[Opinion] A More Natural English-Learning Environment

At Maewon Elementary School in Seoul, there are two teachers for the same subject. A Korean teacher explains in Korean, and then an English native speaker repeats the same thing in English. This is what is called “Immersion English Education.” After studies showed that teaching subjects like math and science in English was more effective than treating English as an independent subject, this method of instruction has become internationally renowned. Only a few schools, however, have adopted this method in Korea.

Learning English has always been a burden for non-English speaking countries, but we now know how to teach the language most effectively. First, early childhood education is key. Get them while they’re young. Next, the learning environment is important. An environment where the widespread use of English is natural increases the effectiveness of learning. The best thing would be to send kids off to the United States, but immersion English education comes in a close second as far as “natural environment” goes for students.

Korea spends 15 trillion won annually on private English education, yet remains one of the world’s dunces at the language. In 2005, the scores of TOEFL takers in Korea ranked 93rd out of 147 nations, but fell to 111th place out of 137 countries in 2006. It is admittedly difficult to assimilate the language in Korea, but what we need to question is the efficiency of the English education we already have. The problem with immersion education is that schools are limited to new education methods due to costs, and that the quality of teachers is lacking.

It has been said that out of the 210,000 Koreans studying abroad, 93,994 (43%) are there for language study. Most are older students learning English. In theory, this is the most effective path to learning, but at the same time it is the most expensive. Elementary English education is entering its 10th year since its inception in 1997. Next year, 1st and 2nd graders will be learning English as well. Since the next generation can’t avoid English, we might as well choose education with substance so that they can skip the toil of learning when they are older, and we can stop wasting dollars on the process.