{"title":"The Testing culture and the role of private education","authors":"Janina Brutt‐Griffler, Sumi Kim","doi":"10.1080/07908318.2022.2148686","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Entrance to prestigious four-year colleges in South Korea depends heavily on secondary school curricula and scoring high enough on the university entrance exam known as the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). The current national policy has elevated English to the same level of importance as math and Korean on the CSAT. Private English lessons, a part of the burgeoning shadow education, are vital to high school students seeking to obtain a high score, since students do not perceive that public school English education suffices for this immediate goal. Through an analysis of survey data gained from 420 high school students and semi-structured interviews with 15 English teachers, this study shows that Korea’s testing culture leads to the devaluing of public school teachers and curricula and does not promote competences in speaking and writing. Our analysis suggests the necessity of curriculum reform that advances the empowerment of public school English teachers while ensuring a focus on all four language competences.","PeriodicalId":17945,"journal":{"name":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","volume":"36 1","pages":"293 - 309"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2022.2148686","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT Entrance to prestigious four-year colleges in South Korea depends heavily on secondary school curricula and scoring high enough on the university entrance exam known as the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). The current national policy has elevated English to the same level of importance as math and Korean on the CSAT. Private English lessons, a part of the burgeoning shadow education, are vital to high school students seeking to obtain a high score, since students do not perceive that public school English education suffices for this immediate goal. Through an analysis of survey data gained from 420 high school students and semi-structured interviews with 15 English teachers, this study shows that Korea’s testing culture leads to the devaluing of public school teachers and curricula and does not promote competences in speaking and writing. Our analysis suggests the necessity of curriculum reform that advances the empowerment of public school English teachers while ensuring a focus on all four language competences.
期刊介绍:
Language, Culture and Curriculum is a well-established journal that seeks to enhance the understanding of the relations between the three dimensions of its title. It welcomes work dealing with a wide range of languages (mother tongues, global English, foreign, minority, immigrant, heritage, or endangered languages) in the context of bilingual and multilingual education and first, second or additional language learning. It focuses on research into cultural content, literacy or intercultural and transnational studies, usually related to curriculum development, organisation or implementation. The journal also includes studies of language instruction, teacher training, teaching methods and language-in-education policy. It is open to investigations of language attitudes, beliefs and identities as well as to contributions dealing with language learning processes and language practices inside and outside of the classroom. Language, Culture and Curriculum encourages submissions from a variety of disciplinary approaches. Since its inception in 1988 the journal has tried to cover a wide range of topics and it has disseminated articles from authors from all continents.