Another somewhat old story but the idea of reducing the number of native speakers teaching and replacing them with suitably qualified and skilled local English teachers is interesting.
Daily news about Korea from the on-line edition of the Chosun Ilbo national daily.
Seoul to Phase Out Native English Teachers [HERE]
Most native English-speaking teachers in about 300 high schools in Seoul could lose their jobs next year. In its budget for 2012, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education cut about W4 billion (US$1=W1,126) for 225 native speakers teaching at high schools.
If the budget is approved by the city council, most of the high schools in Seoul except for 30 English "immersion" and international schools, can no longer afford a native speaker.
Currently, 1,245 native speakers teach English conversation at primary and secondary schools in Seoul, 895 of them subsidized by the city office of education and the rest by the city government or district offices.
"A native speaker earns on average W42 million a year, and we concluded that they are not effective enough to justify the cost," a spokesman for the city office of education said. "A survey conducted for us showed that Korean teachers with outstanding English and teaching skills are more effective in the long term."
The office also plans to reduce the number of native speakers teaching at elementary and middle schools from 2013.
Students from low-income families will likely bear the brunt of the policy. "Students from well-to-do families may find lessons from native English-speakers dull because they've been attending private tutoring institutes since they were young," an education official said. "But those from poor families should be given the opportunity to learn English with native speakers at school." He added it is "too early to reduce the number of native speakers as long as Korean teachers aren't good enough to replace them."
Students Prefer Korean English Teachers to Native Speakers
Korean students prefer to be taught English by Korean teachers with outstanding English conversation and teaching skills, even though they are more satisfied with the lessons of native English-speaking teaching assistants than of their Korean counterparts, according to a survey.
The survey released Sunday by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education was conducted among 28,761 students, 11,980 parents, 2,406 Korean English teachers, and 595 native English-speaking teaching assistants at 1,282 primary and secondary schools in Seoul.
Some 62.2 percent of parents and 53.7 percent of students wanted Korean teachers with good English skills. Only 26.9 percent of parents and 29.7 percent of students preferred native speakers.
Yet in practice parents and pupils were more satisfied with the lessons of native speakers than with Korean English teachers'. Some 54.2 percent of parents said native speakers are more helpful in improving their children's English skills, as against 39 percent who were happy with the lessons of Korean English teachers.
Likewise, 60 percent of students were happy with native speakers' lessons, compared to 55.3 percent said for Korean English teachers.
Native English Teachers to Face Tougher Evaluations
Native English language instructors in Korea will soon be required to undergo stricter screening to validate their teaching skills.
The education ministry says it will utilize the National Institute for International Education to boost the number of English teachers selected for individual assessment next year from the current 1,300 to 2,000.
The increased figure will allow the institute to closely monitor and better allocate English instructors to schools throughout the country.
A mandatory 10-day training program will be provided for new instructors on teaching techniques, class management and Korean culture.
Foreign Teaching Pool Expanded to Include More Countries
The Ministry of Justice announced Sunday it will allow only nationals of countries including English as an official language that have signed an agreement with Korea to work as assistant English teachers from next year.
The Justice Ministry is currently working on the agreement with India and expects it to be signed next year. So far, only the nationals of seven countries whose mother tongue is English -- Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, and the United States -- have been eligible to work as native English teachers.
With the new measure, member countries will be expanded to include the likes of India, the Philippines and Singapore, where English is one of their many official languages. Currently, there are 4,332 native English assistant teachers in elementary, middle and high schools nationwide.
However, nationals of such countries will have to meet tougher qualification requirements than those from the countries where the mother tongue is English. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has decided to make both a teacher's license and a bachelor's degree in an English-related major as prerequisites. Nationals of the seven countries whose mother tongue is English have much more lenient requirement of having graduated from a two-year community college or having finished at least two years of a four-year university course.
A qualification to teach in private English institutes will continue to be limited to nationals of the seven countries.
SEE ALSO: LINK
Old stories, I know, what what do you think of the issues that these news items touch upon?
I personally think that this is a particularly interesting issue; when most countries prefer native speakers to teach English in schools, Seoul prefers otherwise. Although it is not the case here in Indonesia, I can understand the motive behind their preferences. Most students and parents are more biased towards Koreans with excellent English qualifications may be due to the fact that they are more convenient with being taught by teachers with the same nationality as them. This could be a cultural issue, but I think that this has something to do with a psychological context. We tend to be more outspoken with people who we are familiar with. This has got nothing to do with cultural discrimination, but rather the degree of convenience in which we express ourselves. To some extent, I can relate to this phenomenon to a personal level. Even though I am perfectly fine with my native English teachers, it would always be easier for me to interact with the native Indonesian teachers, simply because we have similar cultural backgrounds. I think that this is what happened to the Korean students; when facing difficulties, it is easier for them to speak out and voice their thoughts without censure. This argument is also predicated upon the fact that they felt more satisfied with the lessons taught by native English speakers, which implies that there is no problem with their qualifications. This, then, makes tougher evaluations for native speakers unnecessary. I think that the ministry needs to conduct evaluations for every English teacher regardless of their backgrounds, despite the survey results that prefer Korean speakers, in order to ensure that the quality of teachings is not compromised.
ReplyDeleteI remember having a native English teacher teach me IELTS Speaking, named Mr. Tobby. He is from Birmingham, United Kingdom. He told me a lot of stories including his experience being a teacher in South Korea for 2 years. Mr. Tobby said that he can’t even enjoy his day because his teaching schedule was very hectic. He can have more than 5 classes in a day. He decided to move here in Indonesia because he has a girlfriend in Borneo. I think the government should acknowledge the students' opinions to improve efficiency. Based on the survey, Korean students like Korean teachers with good English skills more. But the fact is some Korean English teachers are still not as good as native speakers. Thus, if the government wants to reduce the number of native teachers gradually, the government also needs to improve Korean English teacher language skills. The government can raise the standard of qualification to be an English teacher. But, they should remember to not completely wipe out native teachers because native teachers are such an important part of English learning. Nobody is able to use English better than natives.
ReplyDeleteFrom my own personal experience, teaching English can come in many different styles and methods. Back when I was in Junior-high school, I was studying in a local school in South Tangerang, my home town, with an English teacher who was not fluent to say the least. He could talk and write in English fairly well, however, his teaching methods were very ‘textbook’ - making us write down notes about grammar and tenses, as well as answer fill-in-the-blank questions as practice. All at the same time, not actually speaking English to teach! In the end, it did help many students increase their English vocabulary, better their grammatical understanding, and get more familiar with the English language –however a lot of them didn’t develop their English conversational skills at all, which I believe is the most important part of learning a language.
ReplyDeleteThis contrasts with my English teacher in high school, while I was studying in Malaysia - she was a fully native speaker of English, although Malaysian-Chinese, and employed many more interactive and group activities in class. This made classes quite a bit more fun, but also encouraged students to actively use and improve their English conversation skills. The assignments that she gave us were also more essay based and thought provoking compared to my English teacher in Indonesia.
For me, I prefer the more native English teacher. However, in Seoul where the issue of native English speakers being phased out is presented, I feel that the local government needs to find a middle ground between native speaking teachers, and qualified and skilled local English teachers. The best option would be, English native/nearly native speaking Korean teachers, as they would be more relatable and understandable to local students– but can also make an English learning environment more suited to actually developing real life English skills, by making classes more interactive.