Short-Term Migration for a World Language
In Ah Ha
Department of Advertising & PR
Graduate School of Media Communications
Sogang University
Seoul, Korea
Kinam Jin
Department of Health Administration
Yonsei University
Wonju, Kroea
jinkn@ unitel.co.kr
Short-Term Migration for a World Language
Abstract
English is spreading as a world language. Yet the means – and the immediate
consequences – through which English is spreading as a second language into
largely monolingual populations are nor well understood. In this paper, we focus
on a specific case: the learning of English as a second language in Korea and the strong
incentives for Koreans to learn English We then provide some empirical analyses that
suggest that Koreans are using a new strategy in the acquisition of a world language:
short-term transnational movements Our paper ends with a discussion of some of the
potential implications of these movements and of some of the numerous avenues open
for search.
Introduction
English is one of the world’s most commonly spoken languages. Although
estimates vary, the consensus if that hundreds of millions of persons speak English as a
first language or “mother tongue” and hundreds of millions more speak English as a
second (or higher order) language (Crysral 1985; Kachru 1992). The prominence of
English is increasing but not because is increasing but not because of increases in the
numbers of persons who learn it as a first language. English is spreading as a world
language because it is increasingly the most commonly spoken second-or higher order-
language in the world. In general, the reasons for the growing prominence of English as
a world language lie in the confluence of English as the language of commerce, science
and technology. The forces of globalization that allow , encourage and to some extent
follow networks of communication, and the motivation of societies and individuals to
participate in the political, economics, scientific, and technological spheres that are
dominated by the English language.
Yet the means -- and the immediate consequences -- through which English is spreading
as a second language have not been systematically investigates. Why are individual who
live ins a society firmly dominated by one language motivated to expend the time, effort
and expense requires to become fluent in a second language? How do individuals
acquire fluency in a second language when there are few “native” English speakers or
appropriately trained English language teachers from whom to learn the language? How
do societal institutions support or thwart the effort? From a sociological point of view,
how is the acquisition of skills in English as a second language organizes within a non-
English language population?
In this paper, we focus on a specific case: the learning of English as a second language among Koreans. We briefly discuss the background of the English language in Korea. We then describe how the strong incentives for Koreans to learn English. The strong desire on the part ok Korean parents that their children learn English, and the apparently widespread perception that the Korean educational system teaches English inadequately, have led Korean to explore a variety of means of learning English, attendance at boarding schools abroad for the purposes of learning English, and the exploitation of opportunities to live in the United States as non-immigrants. Our analysis is based on official data gathered for other purposes, on newspaper reports, and the few available academic theses and reports written on language acquisition among Koreans. Our conclusions can not thus be definitive. Yet as a whole the body of evidence suggests the emergence of a new strategy in language learning: the acquisition of a world language through short-term transnational movements. Our paper ends with a discussion of some of the implications of these transnational movements.
The Background
South Korea is a linguistically homogamous, and linguistically isolated, nation-state. Almost all Korean residents learn Korean as a first language and, with the exception of the immediate descendants of Korean emigrants in other countries, few people outside of the Korean peninsula become fluent in Korean. Although the formal introduction of the teaching of English occurred in 1883 with the establishment of the first English school (Shim 1999), English was spoken only by a small group of people associated with missionaries well into the 20th century (Park 1983).
The first main impetus for the establishing of the English language in South Korea occurred in the middle of the 20th century with the arrival of American troops after WWII and the eruption of the Korean War in the early 1950s (Baik 1992). Following Japan’s surrender and Korea’s liberation in 1945, the US was deeply involved in the creation of new state in South Korea. From the standpoint of the United States, the Korean peninsula had strategic importance in deterring the expansion of communism in Northeast Asia. For many Koreans, the presence of American military forces established the US as a “brother-nation” helping to protect S. Korea from the threat of Communism. After the end of the Cold War, the newly emerging threat of nuclear power in N. Korea resulted in US troops remaining in the Korean peninsula (Kim 1996).
In addition to this political connection, the two countries developed close economic ties. The US’s economic assistance during 1950-60s was a major factor vitalizing the S. Korean economy (Levin 1983 but see Lie1998) in part because the U.S. also provided a major market for Korean exports (Noland 1993). Without the American-led foreign inputs, the remarkable economic development experienced by S. Korea might have been impossible (Chung 1983). After the 1970s, the export-oriented economy increasingly involved business with foreign companies, especially companies based in the U.S. The growing importance of international business in Korea’s economic development gave greater weight to English proficiency as a basic component of human capital. The importance of English in Korean society gained further momentum with the influx of foreign multinational companies during the 1990s.
The status of English as a world language, the close ties between the United States and S. Korea over the course of the last half century, and the internal changes in S. Korea, which included urbanization and the growth of a middle class, resulted in the emergence of a contingent of English speakers. By the mid 1980s, English was spoken as a second language by about 4 million Koreans, most of whom were members of the technical and intellectual elite, in a population of approximately 50 million (Decsy 1988).
The Motivations to learn English
The presence of an English-speaking economic elite in the third quarter of the 20th century fed a perception among most Koreans, particularly middle-class Koreans, that facility in English has become a necessity for membership in the managerial and professional strata. Because about half of Koreans consider themselves to be members of the middle class (Steinberg 1987), the high value place on English skills is very widely shared. The recent downward trend in the Korean economy, especially since 1997, and the corollary increases in the national-level unemployment rates, appear to have accelerated the perceived vale of English skills in what has become an increasingly competitive environment.
The explicit acknowledgement of English skills as a valued asset has become codified, with scores on English language tests serving to differentiate career paths. Korea’s largest state-invested corporation, Korea Telecom (KT) announced in 2001 for example, that it will take TEPS (Test of English Proficiency, Seoul National University) scores into consideration when evaluating the basic qualifications of new applicants, and in the awarding of promotions to current employees. Yonsei University recently instituted an evaluation of the English skills of all candidates for teaching posts.
The emphasis on English skills as requirements for entry into, and advancement in professional and managerial occupations quickly produced a parallel emphasis on English skills in the country’s tertiary educational institutions. The criteria for entry into, success in, and graduation from, university programs increasingly and explicitly include requirements of facility in English. In the Admission Policies for the 2001 Academic Year, the administrations of various universities announced that students seeking admission to major Korean universities will have “an advantageous position.” Students seeking admission into Korean graduate schools of International Relations, for example, must provide test results proving facility in English because all classes are conducted in English, and all theses are written in English (Yang 2001a). All candidates for a baccalaureate degree from Seoul National University – the country’s most prestigious multidisciplinary university– must pass the TEPS (Test of English Proficiency, SNU_ before they receive their degree. Master’s and PhD students in the Engineering Department at Kunkook University must prepare their theses in English to allow the possibility of an international audience for their work (Choi 2001). Aju Business School claims that it will carry out all of its lectures in English by 2003. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology plans to expand the percentage of its English lectures to 30 percent from its current 15 percent. Pohang University of Science and Technology plans to provide all of its graduate school course in English in two years. Yonsei University has even opened an “English Only” lounge in which the use of Korean is not allowed and the use of English is mandated (Lee 2001b).
The accelerating reliance on the English language as a means of providing education in the higher level institutions, and the requirement of proof of English skills among students for certification has produced intense pressures on a population that is still largely monolingual in Korean. In situations in which world languages are spreading, lower-level educational institutions are generally the locus of language acquisition (Fishman 1988). In Korea, however, the primary and secondary educational systems have recently been vilified by the press as inadequate in terms of teaching English to its school children.
English language programs have been criticized for an undue emphasis on English grammar and reading skills to the detriment of skills in speaking and understanding oral English (Kim 1995), an emphasis that may be a partial legacy of earlier approaches to teaching English in Korea (Park, 1983). The very earliest phase in the teaching of English in the 1950s emphasized the differences between the Korean and English languages rather than the communicative and functional aspects of the language. The second phase during the 1960s emphasized oral skills and literacy skills but the third phase, stretching over much of the 1970s, emphasized English grammar. Since the early 1980s, more attention has been paid to the ability to communicate in English yet the persisting emphasis on grammar skills in the tests administered by colleges and universities has helped maintain a strong emphasis on grammar to the detriment of conversational skills. The language learning styles of Korean students, which are more likely to incorporate memorization rather than communication-affective strategies, also tend to depress their eventual proficiency in English (Park 1997).
The earlier curricula used in English-language teaching have also have left their mark on the skills of current English teachers. According to a recent survey conducted by the Korean Ministry of Education, only 7.5% of the 67,000 elementary, junior high and high school English instructors had the ability and language skills necessary to lead their English language classes entirely in English. Nonetheless, the pressures on the educational system to teach students English are so intense that English classes for third, fourth, and seventh graders throughout the country are to be conducted entirely in English as of Fall 2001 (Lee 2001a).
Learning English in Korea
The pressures for students, both the younger and more advanced students, and the lack of widespread opportunities to learn English outside of public educational institutions has led Korean students (and their parents) to turn to other means. Some eager mothers speak English to their children in the womb (Kim 2001). Mothers join “mother-child” programs in English while their child is still a toddler. There are long waiting lists for the few English-language kindergarten programs, although the costs are much higher than the costs for the usual Korean language kindergarten programs. Many parents employ English tutors or enroll their children in English language programs. The financial burden is heavy: the costs of tutoring children can consume up to a third of a middle class family’s income (Choe 2001; Chung 2001). The common perception that many native Korean instructors of English have poor skills in spoken English has also resulted in a premium in the tutoring fees charged by instructors who are native speakers of English, i.e., Americans, Canadians, and Australians (Seo 2001).
Still, the opportunities in Korea to practice English outside of lessons or English-language programs are limited. Although the number of bilingual Koreans is increasing (Park 1983), linguists have concluded that a viable Korean-English bilingual community does not yet presently exist (Song 1998). Parents often turn to very short-term English-language programs abroad during the summer months to grant their children an opportunity to learn some English in an English-language dominated environment. An additional way, however, of pursing the acquisition of English from native speakers is to live abroad in English-language countries for longer periods of time.
The Transnational Acquisition of English by Koreans
One viable option for learning English consists of limited-term visits to countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia that are dominated by the English language. Korea requires its citizens to fill out departure records before leaving the country; these records contain data on age of the migrant, the country being visited, purpose of trip, and length of trip. In 1985, about 660 thousand departure records were filled out; by 1999, the number of departure records had increased to 4 million. Most of the records indicated short-term stays, and most involved trips being made for business, schooling -- or pleasure (Ministry of Justice 1999). It is impossible to tell in the aggregate how many of the migrants traveled with the specific or corollary intent of learning more English, but about 20% and 22% in 1985 and 1999, respectively of the departure records referred to visits to countries as U.S., Canada or Australia that are dominated by the English language.
What is striking about the data generated by the Korean Ministry in charge of departure records is the age-specific pattern of migrants traveling to countries dominated by English and to other countries. Figure 1 shows the age-specific percentages (portrayed by bars) of departure records of Korean migrants traveling to English-dominated countries versus all other countries in 1999. As expected, the majority of migrants are young and middle-aged adults, many of whom are traveling for business purposes. The line on the graph shows the ratio, within each age group of Koreans traveling to an English-dominated country versus other countries. Children and very young adults are more likely to visit English-language dominated countries than countries dominated by other languages while the reverse is true for older adults. Because relatively few children travel alone, they must be accompanying relatives, probably their parents. In other words, Korean adults in their prime child-raising ages, late 20s to early 50s, are much more likely to take their children if they travel abroad to an English-language dominated country than if they travel to a country dominated by some other language.
(Figure 1 about here)
This pattern may, however, just be a function of the countries of destination rather than Korean parents capitalizing on the opportunities for their children to learn English on trips abroad. Table 1 presents data on entry visas granted to short-term visitors, i.e.. ”non-immigrants,” to the United States in 1998 (Immigration and Naturalization Service 2000). The table includes information on the visas to the primary migrant (e.g., F-1 visas granted to students) and on visas granted to secondary migrants (e.g., F-2 visas), who are spouses or children of a primary migrant for persons from Korea, from all other Asian countries, and from the total of all countries. The first panel refers to “student” visas most of which are granted to young adults for study in post-secondary institutions and to their accompanying immediate relatives. Of the 44,274 student visas granted to Korean nationals, about 7% were for secondary migrants, i.e., spouses or children of a Korean national entering the U.S. on a student visa. The percentage is only slightly higher than the corresponding percentages of persons from other Asian countries (e.g., Japan or China) entering as immediate relatives of a primary migrant entering on an F-1 visa.
The story changes, however, when considering migrants entering as exchange visitors or intracompany transfers. Korean national entering the U.S. on these visas are much more likely to bring their spouses and children than are persons from other countries. Almost half (48.3%) of Koreans entering the United States as an exchange visitor are entering on a secondary visa. The percentages of persons from other Asian countries entering as secondary migrants on an exchange visa are also quite high: 29%. Yet the overall average is only 14%. When considering yet another visa category – intracompany transfers – Koreans, once again, are much more likely to bring their spouses and children than are primary migrants from other countries.