English Education System
Most readers of this writing might be native English speakers. People around the world study English hard, because most information that we could read is written in English. Countries have their own research centers, yet they also write research results in English to share with other country's scientists and researchers.
If you are not able to use English freely, you can not use a lot of important information on the internet, and you could miss out on many opportunities to people who are fluent in English.
Korean people are obsessed with English. Everyone talks about English. In elementary school, middle school, high school, at university, in companies, with friends and family, literally everywhere. However, we Korean people can not speak English. It is ironic that Korean people can not speak English well compared to other countries, even though our government invests so much money in English education.
When I studied English in New Zealand, I had many chances to meet European students. I asked them if they studied English when they were really young. The answer was no. Even the German students who dominated the advanced class said most German students learn English when they are in middle school. I was really frustrated, so I started researching about English education.
As everyone may know, many European languages and English are quite similar, so European language speakers could learn quickly. However, the English education system in Europe is also completely different.
On average Korean people study English from 8 to 24. Which means Korean people study English more than 16 years. However, whenever Korean people encounter non-Korean people on the street, we tend to run away or avoid eye contact so as not to start a conversation. What is the point of English education? The Korean government and Korean parents spend so much money on English, and students study so hard. What is wrong with our English education?
First of all, Korean English teachers in many public schools are not qualified to teach English.
In order to be an English teacher, people need to pass the teacher certification examination. However, as far as I know, the test does not guarantee those who pass the test are able to teach students English. The ability of their English is just better than other teachers.
I am not ignoring their effort. However, many native English teachers in South Korea make a complaint of miscommunication due to their English. There are two types of English classes in public school. First one is grammar class taught by Korean teacher, and the other one is speaking class taught by native English teachers.
Second reason is Korea only focuses on grammar.
Sometimes, I think, "what if I learned English grammar, after I got used to speaking?" Korean English teachers in public school and private academy tend to focus too much on grammar. As a result, when people speak English, they are hesitant so as not to make grammatical mistakes. We automatically think "is it the right way to say this?" when we speak. Grammar is absolutely important to improve English ability, yet this tendency could make students hate English. Schools need to provide students with an English environment first rather than teaching boring grammar and vocabulary.
Last reason is the lack of an English environment.
Some Korean people overcome English education in Korea by practicing a lot. However, unfortunately there is an obvious limitation to fluency. Even though some people practice speaking by themselves, there are not many chances to speak English in Korea. Some people make English speaking groups to develop their skills, but when they confront native English speakers, they are not able to follow the conversation, because every single person has their own distinctive accent.
We need to think about whether we are studying English the best we can. Korean people definitely spend so much money and time on English in comparison to other countries. According to the newspaper I read last week, the Korean government will hire 50,000 native English teachers in Seoul from 2020 to provide children with an English environment.
Korean language is really important. However, Korea would lose competitiveness in the world without English.
I hope the new generation could get a better English education and spend their time on more precious things.
