Fulbright U.S. Education Center

South Korea’s foreign language high schools have become a hot political issue.  A lawmaker from the ruling party has again suggested that they should be eliminated.   The first two foreign language high schools, Daewon and Daeil, were approved in 1992.  Starting in the mid-1990s they gained a reputation of sending most of their students to prestigious universities.  However, they are now being criticized for fueling the private institute or “cram school” market in Korea.

For further background on this issue, read the article in today’s Joongang Ilbo.

As noted in a recent article in the Chosun Ilbo, almost 2,000 students dropped out of Korea’s highly competitive foreign language high schools between 2004 and 2008.  This represented a dropout rate of approximately two percent.  The report suggested that those who dropped out had found themselves on the lower rungs of academic accomplishment, so chose to drop out and take the high school equivalence test instead.

According to an article in the Chosun Ilbo today, eight out of ten salaried workers think they are underpaid because of their poor English skills.  In the survey of almost 1,500 employed workers conducted by a jobs site, 89.9 percent of respondents said that if they had a better command of English they would be better paid.

When asked what they would do if they had a better command of English, most said transfer to a larger firm (54.4 percent), followed by working in another field (20.4 percent), negotiating their salary (13.3 percent) and leaving the company to found their own business (7.8 percent).

CNN and other media covered the inauguration last week of a new English Education City on the island province of Jeju.  The central idea of the project is to create a city where elementary, middle and high schools—and eventually universities–teach all of their courses in English.  Top-notch schools from outside Korea are being invited to participate in the project.  One of the first is Britain’s North London Collegiate School.

The English Education City aims to reduce the need for Korean families to send their children oveseas for an English-language education.  Jeju officials say annual tuition will be somewhere between U.S. $3,100 and U.S. $4,700 or about half the amount South Korean parents would be paying to send their children overseas.

The English language market in Korea has already resulted in 21 “English Villages” around the country. Next month, an English village capable of schooling some 5,000 children will open in the southern city of Keoje.  Although more such projects are popping up, the Jeju Global Education City is by far the most ambitious.

As reported in the Korea Times today, Korea ranked second from the bottom worldwide in the General Training Module (GTM) for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), according to the British Council.  The number of Koreans taking IELTS increased to 27,000 last year, up from 23,000 in 2007 and 14,000 in 2006.   Last year Korean test takers gained an average score of 5.33 out of 9 on the GTM, up 0.12 from the previous year.   This placed it ahead of only the United Arab Emirates, which had an average score of 4.55.   Testing experts claim that Korea’s low scores are partly due to the large number of elementary and middle school students who take the test.

IELTS tests are held in over 500 centers around the world and some 12 million people take the test every year.

An article in The Korea Herald today provides some useful detail on the increase in spending on private education in South Korea.  Government data showed yesterday that the gap in private education spending between the wealthy and the poor widened last year, raising fears that the economic slump may hit children of low-income families more severely.

According to data by the Bank of Korea and the National Statistical Office, the top 20 percent households in terms of income spent 6.9 times more on private education than the bottom 20 percent in 2008, up from 5.9 times a year earlier. The corresponding figure has continuously risen from 5.3 in 2003, except for the year 2006 with 6.6.

By region, monthly expenditure per student in Seoul was 2.4 times larger than that in smaller towns, or Myeons and Eups, in 2008, up 2.3 times in 2007, the NSO said.

Although the government has been putting ever more emphasis on English education in public schools, spending for private English education rose by the most in terms of subject.

The private education spending for English rose by 11.8 percent, while that of other subjects, like Korean essay writing, fell by 10 percent, the NSO survey showed.

Educational attainment was also a significant factor in deciding the amount of private education spending. Mothers with degrees from graduate schools spent 398,000 won a month on private education in 2008, whereas those with high school degrees spent half of that, or 201,000 won, the survey showed.

The Korea Times carried a summary of South Korean students’ performance on the TOEFL test, compared with test takers from other countries.  Not surprisingly, their speaking proficiency remains nearly at the bottom. Korean TOEFL test takers ranked 136th out of 161 nations in speaking skills.  However, Koreans overall TOEFL score stood at 78 out of 120, placing the country 89th, also lower than the world average of 79. In 2007, they scored 77.  Listening and writing scores were 19 and 20 each, compared with the world’s average of 19.5 and 20.5, respectively. Koreans beat the world average only in reading, at 20, compared with the global average of 19.4.

Korea has the world’s largest number of  TOEFL test takers. More than 90 percent of elementary school students receive private English education, and last year the amount of money spent on English education reportedly reached 15 trillion won.

Happy New Year (of the Ox)!   This blog is still alive and well, and we’ll be posting information more regularly from now on.  Yesterday, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced that Seoul’s public elementary, middle and high school English classes will all be taught in English, starting in 2012.  This move, which has sparked considerable public discussion and even controversy over the past year will be implemented under the newly-announced School Managed Innovation of Learning English, or “SMILE” program.  An article in The Joongang Daily reports that the Office of Education plans to upgrade English education by

• offering English immersion classes,
• holding training sessions for Korean English teachers, AND
• recuiting more native-English speaking teachers.

The office hopes these moves will allow students to become fluent in English through classes at public schools, cutting the amount of money spent on private instruction.

We’ll have more to say on this important topic throughout the year.  In the meantime, I want to thank those of you who have sent in positive comments regarding this blog.  We are considering whether to make the effort to translate it into Korean for the benefit of parents and prospective study-abroad students.

Sincerely,

James F. Larson, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
Fulbright Commission
Seoul, Korea

The Korea Times and other local papers highlighted today’s government announcment that it intends to develop a new test that will hopefully replace much of the TOEFL exam volume in South Korea.  As announced by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, one purpose of the new test is to reduce the amount of money people spend on private cram schools and language institutes.  The new test, tentatively named the State English Aptitude Test, will be modeled on Japan’s EIKEN test, which has earned international recognition.  ”We believe, as long as we can develop a quality test, many overseas schools will accept it,” said Education Minister Ahn Byoung Man.   He further stated that he expects the new test to replace TOEIC and TOEFL in university admissions and job applications.  The government will run pilot tests between 2010 and 2011 before formally introducing the new test in 2012.

A report in today’s Korea Times about a recent survey by the National Statistical Office caught my eye.  According to a survey of 42,000 people over 15 years old from 20,000 families nationwide, 48.3 percent of those over 30 with children wanted to send them overseas to study. Among the mostly high-paid professionals or office workers, about half wanted overseas education from elementary school level.

The survey also questioned why parents wanted to send their children overseas.  A majority responded that they wanted their children to have an international sense of living, but 27.3 percent said they did not like the Korean education system; 16.6 percent wanted their children to learn in a liberal atmosphere; and 13.1 percent wanted them to learn a foreign language easily.