in south korea english education begins at a very young age continuing through
college and even the learner's professional life so why is
mastering the language considered essential here champion jung files us this report
it's 11 a.m on a weekday and there are around 80 students studying in this classroom at an
english language academy they're here regardless of age or profession with a single goal in mind
a high toeic score the test of english for international communication also more widely
known as toeic is an international standardized test of english skill for non-native speakers
in south korea toeic test scores have become increasingly more necessary for
those wishing to make themselves a strong candidate to enter universities find jobs
or get promotions english in korea is taught at a rather young age many parents tend to invest a
lot of money and time on their children so they can attend english kindergartens and some also
hire english tutors to help their children pass the level tests needed to go to such facilities
however there are other educational institutions like lsy education institution for gifted children
that offer english education that focus on language acquisition without a competitive element
i've seen some younger kids develop ticks like blinking or coughing when they are forced into
an environment where they don't understand the language here we try to help kids develop
confidence first in their mother tongue and then combine english in conversations when they are
ready studying english is mandatory for students in south korea beginning in the third grade
middle and high schoolers have to invest even more time on english in order to take the
national college entrance exam the sunan naturally students are more exposed to textbook english
so how hard is the sunun we asked a number of native speakers to solve some questions
do you have your answers uh not yet it's pretty complicated i think it's either four or five
what about you steve i'm still reading it yeah it's five oh i i better i better i better go five
as well then yeah the correct answer is number five so you guys did get it correct that's good
yeah it took you some time though right yeah right what did you think of it i think it's difficult
it's obviously difficult even for intelligent guys like us i would go for number three the
correct answer is actually number five number five fantastic so i'm wrong quite uh challenging
and what grade are we giving this to like how old are the kids high school seniors explore college
as i say you know the competition in the korea is uh extremely high and the pressure for the kids
is really really high too so i don't really blame anything it's basically the competition so totally
right you know the kids got kids gonna study a lot so i'm looking at these kids i'm very impressed by
the english skills i'm very impressed by the high vocabulary that's instilled within them
but i do often times think about perhaps the practicality of emphasizing such grammar and
vocab skills stephen kreshan the most frequently cited scholar in the field of language education
says that people do not acquire language by speaking or writing or by studying the
rules of grammar you want to get better on these standardized tests go to starbucks
bring a couple of novels sit back relax and read and you'll do absolutely fine all the studies show
you do very well on these tests if you do lots of pleasure reading not just the toeic but the toefl
all those things the hard truth is that standardized tests are still required in today's
society however people must remember that learning a language is not just about achieving high scores
as experts say acquiring a second language that be english chinese or german is not just about
the grammar or correcting errors what's important is being able to listen and read
as preparation to speak without anxiety chiming down news