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Problems for learners in KoreaThere are many areas of difficulty with learning a new language. Learners of the english language in South Korea particularly have problems in using the Roman alphabet, grammar, syntax, and new learning methods.
South Korea, unlike some European countries, does not use the Roman alphabet. This needs to be taught and learnt by all students. Since some consonant sounds in the english language such as F, V, Z, L, and R are not present in the Korean alphabet, this can create pronunciation problems for students. Each character in the Korean alphabet has a distinct phonetic sound. So for words in the english language that have similar spelling but a different phonetic sound such as ‘breaks’ and ‘brakes’ can be confusing in reading and writing for students.
Grammatical differences include the sentence arrangement structure to be ‘subject-object-verb’ in Korean and ‘subject-verb-object’ in english. A common mistake is that Koreans place the verb after the object like they do in their native tongue. The Korean language also does not use articles. Learners can understand the use of a/an/the but it is difficult for them to remember and put it to use. Prepositional use can also be confusing to an ESL student for there is not general rule that they can follow by. For example, there is no specific reason why we say “we go to the restaurant” and “we go home.” These just need to be memorized.
Koreans also use their language in a very contextual way. For example, In english we would say “we’re going to the night club” and in Korean they would cut out the continuous tense and say “club-to-go.” They use the context to add meaning since it may be already obvious where they are going (in a taxi, dressed up, etc).
Korean students traditionally learn by rote, listening, reading, observing and imitating. They are not used to the structure of an ESL lesson plan or having debates and discussions. Students are often very timid, shy, and passive when it comes to open discussions on opinions and ideas. Korean students are more reserved and have been brought up to express themselves indirectly. Students are often use vague terms such as “some” and “many” for it is deemed to be improper to be specific when talking about material wealth.
Habits are hard to break and it is hard for any ESL student to not have their native language interfere with learning english. For instance, Koreans use format of a negative question when talking in english. In english we would answer the question “wasn’t it great?” with “yes, it was” but Koreans might respond “yes, it wasn’t great.”
Korean learners often do not get enough exposure to the english language and cannot practice in real life situations. Korean teachers often give instructions in their native tongue and most likely the only exposure to english the students receive is with their ESL teacher.
As with any culture, learning english as a second language is no easy task. Students may not be able to express themselves how they want to and will get frustrated and lose self-confidence. Ambitious students may also set too high of goals for themselves and become disappointed and lose interest if these goals are not met.
