English-only instruction at Korean universities: Help or hindrance to higher learning?

As the suicides by a few students at one of South Korea's (hereafter Korea) most prestigious universities drew a great deal of attention from the public, partial blame went to the new institutional policy imposed by the university's top administrator: exclusive use of English as the medium...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:English today 2012-03, Vol.28 (1), p.29-34
Main Author: Kang, Hyun-Sook
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
College students
Colleges & universities
English language
English only movement
Higher education
Korean language
Language of instruction
Learning
Linguistics
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Summary:As the suicides by a few students at one of South Korea's (hereafter Korea) most prestigious universities drew a great deal of attention from the public, partial blame went to the new institutional policy imposed by the university's top administrator: exclusive use of English as the medium of instruction across the entire curriculum (McDonald, 2011). The fanatical pursuit of English education and the overall status of the English language in Korean society have been well documented in the literature (e.g., Jeon & Lee, 2006; Jeong, 2004; Lee & Shin, 2008; Park, 2009; Seth, 2002). However, little has been written about another controversial trend, English-only instruction, recently introduced at a few selective institutions of higher education in Korea.
ISSN:0266-0784
1474-0567
DOI:10.1017/S0266078411000654