This report discusses factors that have an impact on the quality of English as a foreign language education in primary schools in state education systems and relates these to factors that have an impact on the quality of education in general.
4. The author David Hayes is Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Brock University, Canada. He has extensive experience of primary English curriculum development and in-service teacher development in South and South-East Asia, gained on projects managed by the British Council and other agencies. His current research focuses on the impact of second national language education (Sinhala for Tamil children; Tamil for Sinhalese children) on inter-ethnic attitudes among primary school children in Sri Lanka.
5. Contents 1 Executive summary ................................................................................................................................................................................. 2 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 3 High-performing education systems .............................................................................................................................................. 5 4 International comparisons of English provision in primary schools ................................................................................. 8 5 The Early Language Learning in Europe (ELLiE) project .....................................................................................................12 6 Country focus 1: The Netherlands .................................................................................................................................................16 7 Country focus 2: Korea .......................................................................................................................................................................18 8 Country focus 3: Finland ....................................................................................................................................................................21 9 Teacher education, curriculum and materials for primary English language education ......................................24 10 Conclusion: checklist of factors influencing success in teaching English in state primary schools ................28 References ........................................................................................................................................................................................................29 1 | Contents
6. 1 Executive summary The following recommendations for effective Recommendation 7 primary English language education within national A curriculum that allows teachers and children education systems are derived from the research opportunities to engage in meaningful language use, and documentation reviewed in this report. The which also provides opportunities for considerable recommendations are referenced to particular recycling of target language in new contexts and sections of the report, which readers may consult which is age-appropriate should be developed; for further detail. theme-based teaching is strongly recommended (see Section 9.3). Recommendation 1 English language teaching in primary schools should Recommendation 8 be conducted by generalist primary class teachers A realistic English language proficiency target to set with appropriate training in primary English language for children by the end of the primary cycle is A1–A2 teaching methods (see Sections 5, 6 and 8). on the CEFR (see Section 5). Recommendation 2 Recommendation 9 These generalist teachers should have an English Ideally, instructional time should be concentrated language level of at least B2, but preferably C1 on towards the end of the primary cycle rather than the CEFR (see Section 5). provided in smaller amounts over a longer time span, though it is recognised that this may be difficult to Recommendation 3 implement in practice (see Section 9.3). An enabling condition for effective primary English language teaching is a pre-service teacher training Recommendation 10 system in which school teachers are required to have Ideally, materials should be prepared by teachers to masters degrees (see Section 8). respond to the specific needs of their own classes; where materials are prepared by others, they should Recommendation 4 be founded on an understanding of how young Lifelong learning for teachers is at the heart of children learn languages and provide stimulating, successful education systems; thus a school-focused theme-based activities promoting genuine system of continuing professional development communicative language use (see Section 9.4). should be developed which allows teachers adequate time to reflect on new information about teaching- Recommendation 11 learning and to incorporate it into existing knowledge To promote children’s language learning, considerable structures, both by themselves and in collaboration out-of-school exposure to English in the local with colleagues (see Section 9.2). environment should be available, including through films and television programmes in English that are Recommendation 5 subtitled rather than dubbed into learners’ L1 (see Once in schools, teachers should be respected, Sections 5, 6 and 8). trusted and given the freedom to organise instruction according to the needs of their pupils Recommendation 12 within a guiding national framework (see Section 8). Underpinning recommendations 1–10, a prerequisite for effective primary English language instruction at Recommendation 6 the national level is an equitable education system Further to recommendation 5, teachers should in which socio-economic status is not linked to demonstrate positive attitudes towards English. academic achievement (see Section 3). This in turn will influence children’s motivation to learn, their enjoyment of their English classes and, ultimately, their achievement (see Section 5). 2 | Executive summary
7. Recommendation 13 Further to recommendation 12, private tuition in English should not be regarded as essential for academic success within the education system (see Section 7). Recommendation 14 Allied to recommendation 13, high-stakes testing should not be seen as a means to promote English language competence across the education system (see Sections 7 and 8). 3 | Executive summary
8. 2 Introduction This report discusses factors that have an impact on the quality of English as a foreign language education in primary schools in state education systems, and relates these to factors that have an impact on the quality of education in general. It begins at the general level by examining international comparisons of educational achievement, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which measures performance in literacy, maths and science, the English Proficiency Index and TOEFL country results for English, as a means to identify high-performing education systems (though recognising the limitations of each of these indicators). It then discusses international comparisons of English provision in primary schools, with a particular focus on the findings of the Early Language Learning in Europe (ELLiE) project. This is followed by three ‘country focus’ reports for the Netherlands, Korea1 and Finland. The report then discusses a range of factors that are important in effective primary English language education and education more generally, viz. instructional time and intensity of instruction, teaching-learning materials, initial teacher training, in-service teacher training and continuing professional development (CPD) and the status of teachers within society. Finally, the conclusion presents a checklist of the factors that may contribute to successful primary English language teaching, while recognising that they require consideration within particular socio- political, cultural and educational contexts. 1 The country is officially known as ‘The Republic of Korea’, and comprises the southern half of the Korean peninsula. In most of the literature it is referred to simply as ‘Korea’ and I shall follow this convention. The north of the peninsula, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, has little engagement with the outside world. 4 | Introduction
9. 3 High-performing education systems Governments are paying increasing attention Table 1: Highest-performing countries in mathematics, to international comparisons as they search for PISA 2012 effective policies that enhance individuals’ social Rank Country Mathematics and economic prospects, provide incentives for greater efficiency in schooling, and help to mobilise 1 Shanghai–China 613 resources to meet rising demands. (OECD, 2013d: 3) 2 Singapore 573 International comparisons of student achievement 3 Hong Kong–China 561 have taken centre stage in policy debates about 4 Chinese Taipei 560 education in recent years, with the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) leading the 5 Korea 554 way in the global ‘accountability’ movement. Though 6 Macao–China 538 there are doubts about the validity and reliability 7 Japan 536 of the tests and criticism of their cultural neutrality for failing to take account of the different socio- 8 Liechtenstein 535 economic and cultural backgrounds of test-takers 9 Switzerland 531 (Meyer and Benavot, 2013), success in the PISA 10 Netherlands 523 rankings is coveted by governments. Indeed, there is much soul-searching when a country’s rankings Table 2: Highest-performing countries in reading, are not as high as hoped or, even worse, fall from PISA 2012 one assessment period to the next, as happened to Finland in the 2012 tests. In response to the fall the Rank Country Mathematics Finnish Minister of Education declared: ‘The general 1 Shanghai–China 570 downturn in learning outcomes shows that we must take strong action to develop Finnish education.’ 2 Hong Kong–China 545 (Finnbay, 3 December 2013) 3 Singapore 542 PISA is designed to provide a general indicator 4 Japan 538 of high-performing education systems in terms 5 Korea 536 of student achievement at age 15 in mathematics, reading and science – but does not include 6 Finland 524 assessments of proficiency in any foreign language 7 Chinese Taipei 523 in schools, nor is there any direct focus on primary 8 Canada 523 education. However, to the extent that performance at the secondary education level is built upon the 9 Ireland 523 foundations of primary education and that first 10 Poland 518 language literacy skills can aid in the learning of another language (Ellis, 2008), the results have sector-wide relevance. Other scholars (see, e.g. Kang, 2012 on Korea) also make reference to these results as a precursor to discussions of primary English education. In the 2012 PISA rankings, the scores for the highest- performing countries for each subject area are shown in Tables 1 to 3 below (source: OECD, 2013e). 5 | High-performing education systems
10. Table 3: Highest-performing countries in science, exclusive’ (OECD, 2013e: 14) with ‘above-OECD- PISA 2012 average mean performance and a weak relationship between socio-economic status and student Rank Country Mathematics performance’. (ibid.: 14) Essentially, what this means 1 Shanghai–China 580 is that it is not only the children of the financially 2 Hong Kong–China 555 better-off who score well on the tests. This is important as it indicates that there seems to be 3 Singapore 551 a direct link between educational quality and 4 Japan 547 educational equality. 5 Finland 545 With specific reference to assessment of English 6 Estonia 541 language levels in particular countries, international rankings are provided by organisations such as 7 Korea 538 English First (EF), a private educational company 8 Poland 526 which uses data from 750,000 takers of its own tests in 60 countries to compile an English Proficiency 9 Canada 525 Index annually. In the 2013 index the countries listed 10 Germany 524 as having ‘very high proficiency’ were (in descending order) Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Estonia, As can be seen, the tables are dominated by Asian Denmark, Austria and Finland. In accounting for this, countries, though China’s agreement with the OECD it is interesting that the EF report notes: ‘The seven meant that it entered regions rather than the country countries with the strongest English are all small as a whole in the 2012 tests. It is unlikely that the European nations, whose size compels them to adopt results for China will be maintained when the country an international outlook,’ (EF, 2013: 5) suggesting that as a whole is included in the 2015 PISA tests, given success in English correlates strongly with small size that Shanghai spends four times the national average and internationalisation. A number of countries that on education and its economic success means that scored highly in PISA, such as Hong Kong SAR-China parents are able and willing to spend heavily on and Korea, were only recorded as having ‘moderate private tuition for their children (Mok et al., 2009). proficiency’ and ranked 22 and 24 respectively out of However, the fact that ‘higher expenditure is not the 60 countries (EF, 2013: 6). Korea is in the ‘country necessarily associated with better outcomes or the spotlights’ in the 2013 EF report as its scores have quality of education’ (OECD, 2013d: 211) is writ large dropped slightly between 2007 and 2012, despite in the performance of the USA, which ranks 13 points massive national investment in English language below the OECD average in mathematics, four points education. The prevailing teaching paradigm in Korea below the average in science and only two points is singled out for blame: ‘Few are optimistic about above it in reading, despite leading the world in any significant improvements, given a traditional spending US$15,171 per student per year on system that forces students to drill and memorize’. education (primary through to tertiary), far higher (EF, 2013: 19) It must be remembered that, as the than the OECD average of US$9,313. The figure for EF test data is based on adults, what cannot be primary education specifically is US$11,193; again, determined from these results is whether language well above the OECD average of US$ 7,974 per teaching policy and practice in primary schools has student per year (OECD, 2013d: 174). The OECD any impact on proficiency levels – is an early start notes that ‘beyond a certain level of expenditure necessarily needed for proficiency later in life? per student, excellence in education requires more than money; how resources are allocated is just as Another measure of English language proficiency is important as the amount of resources available’. to be found in the scores of candidates on the TOEFL (ibid.: 24) series of tests. In the aggregated results for 2012 (ETS, 2013) the top five highest-scoring countries A key outcome for national education systems is, of are the Netherlands, Austria, Singapore, Belgium and course, not just performance on international tests Denmark. Again, these results are for learners who such as PISA but the extent to which the system need an international language test score, usually to meets the needs of all of its students. In this respect, enable them to study at the tertiary level or to work excluding areas of China from consideration, the PISA in English-speaking countries, and are not designed results for other countries including Canada, Estonia, for primary-age learners. Further, the test creators Finland, Japan, Korea and the Netherlands show ‘high specifically caution against the results being used average performance and equity are not mutually for ranking countries: 6 | High-performing education systems
11. ETS, creator of the TOEFL test, does not endorse the practice of ranking countries on the basis of TOEFL scores, as this is a misuse of data. [original emphasis] The TOEFL test provides accurate scores at the individual level; it is not appropriate for comparing countries. The differences in the number of students taking the test in each country, how early English is introduced into the curriculum, how many hours per week are devoted to learning English, and the fact that those taking the test are not representative of all English speakers in each country or any defined population make ranking by test score meaningless. (ETS, 2013: 6) Their caveats notwithstanding, countries continue to use the scores to rank their national performance against others, particularly their neighbours, and bemoan poor scores when these occur (see, e.g. Khaopa, 2013). This misuse of test data is hardly surprising when the link between proficiency in English and increased economic competitiveness for countries and individuals is regularly made (EF, 2013; Ramaswami et al., 2012) and when TOEFL scores are included as the criteria for English proficiency in the World Competitiveness Yearbook alongside PISA results for assessment of general educational quality (IMD, 2013). The backdrop of a global concern for strengthening national education systems so that they may compete more effectively in international tests such as PISA, allied to a belief that proficiency in English is essential for competitiveness in the globalised economy, provides the foundation for the remainder of this report. Though neither PISA nor English- specific international comparisons have any direct link to English teaching at the primary level, they are a means to identifying high-performing education systems, which may prove fruitful in establishing basic conditions for the effective teaching of English at the primary level. However, one factor not explored either in the PISA or EF data is the teacher – a crucial variable in any education system, and for any subject taught. 7 | High-performing education systems
12. 4 International comparisons of English provision in primary schools International comparisons of English language in schools. This trend towards ever-earlier teaching-learning and proficiency outcomes introduction of English can be clearly seen in Rixon’s at the school level are generally absent from (2013) international survey of policy and practice in the research literature. A 1995 study by the primary English teaching, which noted that one-third International Association for the Evaluation of of countries had lowered the starting age since the Educational Achievement (IEA) had originally first iteration of the survey some ten years intended to assess student achievement but was previously, with 30 of the 64 countries surveyed cancelled after its Phase 1 data collection on the now teaching English from Grade 1 (Rixon, 2013). policy context due to lack of funding (see Dickson and Cumming, 1996, for details of Phase 1). However, Some cross-national comparative research has in response to the growing importance of English for focused on limited aspects of classroom behaviour, economic globalisation, IEA has just launched a new such as in Abd-Kadir and Hardman’s (2007) study of comparative study focusing specifically on English pupil participation and engagement in Kenyan and in the participating countries, though the target Nigerian primary English classes, where English is the population is Grade 10 students, and reports medium of instruction; or on related teacher factors will not be available until 2018–19 (IEA, 2014). as in Butler’s (2004) study of self-perceptions of actual and desired English proficiency levels that Earlier research (Gika, 1997) compared primary primary school teachers have in Korea, Taiwan and foreign language teaching across Italy, Spain, Japan. This research has important outcomes that England and Greece, noting the hegemony of may be of relevance to other countries, such as the English (which also led to the failure to focus on need to ‘focus on the school as the best level of other languages in England), but did not report on intervention for improving the quality of teaching and language outcomes for students, though teachers’ learning,’ (Abd-Kadir and Hardman, 2007: 12) and the concern with their own language levels was noted. necessity ‘to identify what kinds and levels of English Other previous research (Martin, 2000) also focused proficiency elementary school teachers need to on foreign language teaching across Europe with a teach English’ as well as ‘to better understand what view to improving provision in the UK, but again did types of competencies (regarding both knowledge not assess language proficiency. Instead, general and the ability to use such knowledge) elementary conclusions were made about the ability of children school EFL teachers must have’. (Butler, 2004: 269) to learn languages under certain conditions, which have relevance for effective primary English Other comparative research has focused on the teaching, viz. that: impact of language policy and planning, notably Nunan (2003) and Baldauf et al. (2011), both within … children of primary age can effectively learn the Asia-Pacific region, while Kaplan et al. (2011) [original emphasis] aspects of a foreign language; discuss general reasons for the failure of policy that the teaching approaches must be appropriate decisions to introduce English at the primary level. to their age group; that continuity of foreign Kaplan et al. (2011: 106) note two major ‘urban language into the secondary school is important legends’, which require analysis with respect to and that the quality of the teaching must be high. English teaching, viz.: (Martin, 2000: 67) People in many polities have come to believe Lack of information on English language outcomes that their children would be guaranteed better is surprising, given the importance attached to economic opportunities if they had English as increasing English language skills by national part of their linguistic repertoire. This belief has governments, who would be expected to be supported the addition of English to the school concerned about the return on their investment in curriculum – initially at the secondary school level education, and particularly so in light of the trend and then at the intermediate school level. A decade towards lowering the age at which English is taught or more of experimentation demonstrated that 8 | International comparisons of English provision in primary schools
13. English at intermediate school was not sufficient to countries where English is a foreign language and is develop proficiency, so another legend – that early thus deemed not relevant to this report.) The trend introduction to English would be the panacea – towards the early introduction of English had: spurred an international belief that English language … intensified under the pressure of economic education should begin at the first grade, or even competition … despite the fact that such teaching better in kindergarten. requires massive commitments of funds (i.e. resourcing policy), special early childhood teacher They assert that these legends have two inherent training, teachers with excellent language skills fallacies, that (ibid.: 106): (i.e. personnel policy), and books and materials ■■ being English-knowing is not a guarantee of (i.e. curriculum, materials and methods policy). an improvement in economic opportunity (Baldauf et al., 2011: 310) ■■ early English learning is not a guarantee of near-native English proficiency. The challenges of inequitable access to effective English language teaching, poorly trained teachers The fallacies underlie policy changes in the countries with limited language skills and officially mandated reviewed by Nunan (2003) – China, Hong Kong, curricula that did not match with actual classroom Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan. Nunan came to practice, or were impossible to implement in the the conclusion that the accelerating trend towards classroom conditions, were all reiterated in this earlier English language instruction in the region review and are illustrative of many of the ‘12 was ill-considered and having no positive effect. reasons for educational language plans sometimes failing’ discussed in Kaplan et al. (2011) and collated The single most pervasive outcome of this study in Table 4. is that English language policies and practices have been implemented, often at significant cost Table 4: Reasons for the failure of educational to other aspects of the curriculum, without a language plans clearly articulated rationale and without a detailed 1 The time dedicated to language learning is consideration of the costs and benefits of such inadequate. policies and practices on the countries in question. Furthermore, there is a widely articulated belief 2 Indigenous teacher training is not appropriate or effective. that, in public schools at least, these policies and practices are failing. (Nunan, 2003: 609) 3 Native speakers cannot fill the proficiency and availability gap. Nunan also noted that the decision to introduce English at the primary level was largely political and 4 Educational materials may not be sufficient or appropriate. based on folk wisdom that ‘the younger the better’ was axiomatic in language learning, irrespective of 5 Methodology may not be appropriate to desired the context of learning. Other problems noted were outcomes. ‘inequity regarding access to effective language 6 Resources may not be adequate for student instruction, inadequately trained and skilled teachers, population needs. and a disjunction between curriculum rhetoric and 7 Continuity of commitment may be problematic. pedagogical reality,’ (Nunan, 2003: 589) all of which lead to the conclusion that governments wishing to 8 Language norms may be a problem. introduce English into the primary curriculum need 9 International assistance programmes may first of all to establish pre-conditions for success by not be useful. tackling the problems Nunan has identified. 10 Primary school children may not be prepared Eight years later the review by Baldauf et al. for early language learning. (2011) revealed little different in a wider range of 11 Instruction may not actually meet community countries – Bangladesh, China, Japan, Malaysia, and/or national objectives. Nepal, Singapore, Taiwan, Timor-Leste and Vietnam – with the exception of Singapore, where English was 12 Language endangerment may increase. increasingly being used as a first language in many These 12 causes for failure may be reformulated as households and was displacing local first languages, pre-conditions for success in the implementation of Mandarin and Tamil. (As English has official status in English in primary schools, as in Table 5. Singapore, its experience is radically different from 9 | International comparisons of English provision in primary schools
14. Table 5: Pre-conditions for success in the implementation ■■ ensuring that curriculum materials and teaching- of educational language plans learning approaches are appropriate to the age group 1 The time dedicated to language learning must be adequate. ■■ ensuring that adequate time has been allowed for the preparation of new curriculum materials 2 Indigenous teacher training must be appropriate and effective. ■■ ensuring that appropriate and timely in-service training is given to teachers in the use of the 3 Native speakers should not be used to fill the materials and teaching-learning approaches proficiency and availability gap. ■■ ensuring that adequate in-school advisory 4 Educational materials must be sufficient and support is available to teachers as they appropriate. implement the curriculum 5 Methodology should be appropriate to desired outcomes. ■■ ensuring that appropriate evaluation procedures are in place to evaluate the effectiveness of 6 Resources must be adequate for student the innovation population needs. ■■ ensuring that adequate material and financial 7 Continuity of commitment should be ensured. resources are available to implement all of 8 Language norms should not be a problem. the above 9 International assistance programmes, if present, ■■ and, of course, ensuring that necessary should be useful. adjustments are made to the curriculum and materials for all subsequent grades, and that 10 Primary school children must be prepared for teachers are given training to introduce them early language learning. to these changes in the higher grades. 11 Instruction should meet community and/or national objectives. Elsewhere, Duff notes that a number of variables related to the child learner, classroom organisation 12 Language endangerment should not be increased. of teaching and the school curriculum are essential The necessity of establishing pre-conditions such as variables to take into account when considering these when introducing English into primary schools, earlier English instruction: or lowering the starting point to earlier primary [T]he age at which FL learning commences and grades, is widely acknowledged by educational the intensity, duration, and quality of FL instruction, researchers. Hayes (2012b: 51–52) presented a the status of the FL course itself within the school similar list of factors that needed to be taken into curriculum, and students’ metalinguistic efficiency account when discussing this kind of educational are all variables that must be taken into account innovation, based on his work on primary English when changing policies of this nature and evaluating provision in Vietnam: the effectiveness of earlier FL instruction. Changes are, however, not just necessary in the (Duff, 2008: 8) new grade levels in which English is introduced but Nevertheless, despite all of these policy prescriptions throughout the entire system as earlier introduction and analyses listing various factors to take into of a subject inevitably requires adjustment to the account for success in primary English teaching, curriculum and materials in all subsequent grades. it seems that decisions to introduce or lower the The follow-on implications of a decision to teach starting age for the teaching of English remain English earlier in the school cycle are profound … remarkably immune to research evidence and are all manner of other factors come into play which primarily political rather than educational (Baldauf are common to systemic educational reform for any et al., 2011). Even more troubling, given the fact that subject area in the curriculum. These are, primarily: teaching English in primary schools is predicated ■■ ensuring that there are adequate numbers on the belief (or fallacy) that it will lead to enhanced of teachers to teach the subject to the proficiency, is that there remains a paucity of particular grades research focusing on students’ English language ■■ ensuring that these teachers are well trained outcomes at the end of primary schooling. for the task ■■ ensuring that instructional time is available in the curriculum for the teaching of the subject 10 | International comparisons of English provision in primary schools
15. Of the few studies that measured language proficiency, the Barcelona Age Factor (BAF) project, as its name implies, dealt with a very restricted context in Spain and focused primarily on determining the impact of age of onset of learning on attainment. The results of this study indicated that there was no advantage to an early start to learning English but that, in contrast, older learners (starting at age 14) progressed faster than younger learners (whether starting at age eight or 11) and younger learners did not catch up over the six-year time span of the project (Muñoz, 2009). The conclusion drawn was that ‘second language learning success in a foreign language context may be as much a function of exposure as of age,’ (ibid.: 34) reinforcing the notion that an earlier starting age as a panacea for English language learning in school contexts is indeed a fallacy (Kaplan et al., 2011). A later study, the Early Language Learning in Europe (ELLiE) project, remains one of the few major transnational research undertakings to include measurement of students’ language proficiency at the primary level among its research goals. This project is discussed in the next section. 11 | International comparisons of English provision in primary schools
16. 5 The Early Language Learning in Europe (ELLiE) project The final report of the ELLiE project (Enever, 2011a: 6) Since the rationale for teaching English in primary states that it was designed specifically: schools is based on putative enhanced proficiency To explore contexts for foreign/second language from starting earlier, it is interesting to examine the learning in state-funded primary schools in Europe language outcomes for children involved in the ELLiE with the aim of clarifying what can realistically be project. The broad characterisation of outcomes in achieved in classroom contexts where relatively the Executive Summary of the final report is limited amounts of curriculum time are available somewhat vague, as follows: for language learning (as is commonly found Language achievements: across Europe). ■■ Outcomes are moderate at this stage ELLiE was unusual in that it was both transnational ■■ The range of outcomes varies substantially and longitudinal in scope. The project began in 2006 across countries with a one-year scoping study, with the main study ■■ Higher levels are achieved by learners of English, running from December 2007 to November 2010. particularly where English is used more widely in It involved research in seven countries – England, social contexts Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and ■■ Speaking skills develop only gradually under Croatia – with 1,400 students and their teachers in conditions of limited curriculum time 48 schools, six to eight in each participating country. The sampling of schools was based on convenience ■■ By the fourth year of learning, most children are of access for the researchers, rather than able to read short comic strip stories randomised to ensure that there was no bias in the ■■ As children develop a larger vocabulary, they sample selected, which detracts somewhat from begin to syntactically complexify their language. the generalisability of the results, even though they (Enever, 2011a: 3) attempted to control for variables such as socio- economic background and geographical location – Participating countries use the level descriptors in urban, semi-urban and rural. As would be expected, the Common European Framework of Reference over the lifetime of the project the research gave (CEFR) (Council of Europe, n.d.) as targets for rise to a number of presentations and publications, language outcomes in the primary cycle, in spite both country-specific (e.g. Mihaljević Djigunović, of the fact that these were not developed for use 2013, which focuses on Croatia) and thematic with young learners but ‘were formulated drawing (e.g. Szpotowicz, Mihaljević Djigunović and Enever, from a corpus of adult language use, failing to 2009, which explores learning environments and capture the essential features of children‘s early motivation among young learners). In this section foreign language (FL) learning experiences’. I shall draw on the final report (Enever, 2011a) and (Enever, 2011a: 9) Though the ELLiE report concludes an edited collection of chapters (Enever, 2011b), that CEFR level descriptors are inappropriate, they as these provide details of all key findings. Where remain in use and of necessity influenced the appropriate, I shall make occasional reference to project’s language assessment instruments, which other supporting literature. were based on the ‘can do’ statements developed by the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE, n.d.) for each CEFR level. 12 | The Early Language Learning in Europe (ELLiE) project
17. The actual CEFR targets set by each of the [T]he variation in listening and reading results can participating countries are given in Table 6. be attributed to many factors, such as motivation, the teacher, the school, parents and exposure to Table 6: Intended language outcomes for primary children the foreign language. In contexts where children in ELLiE countries are exposed to English on a daily basis, in addition Country CEFR target/age to the national language, this provides a strong foundation for FL development in the school England A1 by 11 years context. In those country contexts where English Croatia A1 by ten/11 years is not particularly present in daily life alongside Italy A1+ by 11 years the national language, or where another FL is being learnt, then language development is slower. Netherlands A2 by 12 years (Szpotowicz and Lindgren, 2011: 141) Poland A1 by 11 years In Mihaljević Djigunović’s (2013) case study of Spain A1 by 12 years Croatia, there is also an interesting (and amusing) Sweden A1 by nine years; aside on pronunciation of the foreign language A2.1 by 12 years among young children, an area where there is most evidence that starting young is an advantage for a Within the CEFR, the descriptors for levels A1 and ‘native-like’ accent (Singleton and Ryan, 2004). A2 on the ‘global scale’ are as follows (Council of One teacher pointed out difficulties in pronunciation: Europe, n.d.): ‘Pronunciation is a bit difficult because most first Table 7: CEFR descriptors for A1 and A2 levels graders are missing front teeth. This problem is A2 Can understand sentences and frequently usually solved by speaking in chorus.’ used expressions related to areas of most (Mihaljević Djigunović, 2013: 167) immediate relevance (e.g. very basic Instruction is organised in a variety of ways in personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can different countries (see Table 8, below, which communicate in simple and routine tasks excludes England as the foreign language taught requiring a simple and direct exchange of there is not of concern in this report). information on familiar and routine matters. Table 8: Organisation of instructional hours in primary Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/ schools (Enever, 2011d: 32) Basic user her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need. Country Typical number of Lesson duration lessons per week A1 Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed Italy Year 1 – one lesson; Recommendation at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete Year 2 – two of 60 minutes per type. Can introduce him/herself and others lessons; week but may and can ask and answer questions about Years 3–5 – three vary at individual personal details such as where he/she lives, lessons per week schools people he/she knows and things he/she has. Netherlands No specified Typically Can interact in a simple way provided the number Years 1–2 – other person talks slowly and clearly and is Typically one to 20 minutes; prepared to help. three lessons Years 3–8 Both A1 and A2 on the CEFR levels are characterised per week – 30–60 minutes as ‘basic user’. In terms of these levels, Enever Poland Two 45 mins assesses language outcomes among participating learners as follows: Spain No specified Typically number; may be 45–60 minutes The average ELLiE learners have approached A1 anything from one level (as described by the CEFR) in their oral and to four lessons aural skills during the first four years of instruction. per week (2011b: 7) Sweden Years 1–3 – 20–30 minutes Language outcomes in the ELLiE countries are indeed one lesson 40 minutes ‘moderate’ after four years of primary school though Year 4 – two lessons there is some variation across the participating Croatia Two 45 minutes countries, which is attributed to a complex range of factors by Szpotowicz and Lindgren: 13 | The Early Language Learning in Europe (ELLiE) project
18. There is little difference in the intensity of instruction, The differences were attributed to cumulative with the ‘drip feed’ approach (a little instruction on a experience of learning in the primary school in frequent basis) prevailing. What is noticeable is that, general and the associated development of learning with the typical number of lessons per week, children preferences as the children matured cognitively. take as much instructional time to reach A1 level as is Children also expressed preferences for traditional often expected to reach A2. For example, in Croatia, classroom arrangements with the teacher at the two x 45-minute lessons for 35 weeks per year over front of the class and the students all facing her/him. four years results in 210 instructional hours; whereas This seemed to be connected to their desire for most publishers and English teaching websites give order and structure, and knowing their place in a figures of around 180 to 200 instructional hours to particular social world, something which has also reach A2 (see e.g. www.englishclub.com/esl-exams/ been found to be important for children in L1 levels-cef.htm). Of course, learning is not simply a acquisition (Mitchell et al., 2013). Children particularly response to the number of hours spent in a disliked the disruptive behaviour of other children classroom and other variables must be taken into where this occurred and clearly identified its account such as out-of-class exposure to English, negative impact on learning. Mihaljević Djigunović the context of learning, learning purpose, and so on. and Lopriore (2011: 49–50) comment that children associate learning ‘with an experience that requires Across the ELLiE countries the recommended English concentration and order … viewing it as a process language teaching-learning method is broadly an that relies upon the teacher’s input as well as the ‘age-appropriate communicative approach’. However, joint effort of both the teacher and the learners.’ In there is divergence between policy and practice in the ELLiE study it is interesting that the children who this respect, which, as elsewhere, may be due to performed best at the start of the project were those different understandings of the communicative who liked the traditional classroom arrangement, but approach (see, e.g. Butler, 2005; Manghubai et al., by the end the best performers were those who 2004). This divergence may not be significant. preferred working in groups, suggesting that, with Tragant and Lundgren (2011: 9) note ‘the mix of increasing cognitive maturity, high achievers were teaching approaches found in the case studies, aware of the opportunities for language practice that with classes where rather communicative playful this format offered. practices were implemented and those where quite traditional practices were observed,’ but go on to Research elsewhere confirms that ‘even primary say that: school learners consciously perceive their learning In spite of the variation, a few commonalities process and hold varied beliefs about the nature seem to emerge from the case studies. A number of language learning’. (Kolb, 2007: 238) In her study of teachers were fond of the FL they taught, of primary EFL classes in Germany Kolb found that enjoyed teaching it and/or believed in the benefits if the teacher explained the reason for doing of teaching a FL at this age. Importantly, some particular activities, children’s attitudes towards teachers were good at creating a positive and safe the activity changed: relationship with the children, at being supportive In this study most of the learners did not consider towards them or at making sure they had successful the activity playing games to be very important for experiences at these early stages of L2 learning. their learning. As a consequence the teacher talked There were also a number of teachers who were about the value of the challenges of playing games. especially good at keeping the students focused The students became aware of all the language and on-task. (Tragant and Lundgren, 2011: 99) work the activity playing games included and rated the activity higher than before. If students know why Thus, what seem to be important are the teachers’ they do what they do, this will also increase their confidence and enjoyment in their classes, a positive task involvement. (ibid.: 238) classroom environment with good teacher–student rapport and a concern for all children in the class to This kind of explanation may be particularly have a successful language learning experience. important where language learning activities These factors operate irrespective of particular contrast with the ways in which other areas of the methods employed. primary curriculum are taught (Brewster and Ellis, 2002). It also reinforces the ELLiE conclusion that When teachers enjoy teaching, children are the role of the teacher in motivating learners motivated to learn and experience similar enjoyment remains ‘paramount in the first years of FLL in their English classes. The research indicated that, (foreign language learning).’ (Mihaljević Djigunović almost universally, children begin language learning and Lopriore, 2011: 58) with high motivation and positive attitudes but that differences emerged over the lifespan of the project. 14 | The Early Language Learning in Europe (ELLiE) project
19. In four of the seven countries, publishers’ textbooks notes that: ‘Observation evidence from the ELLiE were used, with the three other countries reliant study indicates that a minimum entry level of B1 is on locally designed materials integrated with the needed, with a desirable level of C1 for a teacher general primary curriculum. The difference was to be fully functional in the informal and incidental attributed to the greater visibility of international language regularly required in the primary publishers in the wider EFL market for older learners classroom.’ Initial teacher training to provide in those countries where textbooks were widely generalist primary teachers with the required used – Croatia, Italy, Poland and Spain. Increasingly, language and pedagogic skills was not universal, multimedia materials are being developed and though Croatia, Italy, Poland and Spain were strong in introduced at the primary level, though the ELLiE this respect. Lack of appropriate pre-service training research noted that publishers were being slow to is compensated for by in-service training provision, respond to the needs of the primary classroom in with regular programmes of courses on language terms of ‘supplementary materials’ such as posters, development for teachers as well as age-appropriate puppets and picture cards. This deficiency may language teaching skills. However, only in Croatia was provide the stimulus for teachers to use their own in-service provision said by teachers to be adequate creativity, an area in which well-trained primary (and it was also compulsory), while in Poland, Spain teachers are usually strong, though materials and Sweden it was reported to be insufficient. In Italy preparation does place considerable demands on and the Netherlands course provision was sufficient a teacher’s time. There was no indication that the but attendance was voluntary. use/non-use of pre-packaged textbooks had any impact on learning outcomes. Finally, findings from the ELLiE research project underlined the complexity of factors at play in Throughout the ELLiE literature one factor successful language learning, encompassing repeatedly having an important impact on learning effective initial and in-service teacher training, outcomes is exposure to English outside school, adequate and appropriate resources, enjoyable particularly subtitled television and films. With class experiences and school conditions conducive subtitles, children become more actively involved to learning the language. Though out-of-school in decoding the language, as Muñoz and Lindgren contact with English was important it was not the sole (2011: 118) comment: criterion for success. Enever (2011c: 148) concluded The processes involved in watching a subtitled that irrespective of out-of-class exposure ‘it was movie are complex. The FL is processed with possible to identify good levels of achievement by support from the pictures at the same time as children in a number of schools within each region, the corresponding L1 is read on the subtitles. with well-trained teachers, good resources, lively Thus, what may seem a passive activity is really engaged classes and school environments conducive a cognitively complex and highly active process. to FLL.’ These factors are replicable elsewhere but (d’Ydewalle and De Bruycker, 2007) are dependent on effective planning, adequate resourcing and sustained commitment. Where foreign television and films are dubbed, children do not have this exposure and are at I shall now examine primary English education in a comparative disadvantage. However, other three countries to assess the extent to which these studies cited in the ELLiE reports indicate that factors operate and whether or not they may be skilled teachers may be able to overcome the associated with success in those contexts. lack of exposure to the language outside class by providing additional input in school (Alcañiz and Muñoz, 2011; Tragant and Muñoz, 2009; cited in Muñoz and Lindgren, 2011). Clearly, the demands on teachers in this respect would be considerable. With respect to the teachers and their qualifications, this varied across countries though there was also a gap between policy and practice identified in some areas due to the rapid expansion of primary English teaching. In most countries the favoured model for an English teacher was a generalist primary teacher trained in language teaching and with good language skills. The language levels that teachers of English were required to have, where they were specified, ranged from B1 to B2 on the CEFR. Enever (2011d: 26) 15 | The Early Language Learning in Europe (ELLiE) project
20. 6 Country focus 1: The Netherlands As we have seen, the Netherlands scores highly on Teaching- Schools free to choose; coursebooks the EF English Proficiency Index and, indeed, there learning not generally used for six to ten year is a widespread perception that the Dutch are ‘good materials olds; materials/resources available at learning English’. (Law, 2007) It is interesting that for download; all schools have interactive whiteboards the link between achievement and out-of-school exposure through subtitled television and films Type of teacher Generalist primary teacher with that the ELLiE research project identified was language teaching skills previously noted more subjectively by Law for Teacher Primary teaching with English the Netherlands and other Scandinavian countries: qualifications language component ‘In the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, where proficiency in English is very high, English- Teacher English B2 on the CEFR scale required for language level entry to teacher education courses language television programmes are subtitled. In required Germany, Spain and France, where fewer people speak English well, the television programmes are In-service Widespread; attendance voluntary dubbed’. (ibid.) Out-of-school exposure, of course, provision interacts with other features of the system to bring about successful learning and does not lessen the Though the age for children to begin learning a need for effective teaching in schools. foreign language (not necessarily English) is set at age ten, most schools in the Netherlands now The basic features of English instruction in the introduce English as the first foreign language in Dutch primary curriculum are summarised in the Year 1. Schools have a great deal of autonomy in table below (collated from Enever, 2011b, unless how they organise English instruction and only the otherwise specified). number of hours of instruction that learners must receive by the time they exit Year/Grade 8 is Table 9: Basic features of English instruction in the stipulated. However, attainment targets of between Netherlands A1 and A2 on the CEFR scale by the age of 12 are Formal school Five years; though many children specified centrally; it is up to individual schools how starting age start at age four they achieve these. Similarly, teaching methods and Status of Part of the core curriculum use of particular materials are not specified but left English in the www.government.nl/issues/ to the discretion of the school. curriculum education/primary-education Dutch performance on international tests such as Age at which Optional from age four to nine; many PISA is strong, with a high degree of equality – there English schools start in Year 1 are few students who perform poorly. Equality is instruction A foreign language is compulsory a major strength of the system. The Dutch School starts from the age of ten; most schools Inspectorate (2013) reports, for example, that 97 per choose English cent of all the 6,807 primary schools reach the basic Organisation of Left to individual schools; only total quality standards and that 83 per cent of the instruction number of hours specified for the 100,200 teachers are proficient in all the basic skills. first eight years of schooling; This is a notable achievement and one which many typically one to three lessons per countries would be proud of. Nevertheless, despite week; Years 1–2 – 20 minutes; this overall quality, the system is not resting on its Years 3–8 – 30–60 minutes laurels. The Dutch School Inspectorate has, for Achievement Between A1–A2 on the CEFR scale by example, voiced concerns about the number of level objective the age of 12 high-achievers in the education system. The 2011–12 Education Report, The State of Education in the Teaching Not mandated; schools free to choose Netherlands, highlighted the fact that ‘the number methods (Source: Eurypedia, European of pupils in primary education with a score higher Encyclopedia on National Education than 548 in the Final Test in Primary Education has Systems) decreased from 5.4 per cent to 4.9 per cent in the 16 | Country focus 1: The Netherlands
21. last two years’. (The Dutch School Inspectorate, 2013: How the Dutch government will work to see the 13) The inspectorate report is indicative of a concern status of teachers raised is not explicitly tackled, that ‘there needs to be more effective differentiation though it is safe to assume that an increase in to cater for the varying needs of students and qualifications will play a part. Though salary levels groups of students,’ (ibid.: 8) alongside, inter alia, are mentioned, current financial conditions in the improved pastoral care, more results-oriented Netherlands, as elsewhere in Europe, mean that the teaching and improved quality assurance given that: government did not finance increases in salaries in ‘At the primary schools that score better in these either 2010 or 2011. Currently, the ratio of primary areas, this is also reflected in better pupil teachers’ salaries to the earnings of other full-time performance’. (ibid.: 8) workers with tertiary education is 0.70, significantly below an OECD average of 0.82 (OECD, 2013c). At A desire for continuous improvement – perhaps present the status of teachers is on a par with that even a fear of moving backwards – is a hallmark of a of social work rather than law or medicine, which high-achieving education system according to the the Kinsey reports indicate is desirable for the best McKinsey education reports (Mourshed et al., 2010), education systems. However, according to the 2013 which also note that shaping the teaching profession Global Teacher Status Index (Dolton and Marcenaro- so that its requirements and practices parallel those Gutierrez, 2013), which measures respect for in professions such as law and medicine is also teachers and their social standing, teachers in the important. In this vein and perhaps in response to Netherlands rank eighth on the index, the second the declining intake in teacher training colleges for highest of the European countries (behind Greece primary education in recent years (The Dutch School in second place), above Finland (13th) but below Inspectorate, 2013), the Dutch government has set Korea in fourth place. out its plans for quality improvement in Teaching 2020: a strong profession! (Ministry of Education, To conclude, the education system in the Netherlands Culture and Science, 2011) with a number of produces learners with generally high achievement recommendations designed ‘to make the teaching levels and there is a corresponding equality across profession more attractive, not only in terms of learners, with few performing poorly. Some salary and career earnings potential, but in terms weaknesses have been identified in the system of the quality and status of the profession’. (ibid.: 18) in terms of differentiation, which the government These were reiterated in a policy document Working is currently addressing. Success in primary English in education 2012 (Ministry of Education, Culture and teaching seems to be attributable as much to Science, 2012), which included a proposal to increase general education factors as it is to anything teachers’ level of education, with a master’s degree specific to the teaching of English. Indeed, it is the target for teachers by 2020. Interestingly, the only in access to English in out-of-school contexts document draws attention to the experience of the that the Netherlands appears to have an edge that two other countries focused on here, Finland and is specific to the language. Korea, noting that: ‘All teachers in Finland are university graduates, including teachers in primary education. In other high-performing countries, such as Korea and Singapore, only the very best students are admitted to teacher training programmes after a demanding selection procedure’. (ibid.: 17) To raise the level of education to a master’s degree will provide a challenge for the primary education sector as, at present, while 87 per cent of teachers have a degree only six per cent have a master’s degree. It is notable that there are no recommendations specific to English teaching in the primary sector (though there are for secondary English teaching), indicating that it has no special status as a subject and primary teaching is considered as a whole. 17 | Country focus 1: The Netherlands
22. 7 Country focus 2: Korea ‘The driving force behind the astounding growth school life, and high expenditure for private tutoring’. of Korea is education,’ as the Korea Educational (source: http://eng.kedi.re.kr/khome/eng/education/ Development Institute proclaims on its website genernalInfo.do#) Household expenditure on private (http://eng.kedi.re.kr). Korea has been a remarkable tutoring for both primary and secondary sectors success story in education over the last few decades, in 2005 was 2.9 per cent of GDP, very close to the achieving a 99 per cent literacy rate and high 3.4 per cent of GDP in public expenditure on formal enrolment rates in higher education: 50 per cent schooling, a massive private commitment (Kim, of the 18–21 age group is enrolled in four-year 2005). There are indications that the emphasis on degree programmes (Kang, 2012). Performance private tuition for English is having negative effects on international tests such as PISA is, as we have on children’s motivation. In a recent study of 6th seen, routinely high in all areas. English is seen as Grade pupils in Seoul, 65 per cent of the children an essential component of educational success had negative attitudes towards the language, to the extent that: ‘Koreans spend an average of characterising English as ‘something that takes my 20,000 hours between primary school and university freedom away,’ ‘prison for life,’ ‘something that should learning English, including both school instruction never exist,’ and even simply ‘hell’. (Moon, 2013) and private tutoring’. (EF, 2013: 18) In 2005 Koreans These attitudes should be a cause of serious concern spent 15 billion dollars on private tuition in English for education officials if they are widely replicated. (Song, 2011), a figure that can only have increased since then, given that the private school (‘hagwon’) Despite massive investment in education, there is a industry had an annualised growth rate of 20.5 per widespread consensus that English outcomes do not cent between 2005 and 2009 (Kim, 2013). Song match the inputs and that the return on investment is (2011: 36) notes that: ‘South Korea’s pursuit of English meagre. As we have seen from the English Proficiency is probably unparalleled elsewhere in the world’. Index (EF, 2013), Korea ranks as a country with only This is set within a context of intense commitment ‘moderate’ proficiency and scores actually declined to education as a whole. Indeed, education is often from the previous year. This has led to much soul- described as a ‘national obsession’, an obsession searching nationally with solutions for improvement which results in children spending most of their time ranging from making English an official language at school of one kind or another. Song observes that: (in spite of the fact that Korea is essentially a monolingual nation where the correlation between South Korean parents are completely blasé about Korean nationals and speakers of Korean is almost forcing their children to spend the bulk of their 100 per cent) and a proposal by the then President waking hours studying school subjects in order in 2008 to have all schools become English-medium to be accepted into one of the best universities in (quickly shelved due to public opposition) to the the country. South Korean students typically leave establishment of ‘English Villages’ that provide home before 8am or even earlier and return home opportunities for real-life language use, and the well past midnight, with normal and supplementary ‘Teaching English in English’ (TEE) policy designed school work, and private after-school instruction all to limit L1 use in English classes. packed in between. (Song, 2011: 45) Though many parents send their children to A recent BBC report of a Korean child talking about private tuition much earlier, even in kindergarten, her daily routine illustrates this schedule, which she Korean children only start learning English formally believes is necessary for her to fulfil her dream of in school in Grade 3. The basic features of the becoming an elementary school teacher (see www. English education system in Korea’s 5,778 bbc.com/news/education-25187993). Recently, the government primary schools are given in Table 10, negative impact of the national ‘zeal for education’ below (sources: Ministry of Education, Science and has begun to be recognised in official publications Technology, http://english.mest.go.kr/enMain.do; such as a presentation developed by the Korea Korea Institute of Educational Development, Institute for Educational Development on ‘Education www.kedi.re.kr; Korea Institute for Curriculum in Korea 2011’, which commented that it has ‘resulted and Evaluation, www.kice.re.kr). in such a highly competitive environment, which often results in longest school work hours, unhappy 18 | Country focus 2: Korea
23. Table 10: Basic features of English instruction in Korea training’. (Jung and Norton, 2002: 259) However, it was also found that success could still be achieved Formal school Six years if teachers were themselves positive about teaching starting age English and were well supported by school principals. Status of Part of the National Basic Curriculum Jung and Norton conclude: English in the The implementation of the programme shows the curriculum importance of support by principals and head Age at which Eight years; Grade 3 teachers as well as the crucial role of teacher English training. In schools with adequate support, and instruction where teachers themselves believe that English starts instruction is important, the conditions for effective Organisation of Two x 40-minute classes for language instruction seem to exist. (Jung and instruction Grades 3–4 Norton, 2002: 264) Four x 40-minute classes for The implementation of prescribed communicative Grades 5–6 classroom methods was reported elsewhere to be Achievement School curriculum specifies skills- problematic. Butler (2005) found that there was a level objective based ‘accomplishment standards’ lack of understanding of teaching for communicative for each grade of a general nature purposes, which made it difficult for teachers to Teaching Age-appropriate communicative, as implement the curriculum in the classroom as methods appropriate to learning objectives intended by its designers: policy-makers and Teaching- Criteria for textbooks and teachers used terms such as ‘information gap’, learning instructional materials prescribed by ‘student-centred activities’ and ‘authentic language’ materials law; textbooks must be approved by without a shared understanding with teachers of Korea Institute for Curriculum and what they meant (ibid.: 435). Butler (ibid.) also found Evaluation; schools choose textbooks that the policy to use English only seemed to the from the approved list teachers to be inefficient in many respects and they Type of teacher Generalist primary teacher with continued to use Korean; for example, to maintain language teaching skills (acquired order in the classroom. The English-only innovation through in-service training for older known initially as the ‘Teach English through English’ teachers; pre-service for newer (TETE) policy, and now as ‘Teach English in English’ teachers); a minority of schools (TEE), has also been examined from a classroom have specialist English teachers perspective by Kang (2008: 224) who found that Teacher Four-year primary teaching degree; in elementary schools ‘the full practice of TETE is qualifications pass national teacher exams not always beneficial to students’. In his case study, including an interview in English a teacher made judicious use of the L1 with the students’ interest always at the heart of her language Teacher English Not specified choice. This also aligned with students’ perceptions language level of language use: they reported being much more required motivated to learn English with their current teacher In-service Widespread; primary class teachers than with their teachers the previous year who provision required to take a minimum of 120 had used only English and no Korean at all in their hours for English teaching (language lessons. Exclusive use of English had led to students’ and pedagogy) loss of interest, not least because they could English has very limited presence in not always understand what was happening in the environment the classroom. There is a range of academic literature discussing Teachers’ own language levels are an obstacle to various aspects of English education in Korean generalist primary teachers taking responsibility primary schools. Jung and Norton (2002) discuss for the teaching of English in the short term, although the implementation of the elementary English in the longer term including English as one of the programme – English was first introduced into components of the primary teaching degree should primary schools in 1997 – and provide case studies lead to higher levels of language and language- of selected schools. Of particular note is the limited teaching competence. Many primary teachers in impact of the 120-hour in-service teacher training service at present do not feel they have adequate programme; as one teacher commented: ‘It was language skills to teach English. This has been found nonsense to ask elementary teachers to teach in a range of studies (Butler, 2004; Hayes, 2008a; spoken English with only 120 hours of teacher Jung and Norton, 2002). The common misconception 19 | Country focus 2: Korea
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