Become A Proficient Language User

Abstract

English is called a global language, which is recognized and understood by people everywhere. Even though English is a foreign language for Koreans, it is a highly important subject since students are judged on their English scores when they try to enter university. Also, it is indispensable when Koreans do business overseas. Thus, Koreans put a considerable amount of effort into learning English. Learners, however, often find that their English skills have not improved in proportion to the time and money that they have invested. For example, after studying English for about ten years, most Korean students are able to read texts and possess a certain level of grammatical knowledge; however, even when speaking about basic subjects, they may lack confidence in front of foreigners. As a Korean English teacher, I have considered why Korean students tend to face such difficulty. The problem is that students primarily focus on only one or two of the four skills: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Therefore, students need to be given a chance to develop their English skills holistically. Through this course, students read story books before class to encourage them to do extensive reading outside the classroom. In addition to the books they have read, students are provided with related content in order to study all aspects of English in a balanced way, such as watching and listening to video clips, studying grammar and expressions, followed by writing and speaking activities. The target students are fifth and sixth graders. They are expected to take this course at a language institute and each class will only have five to eight students. Also, their level, according to the ACTFL, is intermediate low; therefore, while listening, they can understand short sentences and often understand long sentences when the words are familiar to them. While reading, they can understand short connected texts such as descrip¬tion and narration, dealing with familiar topics. When students speak English, they can make short sentences and express personal meaning with limited vocabulary, pauses and inaccuracies. While writing, they can produce limited practical sentences, consisting of short sentences with basic words and frequent grammar mistakes. In this course, the target students can balance and improve all four skills by being offered engaging materials such as interesting and familiar storybooks, animated movies, followed by different types of speaking and reading activities.