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English-only instruction at Korean universities: Help or hindrance to higher learning?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2012

Hyun-Sook Kang
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Extract

As the suicides by a few students at one of South Korea's (hereafter Korea) most prestigious universities drew a great deal of attention from the public, partial blame went to the new institutional policy imposed by the university's top administrator: exclusive use of English as the medium of instruction across the entire curriculum (McDonald, 2011). The fanatical pursuit of English education and the overall status of the English language in Korean society have been well documented in the literature (e.g., Jeon & Lee, 2006; Jeong, 2004; Lee & Shin, 2008; Park, 2009; Seth, 2002). However, little has been written about another controversial trend, English-only instruction, recently introduced at a few selective institutions of higher education in Korea.

Type
Original Article
Information
English Today , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , March 2012 , pp. 29 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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