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speaking environment every day.
For instance, one of the 30 Korean students, Elizabeth,
said:
I think it is much better for me to study English in America than in Korea because
I can be easily surrounded by Americans more often and listen to them
consistently. Moreover, I have a great chance to improve English
reading skills
by taking UNK courses, doing English assignments, sharing opinions with UNK
classmates, and reading local and national English newspapers at the UNK library
and on the Internet.
In addition, another student, Susan, pointed out that the environment of UNK constantly
provides international
students with several programs, such as the International
Friendship Program which helps UNK international students connect with the local
community members; cultural activities and events, such as the African festival, Korean
festival, Chinese festival, and
Japanese Festival; and international organizations, such as
the International Student Association, Asian American Student Association, and Korean
Student Association at Kearney. Therefore, she has participated
in these kinds of
programs and kept improving her English proficiency and building a relationship with
American friends and international students. Because of these diverse opportunities, she
has been satisfied with studying English in the United States, and the other Korean
students have a similar impression and feel the same level of satisfaction while they
stayed at UNK.
In addition, 4 out of 30 Korean students mentioned that they enjoyed taking UNK
classes because they felt that it was much easier and more comfortable for them to
directly discuss a variety of topics and questions with UNK
professors and UNK students
during the classes. Dorothy, indicated:
60
I really like the atmosphere of the UNK courses. Comparing a class in Korea to a
class in the United States, especially in Kearney, NE, I thought that the class in
America had much more freedom and interaction with classmates and professors
than in Korea. For example, not many Korean students typically ask a question to
his/her professor in the class in Korea. However, when I was
in the UNK classes,
I saw that many American students kept asking questions to their professors, and
the professors answered the students’ questions in the classes continuously. After
I had this kind of experience in the United States, I strongly believe that this kind
of interaction between a student and a professor is very important to follow the
classes well and to understand
the concept of the classes, so that is why I felt that
learning English in America is much more efficient and effective than in Korea.
A couple of the 30 Korean students described that it has been very valuable for
them to meet diverse ethnic groups of people from all around the world in the United
States, to enunciate their improper English accents by meeting with native-English
speakers, and to practice and to learn a real and genuine English while they stayed in the
United States. Because
of the above positive factors, the average score of English
education in America was 8.36 out of 10, and it is a much higher score than English
education in Korea. Therefore, this shows that the majority of 30 Korean students felt
that to learn English, it is better for them to come to the United States instead of staying
in Korea.
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