Teaching English in South Korea for the Purpose of Communication

In 1992, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of South Korea prioritised teaching English for the purpose of communication. Since then, productive language skills: speaking and writing have become increasing more

important in South Korea. As a part of my responsibilities, I designed part of a training program to teach and assess the essay writing skills among a group of English teachers. The program included a high-stake (important) test which I designed based on independent research as well as feedback from co-workers, Korean English teachers, supervisors of the institute and a teacher trainer working with the University of Cambridge. This essay provides an overview on how the test was derived. It first examines how I determined the aspects to be taught and assessed. Then the second half discusses the format of the assessment.

II. What to assess

1. Determining the needs of the trainees

In order to develop a course with its content, assessment and teaching methodologies specific to the target trainees, it would be identify and analyse their needs as an integral part of course design. The methods to identify and analyse the needs of learners is collectively known as needs analysis (Richards, 2001 & Basturkmen, 2010). Sometimes a needs analysis includes a diagnostic test to find out about their strengths and weaknesses (Hughes 2004).

In this case, since I was not able to conduct the analysis directly with the target trainees due to practical reasons, I carried out the needs analysis based on another groups of trainees who also worked as English teachers in Busan.

Since I have taught the sample group, the formal needs analysis serves to build on my “existing knowledge” (Basturkmen, 2010:26) obtained from...

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...” (ibid:27), such as IELTS and TOEFL iBT.

Despite its limitations, since the course objectives and assessments are closely related to the identify needs of a group that resembles the target trainees, I believe the course will allow them to become better communicators in English. Furthermore, I hope the trainees will be inspired the rationale behind the test and appreciate the effort put into it.

Works Cited

Basturkmen, H. (2010). Developing courses in English for specific purposes. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Brown, H. D. (2004). Language assessment: principles and classroom practices. White Plains: Longman.

Hughes, A. (2002). Testing for Language Teachers (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ELT.

Richards, J. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.