Daewon Foreign Language High School to Eliminate English Listening Test
A headline caught my eye in the Joongang Daily the other day. ”Daewon to Ax English Listening Tests in ‘10.” In 2010, English listening tests will be scrapped for second year middle school students who plan to apply for admission to Daewon Foreign Language High School, one of the nation’s premier foreign language schools. Instead, candidates will be selected based on recommendations from principals, school grades, and assessments by admissions officers. The selection will also take into account regional balance in admissions.
Daewon is the first among 30 such schools nationwide to abolish the English listening test. The principal of Daewon indicated that the new system is being adopted in order to counter the charge that foreign language high schools are the cause of the private education boom in Korea.