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The Politics of Teaching English in South Korean Schools: Language Ideologies and Language Policy

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The Politics of Teaching English in South Korean Schools: Language Ideologies and Language Policy University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2014 The Politics of Teaching English in South Korean Schools: Language Ideologies and Language Policy Kathleen Lee University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Asian Studies Commons, Education Commons, and the Linguistics Commons Recommended Citation Lee, Kathleen, "The Politics of Teaching English in South Korean Schools: Language Ideologies and Language Policy" (2014). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1339. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1339 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1339 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Politics of Teaching English in South Korean Schools: Language Ideologies and Language Policy Abstract Around the world, English proficiency is perceived to bring about class mobility and better employment prospects. South Korea is no exception to this belief where English test scores and speaking ability often serve as gate-keeping criteria for university admission, white-collar employment, and promotion. Within the past 30 years, the proliferation of private English-language institutes, the record numbers of Koreans studying in English-speaking countries, and language policies regarding English-language study enacted by the Ministry of Education (MOE) collectively point to the increasing hegemony of English in the lives of Koreans. In this dissertation, I examine an aggressive effort launched by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to improve English instruction called the "Teaching English in English" (TEE) policy. In 2001, the MOE enacted the TEE policy to improve the English proficiency of orK ean students mainly through English instruction, with the implicit acknowledgement that over 40 years of teaching English through Korean had not produced competent English users. To make sense of this policy's overt and covert agendas, I spent five months conducting ethnographic participant observations and interviews at a government- sponsored, residential training center where a cohort of 40 teachers participated in an intensive English course designed to improve language instruction. After the completion of the course, I continued observing and interviewing three focal English teachers at elementary schools in Seoul to understand how they interpreted and implemented the TEE policy on a daily basis. Approaching this research from a language ideological framework, I pay particular attention to how language ideologies interact with the current policy to account for the motivations behind the policy and the language choices and pedagogical practices by practitioners. Moreover, I focus on metalinguistic and written policy discourse to uncover how these ideologies contribute to the prominent role that English plays in Korean education. Analysis of the findings er veals that even though teachers supported the policy, their practices did not always lead to English-medium instruction due to contextual factors and teachers' beliefs. Moreover, teachers reproduced dominant language ideologies that prevented viewing themselves as legitimate English teachers. The findings of this dissertation illustrate the importance of paying attention to the social and language practices of the local community when designing a well-informed language policy that can effectively transform language education. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Education First Advisor Nancy H. Hornberger Keywords English language education, Language ideology, Language policy, South Korea Subject Categories Asian Studies | Education | Linguistics This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1339 THE POLITICS OF TEACHING ENGLISH IN SOUTH KOREAN SCHOOLS: LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES AND LANGUAGE POLICY Kathleen S. Lee A DISSERTATION in Education Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 Supervisor of Dissertation: _______________________________ Nancy H. Hornberger, Professor of Education Graduate Group Chairperson: _______________________________ Stanton E.F. Wortham, Professor of Education Dissertation Committee: Stanton E.F. Wortham, Professor of Education Hyunjoon Park, Associate Professor of Sociology Ryuko Kubota, Professor of Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver THE POLITICS OF TEACHING ENGLISH IN SOUTH KOREAN SCHOOLS: LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES AND LANGUAGE POLICY COPYRIGHT 2014 Kathleen S. Lee iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The long and seemingly endless journey of writing this dissertation could not have been possible without the support, kindness, and patience of many. I thank my dissertation committee, Profs. Hornberger, Wortham, Park, and Kubota, who will always serve as my mentors as their scholarship and collegiality have inspired me deeply. At Penn, I also wish to thank Gen and Ming for their healthy doses of shame, humor, and feedback when I needed it the most. I am eternally grateful to my Tiger family: Mama, Papa, and Stephen, and my surrogate sisters Hikyoung and Heidi for continually feeding me and nagging me to finish writing. I am also indebted to the teachers and administrators who thoughtfully entertained my infinite questions, especially “Brenda”, “Hilda”, and “Nicole”. Finally, this research would have been extremely difficult without generous funding from the Y.H. Park Fellowship and the Institute of International Education. iv ABSTRACT THE POLITICS OF TEACHING ENGLISH IN SOUTH KOREAN SCHOOLS: LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES AND LANGUAGE POLICY Kathleen S. Lee Nancy H. Hornberger Around the world, English proficiency is perceived to bring about class mobility and better employment prospects. South Korea is no exception to this belief where English test scores and speaking ability often serve as gate-keeping criteria for university admission, white-collar employment, and promotion. Within the past 30 years, the proliferation of private English- language institutes, the record numbers of Koreans studying in English-speaking countries, and language policies regarding English-language study enacted by the Ministry of Education (MOE) collectively point to the increasing hegemony of English in the lives of Koreans. In this dissertation, I examine an aggressive effort launched by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to improve English instruction called the “Teaching English in English” (TEE) policy. In 2001, the MOE enacted the TEE policy to improve the English proficiency of Korean students mainly through English instruction, with the implicit acknowledgement that over 40 years of teaching English through Korean had not produced competent English users. To make sense of this policy’s overt and covert agendas, I spent five months conducting ethnographic participant observations and interviews at a government-sponsored, residential training center where a cohort of 40 teachers participated in an intensive English course designed to improve language instruction. After the completion of the course, I continued observing and interviewing three focal English teachers at elementary schools in Seoul to understand how they interpreted and implemented the TEE policy on a daily basis. Approaching this research from a language v ideological framework, I pay particular attention to how language ideologies interact with the current policy to account for the motivations behind the policy and the language choices and pedagogical practices by practitioners. Moreover, I focus on metalinguistic and written policy discourse to uncover how these ideologies contribute to the prominent role that English plays in Korean education. Analysis of the findings reveals that even though teachers supported the policy, their practices did not always lead to English-medium instruction due to contextual factors and teachers’ beliefs. Moreover, teachers reproduced dominant language ideologies that prevented viewing themselves as legitimate English teachers. The findings of this dissertation illustrate the importance of paying attention to the social and language practices of the local community when designing a well-informed language policy that can effectively transform language education. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................III ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................IV LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................X LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................................................XI CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1 1.1 YEONGEO YEOLPUNG (ENGLISH FEVER) ........................................................... 1 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................................................. 4 1.3 OVERVIEW OF THE CHAPTERS......................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2: THE QUESTION OF GLOBAL ENGLISH AND KOREA..................... 8 2.1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................. 8 2.2 “ENGLISH FOR ALL” .....................................................................................
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