government’s consequent suppression of Anglophone elements in the colony. With the arrival of the U.S. forces in 1945, however, the climate unfavorable to ELT reversed. The U.S. military government took various educational measures to enhance ELT. It reintroduced English as a required subject in the secondary-school curriculum and as a key subject in university entrance exams. It also established a state-run English language school and provided teacher training nationwide through the school. Despite these reform measures, however, Korean ELT maintained core characteristics set earlier during Japanese colonial rule.