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Article Excerpt
Cross-border education has been growing dramatically in both English-speaking countries and non-native English-speaking countries. While more and more students, particularly from Asian countries such as Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan choose to study in English-speaking countries, many native English speakers go to Asian countries to teach English. In this context, cross-cultural misunderstanding and cultural bias between English language learners and native-speaking teachers of English are becoming major issues. This article focuses on 12 Korean adult learners' views about native-speaking teachers of English working in Korea. Korean learners' expectations and needs regarding English language learning and teaching are explored through the investigation and analysis of the learners' views. It aims to provide educators both in non-English and English-speaking countries, including Australia, with insights to inform the development of effective learning and teaching environments not only for Korean students, but also for those in similar cultural contexts.
Introduction
There has been a growth in the number of students who leave their home country to study English or get higher degrees in English-speaking countries over the past decades. They usually stay in English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) until obtaining International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores required by the institutions they plan to attend, or reaching certain English proficiency levels they aim at. According to the OECD (2004), the four leading English-speaking countries that receive international students are the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. In 2001, they collectively accounted for 54 per cent of all overseas students in the OECD countries. A large number of international students in those four English-speaking countries come from Asia. Seventy per cent of all Asian students abroad study in the USA, the UK and Australia on a full-fee paying basis.
Korea is one of the main sources of overseas students seeking advanced degrees in English-speaking countries (Country Commercial Guide, 2002). The number of Korean students studying in English-speaking countries, such as the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, has increased significantly since the mid-1970s when the Korean economy started to grow with the development of heavy industry and chemical production. The USA has been the destination for a majority of Korean students since the 1970s. As US visa requirements are becoming stricter and education costs higher, however, the Country Commercial Guide (2002) reports that Koreans have been diverting to other destinations: in 1999, to Japan (12 746 Korean students), to Australia (9526) and to China/Hong Kong (9204). Australia is becoming a major overseas study destination for Korean students.
On the other hand, a number of native English speakers (NESs) have gone to Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, and Taiwan to teach English (Singh, Kell, & Pandian, 2002). The NESs employed as English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Korea are from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland (MOE&HRD, 2002). However, most NESs working in Korea have degrees irrelevant to English teaching, and some of them have no teaching experience (Kim, 2001; Min, 1998). In this active situation of cross-border education, it is important to pay attention to what expectations and beliefs foreign students bring into English-speaking countries, what students in their home countries expect from their native-speaking teachers of English (NSTEs), and what students in English-speaking countries or their home countries need in their learning.
Armitage (1999) argues that there are very few Australians with a fundamental understanding of Korea and Koreans, although an increasing number of Korean students choose to study in Australia each year. In spite of sending a number of Australia-born NSTEs to Asian countries, Australia also seems to have few studies on the quality of NSTEs. Furthermore, Ellis (2002) states that Australia has paid less attention to the issue of NSTEs in preference to non-native speaking teachers of English (NNSTEs) while this has been a heated debate in ELT worldwide.
A survey of NSTEs was conducted by Kontra in 1993 with 116 Hungarian students and 58 Hungarian teachers, followed by Barratt in 1996 with 100 Chinese students and 54 Chinese teachers (Barratt & Kontra, 2000). The focus of the survey was these teachers' and students' positive and negative experiences with NSTEs. Their general positive comments about NSTEs included native language authenticity, a positive personality, and learning about English-speaking culture. On the other hand, their negative comments in general included a lack of teaching experience, unfamiliarity with learners' language and the host culture and educational system. Particularly, Chinese participants commented on the NSTEs' irresponsibility with respect to teaching and their unawareness of learners' needs. Another survey study of 69 US EFL teachers in Korea investigated their motivation, attitudes, cross-cultural adaptation strategies and educational backgrounds (Kim, 2001). The findings of the survey suggested that US EFL teachers lacked information and knowledge of Korean culture, and their attitudes and motivations for teaching did not meet with Korean learners' needs. The survey showed that none of them had any teaching qualification. The two surveys imply that teaching experiences may be improved if NESs who plan to go to host countries find out what learners value and expect from them.
This paper draws upon doctoral research which examined the experiences and perceptions of 12 Korean adult learners regarding English language learning and teaching. Similarly to the above surveys, the main focus of this paper is the views of these learners about NSTEs working at primary and secondary schools, language schools, or universities in Korea. Most NSTEs were from English-speaking countries such as Australia, Canada, the USA and Ireland. This paper aims to provide guidance for NESs, including Australia-born NESs, planning to teach in Korea as well as in contexts similar to Korea, helping them understand their learners' needs and expectations. Identification of Korean learners' views about NSTEs may also assist EFL educators both in the host countries and English-speaking countries, including Australia, to design and develop their EFL teacher education programs and ELICOS which meet with learners' needs and expectations.
Qualifications of native-speaking teachers of English
While an increasing number of Asian students go to English-speaking countries, a growing number of NESs are coming to Asian countries (such as Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) to teach English in language centres, primary and secondary schools, and universities. Some NESs may be qualified to teach English and sensitive to different cultures and languages, but many appear to be unqualified. Whether English is better taught by NESs is a perennial question.
It is possible to teach in Korea even without a university degree. Certainly, the old sheepskin helps land the plum jobs and will certainly make the government look more favourably on your work visa application, but there are hundreds of people working legally (often on a student visa while studying some aspect of the culture) and not-so-legally. Even with more foreigners going over to teach these days, I would still recommend even non-grads give it a try. Even if nothing pans out with any of Seoul's 300-plus schools (hard to imagine), there's always Pusan, Taegu, Inchon, Kwangju, Taejon, Kyonggu, Chollanamdo, Kyungsannbukdo and Kyungsanamdo--all cities of over one million with dozens of English schools each. (Wharton, 1992, p. 71)
This quotation from a travel guide book designed to encourage any NESs to go to Korea and teach English, even those without undergraduate qualifications, suggests that qualified NSTEs in Korea are in short supply. As mentioned previously, a survey of 69 native American EFL...
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