Korean English Teachers Research Articles

Korean English Teachers’ Perceptions of Intelligibility and Comprehensibility towards Erroneous Phonemes: In Terms of Functional Load and Attitude

This study aims (1) to investigate Korean English teachers’ (KET) intelligibility and comprehensibility of typical erroneous phonemes of Korean English speakers and (2) to discover the effect of teachers’ attitudes on comprehensibility grading. The erroneous phonemes were classified in terms of functional load (FL) and syllabicity to specifically identify the difference. Native speakers’ data were used as a baseline to find KETs’ traits. In the intelligibility task, the high FL affected only the KETs negatively when the erroneous phonemes were vowels. However, in the comprehensibility task, the negative influence of the high FL was not significant for KETs. Instead, the scores were invariably higher for words with vowel errors. The research findings suggest that KETs made the wrong assumption that they comfortably understood words with high FL vowel errors. Regarding the effect of teachers’ attitude, KETs with low willingness to accept World Englishes (WEes) in class gave significantly lower scores to the words with high FL errors when they were vowels. Given the lower intelligibility score for the error type, the stricter grading of the low WEes acceptance group appears to be more valid. The findings suggest that KETs might make misjudgments on pronunciation errors due to their overly high WEes acceptance tendency.

Korean Secondary EFL Teachers’ Task Choice in Planning a Reading Lesson

The purpose of this study was to investigate Korean secondary EFL teachers’ task type choice during lesson planning for a hypothetical reading class and the factors which influence their decision making. A total of 146 English teachers in middle and high school were surveyed, and the data were analyzed using frequency analysis and multiple response analysis. Also, in-depth one-to-one interviews were conducted with four Korean English teachers: a male middle school teacher, a female middle school teacher, a male high school teacher, and a female high school teacher. The results show what types of tasks they prefer when they are asked to choose a certain task type to teach a unit using a textbook in a hypothetical classroom: prediction task type to teach reading and personalization task type to assess reading skills. The findings also reveal differences between middle school teachers and high school teachers in task type choices. The in-depth interview participants’ detailed uses of task-based language teaching (TBLT) and their interpretations on their TBLT practice were discussed. This study leads to the discovery of Korean EFL secondary teachers’ tendencies and their criteria for task type choices. Therefore, it suggests a different approach to teacher training programs as well as a focus change in future research in spite of some limits of the research.

A comparative analysis on difficulty of LC and RC of the KCSAT and the mock KCSAT English tests

The KCSAT(Korean College Scholastic Ability Test) has consisted of LC(Listening Comprehension) and RC(Reading Comprehension) since its introduction in 1994. Therefore, it is necessary to compare the difficulty level of LC and RC to evaluate the KCSAT validity. To achieve this goal, the current study examined the difficulty differences between LC and RC of the KCSAT and mock KCSAT English tests collected from 2015 to 2019 in terms of six different variables. Additionally, the speech rate analysis, experiments on percentages of LC and RC correct answers with high school senior subjects, and the questionnaire surveys of high school seniors and Korean English teachers were conducted. The overall findings revealed that the difficulty of RC was far higher than that of LC from every aspect. The findings suggest that new test items should be developed based on the national curriculum with Speaking and Writing skills directly tested. Not only the consistency between the national curriculum and the KCSAT but the increase of LC speech delivery to the average speech rate are required. Above all things, the LC difficulty increase by raising CALP in LC should be applied to enhance the LC validity.

“I may sound like a native speaker…but I’m not”: identities of Korean English teachers with border-crossing experience

ABSTRACT This study examines the identities of Korean English teachers who have lived in various English-speaking countries but now serve as certified public school teachers in Korea. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with seven teachers and analysed via critical discourse analysis. Despite being rated as near-native, the teachers with transnational experience still undervalued their English proficiency, possibly because they compared their proficiency to that of native speakers. They were also found to place emphasis on nativelike pronunciation, particularly American pronunciation. They classified themselves as non-native speakers, stating that they would never be close to native speakers due to innate factors such as nationality or race. The skewed preference towards American English and native speakership was found to be heavily influenced by the socio-cultural ideologies embedded in institutional systems in Korea. These findings reveal the underlying ideologies of English and native speakership in Korea, which highlights the importance of considering teacher’s perceptions of their identities in designing teacher training programmes.

Native English Speaking-Teachers’ Perceptions of Collaborative Team Teaching

This study investigated the perception of native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) in team teaching as they develop a collaborative relationship with local Korean English language teachers (KETs) in Korea. A total of 31 NESTs currently teaching at elementary and secondary schools in the metropolitan area of Seoul participated in this research study through a questionnaire, and the subsequent data set was collected and analyzed. The result suggested that the successful implementation of team teaching relied on how frequently NESTs and KETs discussed collaborative teaching materials to develop effective team teaching strategies. Based on the teaching style of the collaborative model, the NESTs involved in team teaching showed a high degree of satisfaction. However, for the ‘NESTs teach, KETs observe’ model, NESTs showed a low level of satisfaction in collaborating with KETs. Furthermore, NESTs expressed difficulties in working with many KETs. Based on the findings, three realistic approaches must be considered for the implementation of effective collaborative team teaching.

A Study on Students’ Satisfaction with University English Programs

본 연구에서는 대학 교양 영어 프로그램에서 한국인 영어 교수자와 원어민 영어 교수자가 가르치는 수업에 따라 학습자의 수업 만족도에 차이가 있는지를 알아보고, 수업의 만족도에 영향을 미치는 가장 큰 요인이 무엇인지 살펴보고자 한다. 본 연구는 경상남도에 위치한 4년제 C대학교에서 2019학년도 2학기 <영어회화>를 수강한 학생 831명을 대상으로 2019학년도 2학기가 끝나는 시점에 설문조사 형식으로 진행되었다. 설문지는 총 8개의 문항으로 구성되어 있으며, 수업내용, 교수법, 전문성 및 열정, 성실성, 과제분량, 피드백, 평가기준 및 방법제시의 명확성, 그리고 마지막으로 전체 만족도 요인을 측정하였다. 학습자들은 한국인 교수자와 원어민 교수자의 영어 수업에 대체로 만족하였으며, 두 집단 간의 차이가 통계적으로 유의미하지는 않았다. 또한 원어민 영어 교수자의 수업과 한국인 영어 교수자의 수업 모두에서 교수자의 수업방법, 과제분량, 피드백, 평가기준 및 방법제시 항목이 전체 만족도 결과에 영향을 미치는 요인이었다. 하지만 한국인 교수자의 영어 수업에는 교수자와의 원활한 상호작용 정도를 보여주는 피드백 요인이, 원어민 교수자의 영어 수업에서는 교수자의 수업 방법이 얼마나 효과적이었는지에 관한 요인이 전체 만족도에 가장 큰 영향력을 행사하였다. 이러한 결과는 한국인 영어 교수자와 원어민 교수자의 영어 수업에서 학습자들은 교수자와의 활발한 의사소통과 상호작용을 중요시한다고 볼 수 있다.This study aims to investigate whether there is a difference in students’ satisfaction with university English programs taught by native English teachers and Korean English teachers and to ascertain what is the biggest variable affecting students’ satisfaction. This study presents the result of the survey conducted at the end of the fall semester 2019 at C University, which is located in Gyeongsangnam-do. A total of 831 students who opted for “English Communication” at the fall semester of 2019 participated in this study. The questionnaire consisted of eight questions, which included “content,” “teaching method,” “competence,” “attitude,” “amount of homework,” “feedback,” “clarity in assessment,” and “overall satisfaction.” The students were generally satisfied with the English courses of both the Korean and native English teachers, however the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant. Additionally, in the classes of both the native and Korean English teachers, “teaching method,” “amount of homework,” “feedback,” and “clarity in assessment” are statistically significant variables that affect the “overall satisfaction.” The most important variable of the students’ satisfaction with the English courses of Korean English teachers is “feedback,” which indicated how smooth the interaction with the teachers was. However, with the English classes of Native English teachers, the effectiveness of the “teaching method” was the most vital variable. These results suggest that the students emphasize active communication and interaction with teachers in the English classes of Korean and native teachers.

Investigating the professional agency of secondary school English teachers in South Korea

This qualitative study examines the professional agency of secondary English teachers in Midwestern South Korea. Specifically, it investigates how secondary English teachers in South Korea understand their professional agency and what mediates their professional agency. The ecological approach in this study recognises that agency encompasses both individual and environmental dimensions and is formed through the constant interplay between the individual and the environment. The dataset for this study comprises 15 semi-structured interviews with secondary English teachers in South Korea. The thematic analysis highlights a significant gap between Korean English teachers’ espoused agency and realisable agency, as well as three levels of legitimation that teachers have to negotiate. These levels are individual, collegial and sociocultural. The findings from this study suggest that the participating teachers censored their own pedagogical behaviours due to their own sense of inadequacy and in response to structural requirements as well as the external evaluation of parents and high-stakes test scores. This study concludes with implications for English teachers in South Korea, theorisation on teacher agency and future research.

A Longitudinal Study of Improving Learner’s Vocabulary &amp; Satisfaction Through an Extensive Reading Program

The purpose of this article was to introduce an on/off-line extensive reading program to help improve the learner’s practical English ability. For the research method, six Korean English teachers and one native English teacher developed a reading class model and utilized it in the classroom environment. The project lasted for three years from 2012 until the 2014 academic year, and the participants were middle school students. Before they started the reading program, the student participants took a level test and they went through on/off-line extensive reading program. The reading class was carried out in a regular curriculum once a week (45 minutes) and it was reflected in evaluation with a vocabulary test, and the survey for determining the learner’s satisfaction as they reflected regarding the program that they had just completed. In 2014, the 797 students participated in the study and the program was completed at that time. The result shows that overall, the learner’s vocabulary knowledge was improved and a level of satisfaction of an extensive reading program was shown to increase to a higher scale, as previous researches had shown (Elley, 1991; Shin, 2003). The meaningful aspect of the present study was to conduct reading program for over a considerable period of time, and it was noted that the size of participants was also rather large as compared to other studies. The discussion and implication of this study follow in the description of the study results below.

영어 원어민과 한국인 영어교사의 영어 말하기 유창성 평가 비교

영어 원어민과 한국인 영어교사의 영어 말하기 유창성 평가 비교

Non-native English-speaking teachers in Korean English classrooms: reflections through critical performative pedagogy

ABSTRACTThis study explores non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) and their critical awareness in the enacted classroom of South Korea. As a conceptual framework of this study, critical performative pedagogy (CPP) was applied to foster participants’ critical reflection, and issues pertaining to the larger social discourse were discussed. Specifically, a group of four pre-service Korean English teachers participated in a semester-long CPP process that included reflection on previous learning and teaching experiences through storytelling, performances of forum theatre, critical discourse analysis (CDA) of performances, and post-discussions. The transcripts of the forum theatres were analyzed using a CDA, and the participants’ written and spoken data from all activities in the CPP process were analyzed using a thematic analysis. The findings show that native speakerism is fostered in normative classroom discourse, which tends to produce marginalized learners and deficit NNEST identities. The analysis also revealed that participants can challenge the existing discourse by applying the concept of World English and the reconceptualized English teacher model. Implications of this study include the use of CPP as a mediational tool in the critical and collaborative language teacher professional development, with the potential for transformation in their real-life situations.

Modelling beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours regarding the spread of English

Attitudes toward the global spread of English have been one of the major issues in research on the development of world Englishes. Because language attitudes construct an invisible language policy that influences the use of English in a local speech community (Curdt–Christiansen, 2009), many studies addressing the spread of English into non-English contexts have focused on the attitudes of diverse English users toward their local variety and other varieties of English (Ahn, 2014; He &amp; Li, 2009; Wang &amp; Gao, 2015). However, among the core components of language attitudes, that is, the cognitive component (i.e., belief system), affective component (i.e., attitudinal system), and behavioural component (i.e., behavioural intention), little research attention has been paid to the behavioural component other than by Ahn (2014), even though non-native speakers’ actual use of their local English is the process by which English spreads into non-English-speaking communities. Thus it is necessary to explore the factors influencing the speakers’ behaviours while using the local variety of English. In addition, previous research has not identified the mechanism by which the speakers’ beliefs and attitudes have influence their actual behavioural intentions in relation to their attitudes toward their own English. For example, Ahn (2014) reported that whereas Korean English teachers expressed positive attitudes toward Korean English, they were hesitant in their behavioural intentions to use it as a teaching model. However, this study did not deeply address associations among beliefs, attitudes, and actual behaviours in relation to the use of Korean English. In response to this gap, the present study provides an integrated framework for investigating the spread of English into local speech communities by modelling diverse factors of individual speakers’ decision-making processes in adopting the local variety of English.

The Dynamics of Korean EFL Teachers’ L2 Learning Motivation in Study Abroad

This study investigated motivations of a short term study abroad program for Korean teachers of English in a U.S. university. To understand how the participants’ motivation was shaped by their study abroad journey, qualitative data analysis was used. The participants

Native-English-Speaking Teacher and Korean English Teacher Identities in EFL Co-Teaching Interaction

This study examines how particular teacher actions occasion the categories of native speaker (NS) and non-native speaker (NNS) teachers in classroom interaction, and how they are implicative of teacher identities in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. By adopting Conversation Analysis (CA) and Membership Categorization Analysis (MCA), the purpose of this study is to establish an empirical ground for viewing NS/NNS as members’ categories rather than externally-imposed labels, thereby producing an observational account of NS/NNS teacher identity construction in situ. Data involves video recordings of co-taught elementary EFL lessons wherein two teachers - a Korean teacher and an American teacher - are present in the classroom. The analysis manifests the participants’ orientation to a normative entitlement to language expertise, momentarily positioning each other into asymmetrical categories in relation to their respective institutional roles. Also revealed is that the Korean teacher may claim epistemic access to her English expertise. By describing participants’ category-implicative actions in which NS/NNS teacher identities are occasioned, sustained, and renegotiated, this study leads to a deeper understanding of ideologies inherent in EFL co-teacher partnerships, and further suggests CA/MCA as a powerful methodological tool for analyzing teacher identities as a locally situated, interactional accomplishment.

Korean English Teachers’ Level of Assessment Literacy and their Perceptions of School Assessments

Korean English Teachers’ Level of Assessment Literacy and their Perceptions of School Assessments

The Politics of Emotions in ELT: Structure of Feeling and Anxiety of Korean English Teachers

ABSTRACTUsing the notion of structure of feeling by Raymond Williams, this article seeks to illuminate an ideological understanding of Korean English teachers’ anxiety and deep sense of insecurity in English language teaching (ELT). Through a discussion of how their anxiety is grounded deeply within unequal social relations and how they reframe their anxiety through critical reflection on the cultural and ideological bias of their own anxiety, it points out the intricate relationship between ideology and emotion; teachers’ emotions are shaped by dominant ideologies that constitute the social structures constraining their position as teachers, while their engagement with those emotions also enables their self-transformation towards gaining confidence as teachers. The results of the study emphasise the tension between social structure and agency in teachers’ emotional experiences and discuss implications for teacher education and development.

The Effects of the Recognition of Collaborative Classes between Native English Speakers and Korean English Teachers on the Definition Factors of the Learner

The Effects of the Recognition of Collaborative Classes between Native English Speakers and Korean English Teachers on the Definition Factors of the Learner

Comparing the Practices of Experienced and Novice Korean English Teachers in Relation to Curricular Aims for English Education

This study contributes towards understanding the classroom practices of Korean public school English teachers by introducing and applying an observation protocol which analyzes how teachers’ pedagogic activities relate to curricular recommendations for English education such as having student-centered, meaning-focused, and communicative English classes. The study included three classes each from two experienced and two novice primary school English teachers. The analysis showed that the experienced teachers’ classes were much more communicative and student-centered than the novice teachers’ classes were (e.g., 40% to 64% of class time spent on communicative activities versus 8% to 25% for the novice teachers), but that both novice and experienced teachers focused mostly on language forms rather than meaning in their lessons, and that none of the teachers used any task-based activities. The study concludes with implications and recommendations for future research based on these results.

A Systematic Review on the Identity of Korean English Teachers as Non-native English Speakers

A Systematic Review on the Identity of Korean English Teachers as Non-native English Speakers

Early Childhood Foreign Language Teacher Knowledge: A Case of Korean Teachers of English

Early Childhood Foreign Language Teacher Knowledge: A Case of Korean Teachers of English

Ideological Dimensions of English Language Policy in South Korea

South Korea’s English language policies have addressed the acquisition of English as a foreign or additional language. This kind of language planning, known as acquisition planning, concerns how the language users will acquire the language (Cooper, 1989). Understanding language planning issues provides insights into language ideologies related to English, the discursive construction of English, and the assumptions about language education, namely how those in authority perceive English and manage the language behaviors of students and teachers. Specifically, this paper examines the Seventh National Curriculum, the Teaching English in English (TEE) policy, and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s implementation of TEE. A discourse analysis of these policy documents uncovers the ideologies underlying this kind of acquisition planning. The analysis is also complemented by participant observations and interviews with Korean English teachers at an English-training facility to gain their perspectives on TEE and the certification process. The findings shed light on the discourses of globalization and neoliberalism that fuel the study and teaching of English, serving both the state and the public’s perceived needs. Teachers also reveal their support of the TEE policy but suspect the policy and certificate serve to support economic and political agendas rather than improved English education.