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The Role of English
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Realizing that Korea's future prosperity will depend a lot on its English communication skills, the country's leaders began to place the highest priority on English education in the middle 1990s.
In the early 1990s President Kim Young Sam made globalization a household word and emphasized that Korea's English communication skills would have to be improved if the country was ever going to play a major role on the highly competitive world marketplace. At the same time, the emergence of the internet and the growing reliance on telecommunications worldwide made it clear that some drastic changes in Korea's English education policy needed to be made.
Almost overnight, the emphasis shifted away from teaching written English to spoken English. The college entrance exam was revised to focus on listening comprehension skills instead of grammar. Today, Korea is the only country in Asia never to have been a colony of either the U.S or Britain to require the teaching of English in public schools beginning in the primary grades. In 2001 a national debate began in whether or not to make English an official language of Jeju Island.
English speaking ability has been essential for getting a job with any of the major multinational corporations in Korea since around the middle 1990s. Job applicants have to pass oral interviews in English, usually conducted by native speakers, in order to be considered for important positions. Nowadays it would be impossible for a college graduate with no English conversation ability to land a good job with a major corporation in Korea.
Another driving force for the push for English ability has been the growing importance of the internet to international communication. While it is possible to use the web without knowing English by surfing only Korean web sites, lack of English ability restricts one drastically. The internet is now a primary source of information, even replacing libraries to some extent, so employees who have no ability to use this vital tool would be at a great disadvantage. That's because the vast majority of the content in the internet is in English.
One more reason why English ability has taken on importance in Korea is the sudden interest in international travel among ordinary Koreans young and old. Before 1990, when overseas travel was off-limits to most Koreans, there was little need to know English. But with affluence came the desire to see the world.
For all these reasons, the number of Korean students taking English courses overseas skyrocketed 200% between 1999 and 2000.
Q1) How does it make you feel that Korea is one of the few countries in Asia to be teaching English from the first grade? Do you agree with this situation?
Q2) What is the reason why most people in Korea study English? How about in your case?
Q3) How important is English conversation ability to success in today's business world? Tell why you think so.
- It's extremely important. A person who doesn't know English will never succeed.
- It's little important. You can still get a good job without knowing English.
- It's not important at all. Learning English is a waste of time.
Q4) After marriage, most of you will have babies. Will you teach English to your son or daughter from his or her youth? What makes you think so?
이 글은「대학연합영어토론동아리」www.pioneerclub.com에서 제공하는 영어토론 정보입니다.
In the early 1990s President Kim Young Sam made globalization a household word and emphasized that Korea's English communication skills would have to be improved if the country was ever going to play a major role on the highly competitive world marketplace. At the same time, the emergence of the internet and the growing reliance on telecommunications worldwide made it clear that some drastic changes in Korea's English education policy needed to be made.
Almost overnight, the emphasis shifted away from teaching written English to spoken English. The college entrance exam was revised to focus on listening comprehension skills instead of grammar. Today, Korea is the only country in Asia never to have been a colony of either the U.S or Britain to require the teaching of English in public schools beginning in the primary grades. In 2001 a national debate began in whether or not to make English an official language of Jeju Island.
English speaking ability has been essential for getting a job with any of the major multinational corporations in Korea since around the middle 1990s. Job applicants have to pass oral interviews in English, usually conducted by native speakers, in order to be considered for important positions. Nowadays it would be impossible for a college graduate with no English conversation ability to land a good job with a major corporation in Korea.
Another driving force for the push for English ability has been the growing importance of the internet to international communication. While it is possible to use the web without knowing English by surfing only Korean web sites, lack of English ability restricts one drastically. The internet is now a primary source of information, even replacing libraries to some extent, so employees who have no ability to use this vital tool would be at a great disadvantage. That's because the vast majority of the content in the internet is in English.
One more reason why English ability has taken on importance in Korea is the sudden interest in international travel among ordinary Koreans young and old. Before 1990, when overseas travel was off-limits to most Koreans, there was little need to know English. But with affluence came the desire to see the world.
For all these reasons, the number of Korean students taking English courses overseas skyrocketed 200% between 1999 and 2000.
Q1) How does it make you feel that Korea is one of the few countries in Asia to be teaching English from the first grade? Do you agree with this situation?
Q2) What is the reason why most people in Korea study English? How about in your case?
Q3) How important is English conversation ability to success in today's business world? Tell why you think so.
- It's extremely important. A person who doesn't know English will never succeed.
- It's little important. You can still get a good job without knowing English.
- It's not important at all. Learning English is a waste of time.
Q4) After marriage, most of you will have babies. Will you teach English to your son or daughter from his or her youth? What makes you think so?
이 글은「대학연합영어토론동아리」www.pioneerclub.com에서 제공하는 영어토론 정보입니다.
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