Fulbright U.S. Education Center

English education and English testing have perennially been high profile topics for public discussion in Korea.  That, in and of itself, is not surprising in this country which has built a modern education system almost from scratch in the span of just over half a century.   However, the public discussions these days are especially intense, as outlined by a report earlier this week in the Korea Times, entitled “Can Ahn’s English Education Overhaul Succeed?”

The lead sentence of the article points out that Minister of Education, Science and Technology Ahn Byong-man has been fighting against increasing private education costs since he took office in 2008.  One key part of his effort to cut these costs is a new evaluation program for teachers.  Under his leadership, the Ministry will conduct teacher evaluation programs at all elementary and secondary schools, starting from the Spring semester this March.  Minister Ahn believes the quality of teachers is pivotal to public education and hopes it will help parents and students to break from their reliance on private education institutes or hagwons.

A second project within the Ministry aimed at containing private education costs is the development of an English proficiency exam.  Last week, Ahn announced that colleges can use the results of the state-developed English tests in selecting students from 2012, when the exam is scheduled to debut.  Ahn said, “I am trying to persuade college and university presidents to discontinue the use of TOEFL and TOEIC scores for admissions as soon as possible.”

An article in The Korea Times today notes that many new service businesses are doing well in Korea.   In particular, it observes that foreign language institutes, primarily teaching English, saw sales increase by 25.2 percent in 2008.   Online English classes saw sales rise 38.1 percent.

As reported in the Joongang Daily today, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has announced that applicants to foreign language high schools who say they received private education or tutoring will be disadvantaged.  This is the Ministry’s latest effort to address concerns that changes in the foreign language high school’s admission process will further overheat the private education market.   The Ministry had earlier announced that foreign language high schools would introduce an admission process that emphasized “self-study” in 2011.

Admissions officers will measure “self study” in various ways, including interviews, examination of study plans and letters of recommendation.  English listening tests, written exams and interviews asking about applicant’s knowledge of specific subjects will be banned.  The Ministry also said that applicants who report their scores for foreign language aptitude tests, such as TOEFL, will lose points.

The Korea Times today reports that a consortium has been named to organize Korea’s new government-run English proficiency tests.  The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced Wednesday that a group consisting of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and four universities will administer the first grade-level exam of the state tests.  Grade one tests will be developed for adults seeking to attend graduate school or gain employment, while grades 2 and 3 will be used for students attending elementary to high school.

The KCCI will cooperate with Seoul National University, the organizer of the TEPS test, Hanguk University of Foreign Studies, developer of the FLEX test, Sookmyung Women’s University, organizer of the MATE test, and Korea University.

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.