A Study on English Education in Private Kindergartens in Korea

한국 사립 유치원 영어교육의 실태

This study examines the current state of English education in private kindergartens in Korea. Among 1700 kindergarten teachers surveyed for this research, 680 replied that their institutions provided English lessons for children. Analyses of the data collected from these 680 teachers showed : 1) They started to teach English not because of educational considerations but because of pressure from children's parents or kindergarten principals; 2) Most of the English teachers were part-time instructors specially recruited for English lessons. Generally, English lessons were given two or three times a week, with one session lasting for about 20 minutes. A variety of teaching methods and materials were used for the lessons given to children aged three to five. Focus of the lessons was given to listening and speaking words and sentences; 3) Most of the teachers considered the scarcity of qualified English instructors as the most serious problem for providing English education in kindergartens, and they did not want to teach English themselves. They evaluated positively the performance and role of Korean part-time English instructors. The evaluations were generally poor as to native speakers serving as kindergarten English teachers.