English for Emigration Purpose

Abstract

In the field of English education in Korea, despite the large number of people emigrating from Korea to English speaking countries, very few courses or published textbooks can be found that teaching English specifically for emigration purposes. The number of Koreans emigrating from South Korea rose from 12,949 in 1996 to 15,307 in 2000 (The Korea Times, 2003). As the number continuously increasing till present, English for Specific Purpose (ESP) courses targeting Koreans who are planning to immigrate to an English speaking country are desired. The target students for my textbook are Korean adults who need to study English for the emigration purpose to Canada. Regardless of their solid backgrounds in education and profession, Korean adults, often, have a limited proficiency in English, because Korean public education system did not provide them enough opportunities to practice their communication skills;“University classrooms in EFL setting generally lack the number of sessions for promoting in-depth interaction and providing significant amount of exposure to English” (Seo, 2011). Therefore, my intended students, whose age ranges from late 20’s to late 40’s, have lower competence in listening and speaking compared to their reading and writing proficiency, which is a challenging issue causing a large amount of inconvenience when living in an English speaking community. My textbook is specifically designed to be taught in various language education institutes for 10 weeks (recommended) covering from High-Novice level to Mid-Intermediate level students according to the proficiency scale ofACTFL; whichimplies the target audience can both comprehend and produce short, non-complex, formulaic phrases in texts or conversations that convey basic information on predictable topics.(ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, 2012) My intended audience needs to learn practical skills to successfully implantthemselves into a foreign country along with a sensible understanding of the target country’s culture. The particular skills and tactics desired for the aimed students are such: mastering real-life related lexicon, ample opportunity to practice the actual usage of expressions, a sufficient amount of cultural understanding on how they differ from their own background to prevent the miscommunication.