Preparing for University Life

Abstract

Most high school students in Korea have focused on entrance exams with the goal of entering good universities, but they have not critically thought about their future nor the university life skills they may need. Surveys have shown, however, while Korean students are very competitive with regards to their entrance exams, they also showed interest in cooperation and sharing their thoughts with classmates beyond the exam (Nam, 2013). My Portfolio seeks to provide students with an opportunity to focus on critical thinking skills through tasks and activities that encourage debate, discussion, negotiation, persuasive language, and logical writing. Entering a university is simply the first step to students’ post-secondary education. Students will likely find university academic life to be quite different from their high school experiences, however, by studying with my textbook prospective university students will prepare for university classroom skills through problem-solving skills, and critical thinking. The group of students I seek to address is Korean high school students from 15 to 17 years of age who plan to go to university. The target students are familiar with the Grammar Translation Method and rote learning in order to get high scores on the National College Entrance examination. The target student level is Intermediate-Low according to ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. Although students have taken English courses since elementary school, their practical English communicative competence is significantly lower than their grammatical knowledge.