English education in South Korea

The dominance of North American (U.S. and Canadian) English is widely prevalent in Korean English language teaching (ELT). Students show more positive attitudes towards American English than any other English variety (Jung, 2005; Yook & Lindemann, 2013), and teachers impart and reinforce American English norms (Ahn, 2017; Ahn, 2011). Administrators and employers consider American English as the sole model for Korean ELT (Ahn, 2013; Harrison, 2010; Jenks, 2017; Song, 2013). Koreans’ preference for American English dates back to the 1950s, when the first national ELT curriculum explicitly favored American English over British English (Lee, 2015). Since then the status of American English as the standard among all varieties of English has been strengthened due to Korea's strong political, military, and economic ties with the US (Harrison, 2010; Yim, 2007).

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Experiences of non-North American teachers of English in American English-dominant Korean ELT

Choe

Lee

2021

“…Although these three components of attitudes have gathered a reasonable degree of consensus, it has also been argued that these components should be seen more in terms of causes and triggers of attitudes (Clore & Schnall, 2005). Despite differing theories, the concept of the three components of attitude has been widely employed and adapted in language studies (Ahn, 2017; Garrett, 2010). It is, however, important to note that there is difficulty in eliciting or categorizing one component of attitude with another due to their close interconnectedness and the extent to which they could possibly contradict each other.…”

Section: Attitude To Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Growing East Asian words in English

You¹,

Kiaer²,

Ahn³

2019

Self Cite

With the change of linguistic, cultural and ethnic landscapes, multilingual, multicultural and multi-ethnic realities are increasing globally. In the case of the UK, the 2011 Census showed that the Asian or Asian British ethnic group category had one of the largest increases since 2001, with a third of the foreign-born population of the UK (2.4 million) now identifying as Asian British (Office for National Statistics, 2013). It is not surprising then, given the aforementioned demographic situation, to see many Asian-origin words in the English language. East Asian words are now entering into the English lexicon with unprecedented speed as a consequence of increased contact between East Asia and the English-speaking world.

“…The focus of existing studies of Korean English, or Konglish, has mainly been on identifying patterns or studying perceptions of students and teachers (e.g. Ahn 2014, 2015, 2017; Hagens, 2005; McDonald & McRae, 2010; McPhail, 2018; Rüdiger, 2018). The perceptions of the general public regarding the increased use of English among Korean people have not received much attention.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘King Sejong is crying’

Kim¹

2020

Korea is probably one of the few countries, if not the only one, that observes a holiday in honor of the national language's alphabet. Hangulnal, which falls on October 9, is the Korean Alphabet Day. Each year, the government hosts events to celebrate one of the most prized possessions of the country, Hangul – the writing system of the national language. Created by King Sejong and his Royal Academy Scholars in the 15th century, Hangul is recognized as one of ‘the world's most scientific writing systems ever created by man’ (Sohn, 2001: 13). To outsiders, such pride may appear somewhat overblown, but Koreans do take great pride in Hangul.