The purpose of this study was to investigated the perceptions held by South Korean students who study at the University of NESTs (Native English Speaking Teachers) and NNESTs (Non-native English Speaking Teachers) in TEE (Teaching English through English) courses to examine strengths and weaknesses of NESTs and NNESts. Furthermore, the researcher found what kinds of challenges Korean students encounter both before they have language skills, affective areas, and teaching behaviors.The results revealed that except for speaking ability, students did not express a strong preference for NESTs and they did have a preference in learning some specific skills. In terms of affective areas, students had a preference for NNESTs. In addition, there were differences in teaching behaviors of NESTs and NNESTs. These findings have valuable implications for NNESTs to improve their speaking proficiency The following studies were discussed in the literature review:.
Introduction
There are more than 7,000 different languages used daily around the world, and Mandarin Chinese, English and Spanish are the three most widely spoken languages around the world (BBC, n.d.). The world-renowned United Nations (UN) has designated six official languages: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Arabic. English is one of the only working languages used by the UN Secretariat, and English is also commonly used in most business meetings (UN, n.d.). Additionally, the increasing number of international students coming over to English-speaking countries shows how important the English language is all around the world. Furthermore, Swales (1987)found there were more than several million research papers and published articles written in English, and he expected that “English will remain the primary language of research” . Consequently, many countries which do not have English as a first language have invested for several decades much money and effort into improving their English proficiency. In addition, these countries have sent large amounts of students to the following English-speaking countries to learn English efficiently and effectively: the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
South Korea is one of the countries described above, and one of the most prominent. The South Korean government puts large amounts of money toward English education and Native English Speaking Teachers as well as Non-native English Speaking Teachers. In addition, South Korean students not only study English for 2 numerous hours, but their parents are also willing to invest in their children by sending them to private English tutoring services and institutions. The cost of sending their children to these private schools is often more than half of their incomes. This kind of phenomenon could be hardly seen around any other Asian or European country.
The global importance of English education has significantly influenced the entire society of South Korea. As a result, having English proficiency is now essential for all Korean people who wish to successfully find a good job, improve social status, gain admission to the top universities in Korea, build a good career, and so forth.Interestingly, South Korean students spend the most amounts of time and money for their English education in the world, but their English proficiency is still lacking . As previously stated, the South Korean government has tried to change the English education structures and policies quite a few times, but it has still been struggle ingto improve the English proficiency of the whole country. These academic reforms, combined with the importance of English education, make South Korea best place for all.
The number of foreign residents in South Korea (hereafter Korea) has greatly increased in recent years, and these residents now face the challenges of life as newcomers to a traditionally homogeneous society. Among the various groups of foreign residents in Korea are foreign English teachers; people from inner-circle English countries (Kachru, 1996) who find employment teaching English as a foreign language to Korean students. Such teachers are faced with the decision of whether or not to learn the Korean language. For an immigrant in Korea, Korean language ability may be a useful form of social capital (Bourdieu, 1993), and help to bridge the divide that exists between them and the Korean majority community (Jun & Ha, 2015). It can also be a means of working against stigma, such as the preconception that foreign English teachers in Korea are culturally insensitive and boorish (Killick, 1995). Though a foreign English teacher may be well treated and live comfortably in Korea without learning the language (Gordon, 2012), may not be expected to learn (Bailey, 2010), and might be advised by colleagues (Waygook.org, 2011) not to demonstrate knowledge of Korean to their students, some nevertheless choose to learn, and some become highly competent speakers. The goal of this research was to explore the experiences of those foreign English teachers who have acquired a high competence in Korean by collecting and analyzing detailed narratives of their experiences, their challenges, and what they had sought and achieved through learning Korean.
