Teacher and Student Perceptions of New English Language Education Policy

Abstract

Recently national Language Education Policy (LEP) in Korea has been introduced in an innovatively changed working condition. The new government in Korea has introduced the new language education policy of ‘Teaching English in English (TEE)’ for every student from elementary to university levels. This innovative policy has been introduced after the announcement of new state-wide English proficiency test, which is being developed by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE). This introduction of a new language test is leading to the implementation of new language education policy and will undoubtedly impact language teaching and practice in public and private schools. Since the new English proficiency test includes speaking and writing sections and the results of the test will serve as an important gate-keeping tool in college entrance processes in Korea, it is expected that the new test will influence the teaching and learning of the English language in general. This paper discusses these issues with empirical data from Korean secondary English teachers and students and suggests that the preparation of policy makers should include both scholarly opinions and practical perspectives from actual language users in Korean society.