Teach English in Zuolan XiAng - Chongqing

Problems for Learners of English in korea This September I will begin my teaching career at a school in Seoul, so I've decided to write this research article on the problems facing korean learners of English. Perhaps the most obvious and greatest challenge facing koreans when attempting to learn English is the simple fact that English is in a completely different language family than Hangeul. Therefore, to learn English, koreans must master a completely different alphabet, different literacy principles, and several sounds that they've never before tried to pronounce. Due to the relative simplicity and efficiency of their native tongue, koreans often have a difficult time adapting to the fickleness of the English language; unlike Hangeul, English has a very high frequency of cases where the "rules" for reading and pronouncing words are broken. In many cases, the only way to know what's what in English is prior knowledge; that is, the "rules" are often of little value because the words themselves dictate how they are spelled and pronounced, instead of the letters themselves determining such things. In Hangeul, each letter is associated with one sound, and there are little to no exceptions. The formal differences do not end simply with the huge discrepancy in the relationship between speech and writing. There are structural differences that come into play, as well, which make learning English particularly difficult for koreans. For example, syllables in Hangeul consist of no more than two consonants and one vowel or two vowels and one consonant. However, in English, there are often three consonants within one syllable; because they aren't used to these patterns, koreans will often try to infuse such consonant clusters with vowels such as -i or -u. Some sounds that are crucial to the pronunciation of English do not exist in Hangeul. For example, the English /l and /r sounds are absent in Hangeul, instead being replaced by the rolling -r sound often seen in some western Latinate languages. Furthermore, labiodental sounds (those that involve the teeth and lips) such as /f and /v are not used at all in Hangeul and therefore present a challenge to learn. Due to the historical influence of English on many Asian countries, including South korea, many of their words are in fact "Koreanized" versions of similar English words. This "Konglish" can manifest itself in several different ways, some of which could hinder the learning of proper English. Some korean words are simply the same thing in English, but shortened. In some cases, the phonetics of the English terms are simply changed; for example, cleansing cream becomes keul-len-jing keu-rim . students may attempt to carry such terms over to their use of English, which teacher must catch and correct. There are differences in the usages of terminology that may interfere with koreans' ability to grasp the English language. In other words, literal translations might not be good enough as terms in English can have different connotations than the same word in korean. For example, to "see" somebody in English means to meet them, or speak to them; in korean, this makes little sense, as the nature of the word for "see" means literally to visualize it. In English there are near endless forms of expression that discard the literal meaning of a word or phrase. koreans are not used to such ubiquitous use of idioms, and because the usage of idioms is not governed by any intuitive rule, the only way to learn how to use such language is exposure and memorizations. In addition to the linguistic differences between Hangeul and English, there are cultural differences that could hinder the progress of koreans attempting to learn English. Often, in the classroom, koreans will behave very conservatively and seemingly with little confidence. This may contrast with the style of teaching propagated by English teachers, who may come from places where individualism and opinion are rewarded. It should be noted that what may appear to be low confidence and hesitance are often signs of respect that korean students feel obligated to show to their teachers. Because koreans tend to value humbleness, volunteering information could be seen as "showing off" and therefore teacher may experience difficulty in evoking information from their students. This can be addressed by encouraging the students' input whenever possible. Works Cited Byung-Eun Cho. (2004). Issues Concerning korean Learners of English: English Education in korea and Some Common Difficulties of korean students. The East Asian Learner Vol. 1 (2) Nov. 2004 Park, M.S. (1997). Communication styles in two different cultures: korean and American. Seoul: Han Shin Publishing. "Teaching English to native korean speakers"