For this project, I have visited “The Sejong institute of Foreign Language Institute” at Sejong Campus of Korea University and interviewed Professor Jeong, Sang Hwa who has been teaching university freshmen listening and reading in an integrated English education program over five years. He earned a Ph. D. in English literature from Korea University. Professor Jeong has taught both reading at Level 2 and listening at Level 1 during the spring semester, but this interview mostly covered the listening class. Since he and I were once colleagues in a YBM language institute as a TOEIC instructor and a TOEFL instructor respectively ten years ago, this interview provided such a valuable opportunity to meet my old coworker in a long time as well as to take a closer look at how the English education programs based on strategic, institutional efforts by university are operated.
Widely acknowledged as one of Korea’s largest and top-ranked universities, Korea University is currently committed to becoming a leading world-class university, promoting frontier spirit. As one endeavor, Korea University has created detailed development plans for each campus, reflecting their unique characteristics and providing a springboard for promising global leaders. As a specialized boarding campus, Sejong Campus offers a two-semester mandatory integrated English education program for both freshmen and sophomores. This program is an offshoot of University’s resolution to reduce the gap between the main campus and this regional campus in light of both the caliber of students and overall reputation. The Sejong institute of Foreign Language Institute has currently over 30 Korean professors teaching listening and reading and about 15 native English speaking professors teaching speaking and writing. Decisions on selecting the textbooks for each semester, developing midterm and final examinations, and grading policy are made collectively by teachers at each level. Students are required to pass every course in two years to graduate from university.
ELD Levels of Students and Placement Process
Students in each department are assigned into three different levels: A, B, and C according to the results of the National Aptitude Test students take when entering the university. Thus, each student’s exact English proficiency is not reflected in this grouping process. Rather overall students’ scholastic aptitude is valued as a yardstick for their current and potential ability for learning English. Each class consists of approximately 40 students.
Curriculum and Instruction
In teaching listening, the professor mainly uses direct teaching method. “In direct teaching, the instructor maximizes learning time by careful classroom management, makes clear and organized presentations, moves at a steady pace to cover key topics” (Diaz-Rico, 2008, p. 39). He, most of the times, delivers the content of a lesson in Korean with explicit explanations in sequenced steps.
A listening class meets at a language lab where students practice listening skills and watches relevant video clips. Before class, students are given pre-listening assignments about which they are to take as an in-class comprehension quiz. Students correct their answers through a peer review check-up first and then professor announces correct ones. Students also take a few partial-dictation tests listening to a range of listening genres from a casual conversation to TV interviews contained in the textbook audio. The class uses The Tune In series published by Oxford University Press, which introduces over 50 features of natural spoken English. Professor sometimes plays a music video for a recreational purpose.
However, students are rarely involved in speaking activities as an extended activity as the class runs on a tight schedule; thus it is challenging to integrate more communicative activities into this lesson, he added. Instead, the class uses a supplementary textbook, The Complete Guide to TOEIC, published by Thomson Learning throughout the course. Students are to take 20-30 short and long questions of TOEIC in one lesson. Professor usually invests a good deal of time in introducing effective test-taking strategies in that a majority of companies in Korea have used TOEIC, Test of English for International Communication, to hire, place, and promote employees. Helping students improve TOEIC scores is very important for a professor as students also acutely acknowledge a gateway function of TOEIC for their future career.
Besides, after each semester, students must participate in a course evaluation regarding the way the class was offered such as class size, replacement teaching exams, class-related materials, etc., and if they don’t, they are not entitled to get their full credit from a course. The comments from students and the average score on general performance are directly linked to teacher evaluation by an administration.
Program Critique
A listening class meets at a language lab where students practice listening skills and watches relevant video clips. Before class, students are given pre-listening assignments about which they are to take as an in-class comprehension quiz. Students correct their answers through a peer review check-up first and then professor announces correct ones. Students also take a few partial-dictation tests listening to a range of listening genres from a casual conversation to TV interviews contained in the textbook audio. The class uses The Tune In series published by Oxford University Press, which introduces over 50 features of natural spoken English. Professor sometimes plays a music video for a recreational purpose.
However, students are rarely involved in speaking activities as an extended activity as the class runs on a tight schedule; thus it is challenging to integrate more communicative activities into this lesson, he added. Instead, the class uses a supplementary textbook, The Complete Guide to TOEIC, published by Thomson Learning throughout the course. Students are to take 20-30 short and long questions of TOEIC in one lesson. Professor usually invests a good deal of time in introducing effective test-taking strategies in that a majority of companies in Korea have used TOEIC, Test of English for International Communication, to hire, place, and promote employees. Helping students improve TOEIC scores is very important for a professor as students also acutely acknowledge a gateway function of TOEIC for their future career.
Besides, after each semester, students must participate in a course evaluation regarding the way the class was offered such as class size, replacement teaching exams, class-related materials, etc., and if they don’t, they are not entitled to get their full credit from a course. The comments from students and the average score on general performance are directly linked to teacher evaluation by an administration.
Program Critique
This program was designed to enhance university students’ academic literacy coupled with communicative competence. However, as professor admitted, most listening and reading classes are focused on test-preparation skills and strategies. Speaking and writing classes are also having difficulty due to the large class size and various proficiency levels among students; thus, the turnover rate among the native professors is quite high.
Behaviorist approach and the direct method can be effective and successful to a great extent for EFL beginners. Students can develop correct language habits from repetitious training and explicit explanations in sequenced steps. However, as Díaz-Rico (2008) notes, “these techniques have a distinct, yet limited, role in instruction” (p.40). Developing discrete skills respectively by no means facilitate students’ integrative knowledge. More important, under direct method students often lack in ownership of the goals of learning (Díaz-Rico, 2008).
Professor Jeong maintained that the classroom ambience is not very motivating, and students seem to consider the lesson as one mandatory course to ensure their graduation. Along with this overemphasis on institutional, utilitarian motivation in learning English, e.g. achieving a high score in a standardized test, overlooking ELD levels of students in a placement process by the department appears to contribute to creating demotivating learning environments. Given the ultimate goal of teaching English is to help our students be communicatively competent and take responsibility for their own learning, this program has room for development in terms of considering students’ ELD levels in the placement process, employing more authentic materials and making a class more facilitative, motivating to students.
Behaviorist approach and the direct method can be effective and successful to a great extent for EFL beginners. Students can develop correct language habits from repetitious training and explicit explanations in sequenced steps. However, as Díaz-Rico (2008) notes, “these techniques have a distinct, yet limited, role in instruction” (p.40). Developing discrete skills respectively by no means facilitate students’ integrative knowledge. More important, under direct method students often lack in ownership of the goals of learning (Díaz-Rico, 2008).
Professor Jeong maintained that the classroom ambience is not very motivating, and students seem to consider the lesson as one mandatory course to ensure their graduation. Along with this overemphasis on institutional, utilitarian motivation in learning English, e.g. achieving a high score in a standardized test, overlooking ELD levels of students in a placement process by the department appears to contribute to creating demotivating learning environments. Given the ultimate goal of teaching English is to help our students be communicatively competent and take responsibility for their own learning, this program has room for development in terms of considering students’ ELD levels in the placement process, employing more authentic materials and making a class more facilitative, motivating to students.
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