TEFL East Point Georgia

Learning english poses a number of specific challenges for Korean students, some language-based and some cultural. The three main challenges I will address are the difficulties with english pronunciation and grammar, and the pressure placed on students to achieve and save face. My own personal experience has been with Korean students in Korea, meaning the class was monolingual, ranging in age from kindergarten to high school, in various regions of the country. Korean students' main difficulty with the english language is in the pronunciation of consonants that vary from Hangeul, the Korean language, and in the grammatical rules for sentence order. Despite the fact that Hangeul, which uses a non-Roman alphabet, is the official language of Korea, the decades-long presence of the US military has made reading Latin script a common occurrence. Many stores and restaurants are written in Latin script, so Koreans are usually exposed to the english language before they enter the classroom. The real difficulty is with the pronunciation of english, particularly consonants. There are many english consonants that simply do not exist in Hangeul. “The most significant of these are the /?/ and /ð/ sounds in words such as then, thirteen and clothes, the /v/ sound, which is produced as a /b/, and the /f/ sound which leads, for example, to phone being pronounced pone,” (Shoebottom, The Difference Between english and Korean). This requires an esl teacher to speak clearly and to enunciate these sounds when used. My students have difficulty distinguishing the difference in sounds between numbers like fifteen and fifty, or sixteen and sixty. Therefore every time I say those numbers, I have to place special emphasis on the last syllable. I have also found choral repetition to be helpful in correcting these problems. Another language hurdle faced by Korean students is the order of sentences. While english sentences are formed using a subject-verb-object order, Hangeul uses a subject-object-verb order. One of the most important tasks for beginners is to begin speaking and writing in the subject-verb-object order. Additionally, in Hangeul, articles do not exist. “Learners have significant and often permanent problems with the complexities of the english article system,” (Shoebottom, The Difference Between english and Korean) which teachers must anticipate and work to correct early on. Lastly, unlike english, Hangeul does not conjugate verbs to agree with the subject. “This is a possible reason why it takes some learners so long to remember the -s ending in english in the third person singular present simple tense: He like.. instead of he likes .. .” (Shoebottom, The Difference Between english and Korean). These are reoccurring problems for Korean students, which the teacher can help through repetition, choral drilling, and of course ample reading and writing practice. In addition to basic language difficulties, cultural differences present challenges for Korean students as well as the esl teacher. It has been my experience that Korean children feel more pressure to succeed, even at a young age. Their parents are willing to pay more money, and spend more time reviewing with them at home if it means better grades and faster success. “Grades are often shared between families and can be seen as a reflection of the family's reputation. Korean students are encouraged to succeed as they are achieving goals for not only themselves but for their families as well. This puts an enormous amount of pressure on the student as they try to succeed academically,” (Handbook for Teaching Korean-American Students). This can make students feel anxious about tests and class work, and it also places pressure on the teacher to show results. I have found Korean parents to be more involved in their child's education, which can be extremely helpful, as the children are receiving educational support at home. However, I have also found the parents to be very vocal about any concerns they may have with their child's class, teacher, grades, or overall performance. Again, this places pressure on both the student and the teacher to produce results to please the parent, while the teacher must also maintain focus on the individual child's progress and development. Lastly, the cultural norm of “saving face” presents difficulties in the esl classroom. This means “Korean children also avoid telling a teacher that they do not know an answer when called upon or do not understand class material,” (A Handbook For Teaching Korean Speaking Students). In Korean society the idea of saving face and maintaining one's dignity is highly important. Therefore, if a student of any age does not understand, it is the responsibility of the teacher to notice and correct it quietly with the student, so as not to embarrass him/her. I have also found that asking “Do you understand?” is useless, as both my students (and their parents) will always nod and say, “yes”, despite any misunderstanding. The teacher has to be aware of this, in order to help students follow the lesson and correct mistakes, while also making them feel confident and comfortable. This is generally less of a problem with very young students, as they tend to be quite vocal and less self-conscious than older learners, however it is a cultural norm that can't be ignored by the esl teacher. Koreans, especially those living in large cities, are constantly exposed to english, and are highly motivated students. However in order to be an effective teacher of Korean esl students, it's important to be aware of the language and cultural differences. Knowing these obstacles ahead of time allows for ample troubleshooting, more effective lesson planning, and a better understanding of the students overall.