The Good News

Abstract

There has been considerable interest in English education in Korea as a foreign language. English teaching in South Korean schools has especially focused on reading skills rather than other skills. On the college entrance examination in Korea, the reading part is considerably longer than those for listening and speaking. However, the global trend of English education has shifted to a more practical focus on speaking. The truth is that developing both reading and speaking skills are crucial for implementing language fluency. The importance of both skills should not be overlooked. To address these problems, students will be provided with opportunities to read various types of news articles and then do various communicative activities through prepared material in each unit. The purpose of this portfolio is developing both receptive and productive skills for a balanced learning of English. It aims to encourage students to use English and learn the skills in meaningful and communicative ways. Using news articles is effective since they provide students with the opportunity to read authentic material. These articles, however, will be modified in accordance with students’ level considering readability. Short news articles that are authentic and readable will be used as reading material for teaching English to Korean EFL learners. Existing public reading materials easily overlook the need to build students’ motivation and sufficiently engage their background knowledge. However this portfolio tries to satisfy those elements by having learners listen to authentic conversations and using news articles that also expose students to various kinds of topics and cultures. Target students are a group of working adults who are at the intermediate low level according to ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching Foreign Languages). Based on the national English curricula in Korea, students learn English for the first time in elementary school as a foreign language. As they are non-native English speakers without any overseas experience, the target students have less opportunity to become accustomed to reading, speaking and using English. They can use and understand simple phrases and sentences to describe where they live and people they know, and can ask and answer simple questions about very familiar topics. Even though target students may lack intrinsic motivation, through level-appropriate newspaper and speaking activities on various subjects chosen by the teacher, students will be more interested and gain confidence in, reading and speaking English.