Dr. Lea Lee

Association for Childhood Education International

Annual International 2006 Conference

"Early Childhood English Instruction as a Foreign Language in

Korea"

San Antonio, TexasApril 12-15, 2006

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Dr. Lea Lee Associate ProfessorDept. of Curriculum and InstructionDarden College of EducationOld Dominion University145 Education BuildingNorfolk, VA 23529home page: http://www.odu.edu/~lxlee/email: [email protected]: 757-683-4801fax: 757-683-5862

http://www.odu.edu/~lxlee/



mailto:[email protected]

Parents in Korea are eager to teach

their toddlers and preschoolers English

• Most Korean parents spend a substantial portion of their monthly salary to send their children to English-language preschools

• English learning institute fees range from $100 to $1000/month (Mean = $300/month)

• Many parents believe that early exposure to English helps their children’s academic success, which in turn guarantees better opportunities for enhancing their future social and economic status.

Background of Emphasizing Early English Instruction

• Prior to 1997, English was introduced in 7th grade. – Result: Not adequate for

Korean people to communicate with foreigners in a global society.

• Since 1997, English has become a required subject starting from 3rd grade in Korea as part of the Korean government’s movement for internationalization of the nation.

• Global society’s demands of communication in English

Appropriate Age for English Instruction to EFL (English as foreign language) Students

• Korean Government Guidelines: Begin teaching English only after children are exposed to 10,000 Korean words and 1000 books.

• English instruction prior to age six must only be applied to ESL students ( Ex. India, Philippines).

• Start teaching English after age 6 for EFL students (Ex. Japan, China). – An experimental study with

4 year olds (N=10) & 7 year olds (N=13) showed that 7 year olds learned English more effectively; demonstrating better pronunciation, memory ability, application skills, and attention level (Ann, So Eung, 1992; Ser, Jae Suk, 1991; Dornyei, 1990 ).

Why do Korean parents of preschool children have a

fervor for English education?

Highly proficientlevel of English

academic success Better opportunitiesFor enhancing SES level

Fervor for English education

Guaranteed Career success

Due to the public notion that a high level of English proficiency guarantees academic and career success in Korea.

Incidences of Fervor for English Education

• Korean parents are overeager to teach their children English – Operations on childrens’ tongue for a longer and more

flexible tongue in private clinics have been reported but no official statistics.

– Some Korean parents have gone to the extreme of surgically altering their child’s tongue in order for them to better pronounce certain English sounds, such as /ch/, /th/, /ph/, /r/, /l/, /f/, /v/, etc.

Origin of Korean’s Educational Zest: Education-obsessed society of S. Korea

(Oh,1995) • During Chosun Dynasty of 14th century, Korea was ruled by an Elite

class (namely, Yang Ban) who gained knowledge and etiquette and were required to pass a national scholar test (namely, Gwa Ger), afterwhich they enjoyed the benefits of upper class life through generations. The public revered and envied these Yang Ban and wished the same success for their own children.

• Educational zest is illustrated through interest far beyond normal levels among the general public in Korean society. These levels of interest and peoples’ educational desires are easily and quickly spread widely throughout the Korean population.

• Educational zest is shown today through the phenomenon of excessively high expectations of educational achievement and extreme levels of educational competition. Parents still desire the life of Yang Ban for their children today.

Goal of Early English EducationTop goal = Developing non-accented English speakers.

•Reported cases of approximately 6 month-old infants being placed in front of English TV programs for 5 hours a day to achieve this goal.

•Often children under age 7 are sent out after dinner for English courses in private institutes located in the middle of the neighborhood(shown in the photo).

English instructional methods for preschool children in English Institutions (Lee, K. & Jun,

Y.,1997)

• Mainly simple conversational English sentences are taught at home and preschools. – In preschools: focus is on

articulation of basic phrases and pronouncing words (62.6%)

– At home: parents use audio-visual aids for pronouncing words (60.0%)

English Instructional Methods for preschool children in English Institutions

• Moon, M. (2000) emphasized the use of songs when teaching EFL students

• Teaching English by song is very effective

• The repetition of songs helps children learn English rhythm, pronunciation and useful expression

English Instructional Methods for Preschool Children in English Institutions (SunWoo, Y., 2000)

• Storytelling is a good aid for teaching English for children over age 6.– Results indicate older childr

en gain better understanding of a story:

• 4 year old children could only recognize a few words.

• 6 year olds could understand the story better than 4 year olds through a teacher's storytelling, pictures and teacher's gesture, voice and facial expressions.

Teaching Approaches in English Institutions Woo Nam-Hee. (2002)

Teaching Approaches

Frequency (%)

Game 71(89.9)

Reading/Writing 70(88.6)

Songs 57(72.2)

Chant 48(60.8)

Role Play 42(53.2)

Pattern drill 42(53.2)

TPR (Total Physical Response)

30(38.0)

Quantitative Data on English Institutions Woo. Nam-Hee. (2002)

Typical Teacher Child Ratio

8.6 (2-12 children)

Lesson hours/day

3 hours (45 minutes-6 hours/day)

Weekly lessons

3-5 (days/week)

Teaching Materials Frequency (%)

Books 76(96.2)

Games 71(89.9)

Picture flash card 66(83.5)

Audiotapes/songs

56(70.9)

Toys/puzzles 39(49.4)

CD 28(35.4)

Video tapes 24(30.4)

Internet 19(24.1)

Materials used in English Institutions Woo Nam-Hee. (2002)

Picture flash cards

English Institutions

• Regardless of governmental concerns regarding early English instruction, there are literally thousands of private institutes that offer English instructions to young children between the age of 2 and 5 in Korea.

"Hawkwon (English Institutions)"• Private institutes that focus on teaching are know

n as "Hawkwon" in Korean, which means a learning institution.

• Some Hawkwons are part of large well-established chains while others are small family-owned operations.

• Usually these schools employ both Korean teachers who have been abroad and native English speakers who have been hired on one-year contracts.

Number of English Hawkwon in Korea

• Actual number exceeds official government tally.

Department of Educational Human Resources, 2002

3,000 English Institutions are in operation

Interviews with directors of English Institutions, 2002

10,000 English Institutions are in operation

An Example of English Hawkwon Logo: http://www.kuniverse.com

Click on the logo to browse the site.

http://www.kuniverse.com/

An Example of English Hawkwon Logo: http://www.childedu.net

• Click on the logo to browse the site.• A private institute chain, “Childedunet” offe

rs English classes via on-line and off-line sites.

http://www.childedu.net/

Academic backgrounds of Native English Speaking Teachers hired in Hawkwon (Woo. Nam

-Hee, 2002)

Major Frequency (%)

English Education 3(3.8)

English Literature 16(20.3)

Education 4(5.1)

Linguistic 3(3.8)

Liberal Arts 26(32.9)

Other 19(24.1)

missing 8(10.1)

Total 79(100)

Practices of English instruction in Hawkwon

• Son, Bo Kyung, 2001; Woo. Nam-Hee, 2002)

• Analyzed various English programs in educational institutions and identified the following 5 general practices.

English instruction in Hawkwon:Practice #1

The English curriculum was focused on teaching a foreign language, instead of the whole child development


Operated according to the children's ages, leveled curriculum, integrated in content subjects


The goal is to speak

the spoken language efficiently (not for building interest and

confidence in English).


Taught by native English teachers or Korean teachers but parents prefer foreign born English teachers.


• Used evaluation cards for activity, work-center and observation, which do not have any specific aim or method.

• The evaluation style often became the cause of complaint among the children's parents.

In addition to Hawkwon• Although English Hawkwon is very popular, young children

attending regular preschool receive English instruction as well. Preschools must offer English lessons in order to remain competitive with Hawkwon.

% of Preschools offering English Classes

Teachers English ability

Lee, Kee Sook, 2001 64.3% of preschools in Korea provides English classes

41.5% of teachers: Non-English Majors

75.6% of teachers: Never lived abroad

Results of a teacher survey on English Education

in Preschools

• From a survey with 680 kindergarten teachers

• Preschools use similar teaching materials and methods as Hawkwon’s

• Yang, Ok Seung, Kim, Jin Young, Kim, Hyun Hee, Kim, Young Sil (2001)

Teaching Approaches in PreschoolsTeaching Approaches

Frequency

Songs & finger play

(26.5%)

Game materials (24.0%)

Conversation (17.7%)

Play & role play (13.1%)

Worksheets (9.1%)

Memorizing picture books

(3.9%)

Software (3.6%)

Other (2.1%)

Materials used in Preschools to enhance Korean children’s use of

English Materials FrequencyPicture cards (24.8)

Audio tapes (21.9%)

Actual materials/Models

(12.4%)

Video tapes (8.6%)

Computer programs

(3.4%)

Books (17.4%)

Worksheets (10.3%)

Others (1.2%)

Students receiving English instruction in Preschools

All children attending the preschool

80.7%(549)

Selected children of a certain age group

12.3%(84)

English is offered as an elective class

7.0%(47)

Total 100% (680)

Educational Background of Teachers who are teaching English in Preschools

2 year degree 409(60.1)

4 year degree 178(26.2)

Graduate degreeOther

81(11.9) 12( 1.8)

Total 680(100.0)

Years served by survey participants as English teachers in preschools

Experience (%)

Less than 1 year 80(11.8)

1-3 years 96(14.1)

3-5years 182(26.8)

5-9years 252(37.0)

Total 680(100.0)

Age of students in preschools learning English

2 years old children 4(0.6)




Mixed age groups 111(16.3)

Total 680(100.0%)

Teachers’ rating regarding the Importance of teaching English in Preschools

Highly needed class

64.3%(437)

Somewhat needed

25.4%(173)

Not needed

10.3%(70)

Total 100% (680)

Approaches of Teaching English in Preschools

Types %

Whole group class 64.7%

Small group class 19.7%

Individual class 2.8%

Special after school class

8.4%

Home work worksheets

4.4%

total 100%

Korean Policies for English instruction for preschool

children• The government

and educators believe English instruction given too early is not effective and causes psychological harm.

• Thus, they do not recommend early English instruction.

Closing Remarks Regarding English Instruction to EFL Students

• Young children need freedom from the enforced labor of study. They are better served by play-oriented, creative, and developmentally appropriate education.

• Teaching young children English using developmentally appropriate activities, such as singing, finger play, Total Physical Response, story telling, picture book reading, word cards, and viewing videotapes to improve pronunciations and conversational English sentences aid children’s physical, psychological, cognitive, and language development.

• However, the Korean government and educators discourage parents and private school directors from teaching English during infant and toddler years (Lee & Kim, 1997; Lee, 2001; SunWoo, 2000). Since English in Korea, is not used among the population, as it is in India and Philippines, young Korean children can view English as extremely difficult and out-of-meaningful context unless it is introduced in a play oriented manner once they are proficient in their primary language.

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Dr. Lea Lee