1

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

KIM YOU JIN

Changes in Native English-speaking Teachers
recruitment policy in South Korea

Thay đổi chính sách tuyển dụng giáo viên tiếng Anh
bản ngữ tại Hàn Quốc

M.A. Programme Thesis
Major: English Teaching Methodology
Cohort: QH2018.1
Date of birth: 15.07.1984
Student ID: 18045000
Tel: +841051425279
Email:

Hanoi - 2021


2

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

KIM YOU JIN

Changes in Native English-speaking Teachers
recruitment policy in South Korea

Thay đổi chính sách tuyển dụng giáo viên tiếng Anh
bản ngữ tại Hàn Quốc

M.A. Programme Thesis
Major: English Teaching Methodology
Cohort: QH2018.1
Date of birth: 15.07.1984
Student ID: 18045000
Tel: +841051425279
Email:

Hanoi - 2021


i

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

Firstly, I would like to express my true thanks to the supervisor DR.
Le Van Canh who has inspired me to start to investigate in this field of
policies on native English-speaking teachers in South Korea. During the
whole process of writing this research, he has continually given me invaluable
guidance and exact advices.
I really appreciate all lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of Post
Graduate Studies for always supporting me while taking classes. As a foreign

student, I cannot imagine completing graduate course without enthusiastic
helps from all.
I am grateful to my husband and my lovely two daughters for giving
me big strengths.


ii

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to investigate the changes in native
English-speaking teachers(NESTs) recruitment policy in South Korea,
focusing on the reasons why those changes were made to inform Vietnam‟s
policies on NESTs. This study firstly looks into the policies on native
English-speaking teachers in Korea and changes in policies implemented
from the mid-1990s to the present. In-depth interview with an expert who is a
current faculty of an English Language department of University in Seoul,
South Korea since had conducted, and to have a balanced view, the researcher
added one more interview with another expert who is a carrent English
teacher in Sangju, South Korea. The results indicated that Korea‟s recruiting
numerous native English-speaking teachers caused various problems
especially regarding the quality of the teachers and huge budgets without
actual impact on students and English education. Perceptions of learners,
parents and teachers of schools towards policies also have been changing
from positive to negative. Many experts from English education filed,
linguistic, social and economy areas also warned on newspaper articles that
for the success of the English education policy, only pursuing native Englishspeaking teachers are not a good solution. Korea has learned from the past
experience that the focus should be shifted from whether NESTs or NNETs to
the importance of professionalism and the professional training of teachers. It
seems obvious that in the long run, it may be a more desirable and realistic
alternative to provide local teachers with more substantial and consistently

high-quality training, and to cultivate Korean language teachers. This study
would give an idea for future policies of NESTs on English education in
Vietnam as well.


iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEGEMENTS ............................................................................... ⅰ
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... ⅱ
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................ ⅲ
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................... ⅵ
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ............................................................... ⅶ
PART A: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 1
1. Rationale.................................................................................................... 1
2. Aims and objectives of the study ............................................................. 2
3. Scope of the study .................................................................................... 3
4. Significance of the study .......................................................................... 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................ 4
CHAPTER Ⅰ: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................... 4
1.1. Native-speakerism ..................................................................................... 4
1.2. Definitions of native-speakers .................................................................. 5
1.3. Non-native speaker teachers ..................................................................... 6
1.3.1. Strengths ............................................................................................. 6
1.3.2. Weakneses .......................................................................................... 7
1.4. Native-speaker teachers ............................................................................ 8
1.4.1. Strengths ............................................................................................. 8
1.4.2. Weakneses ........................................................................................... 9
1.5. Professionalization in ELT ........................................................................ 9
CHAPTER Ⅱ: METHODOLOGY ............................................................... 11

2.1. Qualitative research ................................................................................. 11


iv

2.2. Research questions .................................................................................. 12
2.3. Research Instruments .............................................................................. 12
2.4. Research participants ............................................................................... 13
2.5. Data collection methods .......................................................................... 13
2.6. Data analysis methods ............................................................................. 13
2.6. Summary .................................................................................................. 14
CHAPTER Ⅲ: FINDINGS ............................................................................ 14
3.1. Content analysis ...................................................................................... 14
3.1.1. Policy documents on native-speaker recruitments ........................... 14
3.1.2. Chages in native-speaker teachers policies ....................................... 21
3.2. Analysis of public opinions...................................................................... 28
3.2.1. Analysis of parents/ students/ teachers‟ opinions ................................. 28

3.3. Analysis of interview data........................................................................ 38
3.4. Discussion ............................................................................................... 39
3.5. Summary .................................................................................................. 41
PART C: CONCLUSION .............................................................................. 42
1.Recapitulation and concluding remarks ..................................................... 42
2. Limitation of the current research ............................................................ 44
3. Recommendation and suggestions for future research ............................ 44
REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 49
APPENDIX 1 .................................................................................................. Ⅰ
APPENDIX 2 .................................................................................................. Ⅶ
APPENDIX 3 .................................................................................................. XI
APPENDIX 4 ............................................................................................... XIII

APPENDIX 5 ..............................................................................................XVII


v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

%

: percentage

NESTs

:

Native English-speaking teachers

NNESTs : Nonnative English-speaking teachers


vi

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 2.1 Data analysis model ....................................................................... 14
Table 3.1. Salary and requirements of each class of employment ................. 19
Table 3.2. Changes in English education policies of each government ....... 23
Table 3.3. Changes in NETSs policies of each government .......................... 24
Table 3.4. Status of NESTs in Korea .............................................................. 40
Figure 3.1. Numbers of NESTs in elementary schools in Seoul, Korea ......... 27



1

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Since the introduction of English to elementary schools in 1997 in
Korea as part of its globalization strategy, in addition, English education is
increasingly emphasized throughout society, the direction of education in
Korea has moved toward to focus on practical communication. However,
many learners and parents critizes the English educational environment which
is conducted only by textbook dependent class saying the learners are not able
to enhance their communication skills. To solve this problem, English
Program in Korea(EPIK) started from the mid-1990s. As a strategy for the
implementation of this program was employing native English-speaking
teachers(NESTs)

and

positioning

them

in

different

educational

establishments within South Korea. It aimed at improving elementary and

secondary school students‟ English communication skills, strengthening
conversational training for English teachers, developing English textbooks
and teaching techniques, enhancing international understanding through
cultural exchange, and improving foreigners' understanding of Korea.
Ultimately it was aimed to achieve the goals of improving students'
communication skills, bridging the English education gap, and reducing
private education expenses (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology,
2009a). At the beginning, this policy, which was evaluated positively, was
extended by the EPIK business till 2010, and as of September, the ratio of
placement of NESTs was 81.11%. Ministry of Education announced that by
2010, a NEST would be assigned to all middle schools throughout the country
to improve their English communication skills (Ministry of Education,
Science and Technology, 2009b). However, with the rapid increase in the
number of NESTs, it was difficult to get a qualified NEST. According to the


2

National Institute for International Education (2009), the percentatge of
certification holders of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language
(TESOL) and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) from each
cities was only 38.3% (3,066) which is less than half of the NESTs. NESTs
who lacked educational experience and expertise caused several problems
contrary to the expectations of English education field that NESTs will lead
lessons well.
In Korea, most of NESTs are contracted on a yearly basis, and it is
no too pleasant to change the NESTS every year. Many NESTs come to
Korea as a young person to experience foreign culture, spend a short time as a
teacher in Korea without any sense of instructional duty. Relastionships
between local teachers and difficulties with communicating with learders

raised a question until now. In fact, there were even cases NESTs were
detected as drug users, or for having illegal affairs with female students and
other social issues. The enormous costs of importing large amounts of NESTs
and bringing them to the field were also problem. It is important to judge if it
is worth spending huge amout of budget.
The efforts for better policies for the English education in South
Korea has been continuesly made. In this paper, the author explores changes
on policies of recruting NESTs in Korea and reasons for the changes to
inform not only Korea‟s policies on NESTs but also Vietnam‟s policies.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
The purpose of this study is to investigage the recruitment Englishspeaking teachers policy in South Korea.
This aim is specified into two following objectives:
(1) To investigate the changes in policies of recruiting native Englishspeaking teachers in South Korea.


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(2) To find out why those changes were made.
(3) To inform Vietnam‟s policies on native-speaker teachers.
3. Scope of the study
The scope of this study is limited to the policies from the year of
1995 when the policy of recruiting NESTs has begun in South Korea.
Previous studies and newspaper articles are reviewed according to 3 periods:
beginning of English Program in Korea (EPIK) from 1995 to 2002, during
2002 to 2010, and after 2010. The participants for interviews will be limited
to one University in Seoul, Korea, and one Junior high school in Sangju,
Korea.
4. Significance of the study
East Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China,
as well as Korea have been carrying out English classes having NESTs to

strengthen their communication-oriented English education. In Vietnam,
NESTs are welcomed in many places of education. However, before going to
further steps, it would be worthwhile for Vietnam to take a look at some cases
of nations which already had gone through those steps before.
Almost 90% of teachers under Japan‟s NESTs recruiting programme
are not certified teachers (Carless, 2004) and the teachers are not even have
experience in teaching (Ohtani, 2010). Participants of Hong Kong's NESTs
recruiting progamme are asked to have teaching certification in teaching, but
it is not a very first priority. It is also similiar in Taiwan where appicants need
to be trainned well, but the ministry of education is having trouble of
recruiting qualified NESTS (Wang, Lin, 2013).
In Korea, specifically, Korea‟s policy of recruting NESTs under the
name of EPIK was not evaluated or tested seriously at the beginning. As
mentioned earlier, the percentatge of certification holders was only 38.3%


4

(3,066) in 2009. From then, questions such as how to use a few NESTs in
each school, and whether all of these NESTs were qualified enough or were
competent to teachbecame great concerns, which ledto changes of policies
after spending a huge amount of budget. If Vietnam impliments the similar
policy as Korea and other East Asian countries in the past, it can be more
likely to cause problems in education. Decisions on policies should not only
made by policy makers, but also by teachers and supervisors in charge of
education in the field. This study will help Vietnam‟s teachers and people in
the English education field to actively reflect and to implement a sound policy
for the better policy on NESTs in Vietnam.
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER Ⅰ: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1. Native-speakerism
As a Korean living in Vietnam, I had experienced the power of the
title „native-speaker‟ when teaching Korean language to Vietnamese people.
It seems to me that learners have special positive perceptions and attitudes
towards native-speakers regardless of the real quality of the teachers. A great
number of

Vietnamese university students request that no matter how

qualified the teacher is, they just want to learn from a NEST. There is no
doubt that in field of English education, this phenomenon is even more
popular

in many Asian countries. Holliday (2005) considered this

phenomenon as a native-speakerism. He argued that the belief that NESTs
represent

'Western culture' making NESTs the best was more ideological

than true . Phillipson(1992) had pointed out in his linguistic imperialism
thesis that this is a concept built by the aid agencies of English-speaking
countries like the United States or the United Kingdom in the 1960s to spread
English as global products. This view is supported by Kubota & Lin (2006)


5

that the difference between NESTs and NNESTs is not more related to
language characteristics than cultural orientation. Teachers labeled as „native

speakers‟ were erroneously idealized as being organised with the common but
misunderstood explanation of „individualist cultures‟ of the West while
NNESTs are classified to have defects in these properties following a
common but misunderstood explanation of „collectivist cultures‟ of the nonWest coutries. (Holliday 2005: 19, citing Kubota, Kumaravadivelu, Nayar,
and Pennycook) Houghton and Rivers, in their book Native-Speakerism in
Japan, expand the concept of native-speakerizm as “… prejudice, stereotyping
and/or discrimination, typically by or against foreign language teachers, on
the basis of either being or not being perceived and categorized as a native
speaker of a particular language…” (p. 14).
1.2. Definitions of native-speakers
Some people argue that defining what is native-speakers is not
necessary since “everyone is a Native Speaker of the particular language
states that the person has „grown‟ in his/her mind/brain. In the real world, that
is all there is to say” (Chomsky, 1965, quoted in Paikeday, 1985, p. 58). But
in ELT, it has been discussed for decades and has significant meaning
according to changes in perceptions and perceptions of native speakers.
According to Bloomfield (1933), the first language a person speaks is his
mother tongue. He is a native speaker of that language (p. 43). Nevertheless,

the „first‟ seems not the correct word all the time. It is often the case with
children who move to another county and slowly forgot the first language he
had learned. Nayar (1994) argues that native speakers “has the power to err
without a blemish in his competence”. Lee(2005) separated six attribues of a
native speaker from numerous scholars in second language acquisition field.


6

1. The individual acquired the language in early childhood (Davies, 1991;
McArthur, 1992; Phillipson, 1992) and maintains the use of the language

(Kubota, 2004; McArthur, 1992),
2. the individual has intuitive knowledge of the language (Davies, 1991;
Stern, 1983),
3. the individual is able to produce fluent, spontaneous discourse (Davies,
1991; Maum, 2002; Medgyes, 1992),
4. the individual is communicatively competent (Davies, 1991; Liu, 1999;
Medgyes, 1992), able to communicate within different social settings
(Stern, 1983),
5. the individual identifies with or is identified by a language community
(Davies, 1991; Johnson & Johnson, 1998; Nayar, 1998)
6. the individual does not have a foreign accent (Coulmas, 1981; Medgyes,
1992; Scovel, 1969, 1988).
The question is, in English education as a teacher, are these
characteristics important? since Phillipson argues that competence in
“demonstrating, fluent, idiomatically appropriate languages” are not
inderent but are made while proficiency is just one of many elements of
professionalism. (Pasternak and Bailey, 2004)
1.3. Non-native speaker teachers
1.3.1. Strengths
Llurda (2004) noticed that there is an increasing preference toward
NNESTs opposite for NESTs as a good teacher. Llurda explains this as
NNESTs know the process of learning a language since they have already
gone through, so they can instruct the learners better. Cook (2005)shares
Llurda‟s idea that because NNESTs themselves are excellent learners, so they
can be a good model and guide the students well. Cook continues in his later


7

study in the year of 2007 that if it is not the goals of language education that

making the learners speak as same as native speakers, NESTs and NNESTs
are at the same position. Actually, NNESTs have a higher position since they
are multilingual. Besides, NNESTs can empathize the leaners better and

knows better about learners needs and issues since the teachers are aware of
the situation. (Coskun, 2013, cited in Tajeddin & Adeh, 2016). NNESTs can
bring learners with a wide range of local accents and cultures as well as an
international culture which are desirable in the context of EIL. (Alptekin,
2002, cited in Tajeddin & Adeh, 2016). Furthermore, according to Doerr
(2009), because NNESTs recognize the local culture and local language used
in the country, their role is emphasized in the context of English as the
international language.

1.3.2. Weakneses
From the early study of Reves and Medgyes (1994), most of the
NNESTs think that they lack linguistic aspects such as “vocabulary, fluency,
and pronunciation”. Only few indicated that these difficulties in language did
not influence their teaching. About this point, the two authors recommended
that NNESTs need to know their own merits and aware that the differences
from NESTs and their own selves are reasonable and natural things.
Kim (2011) conducted study on the self-perception of NNESTs. The
result shows that NNESTs had low self-esteem as a result of influence of
native speakerism. They strongly think that native speakers can only become
perfect teachers. The biggest concern for them is the accent believing that
their accent is not the same as Standard English.
Overall, as the results of two Iranian scholars have mentioned,
NNESTs lack confidence and awareness of their roles and status compared to
NESTs. Therefore, a teacher education program is essential for teachers to



8

raise awareness. It is important to explain to the teachers that the main thing is
not about using English as a native language, but rather how to use the
language to connect with students and organize language knowledge.
(Tajeddin & Adeh, 2016) Two authors collected data from a questionnaire
and semi-structured interview of a total number of 200 NESTs and nonnative
English-speaking teachers(NNESTs) from the England and USA and found
out that NESTs insisted NNESTs aware of methodology of teaching well
while NESTs are confident in correcting language. Based on this, it seems
like believing native teachers are superior to NNESTs exists in NNESTs‟
mind.
1.4. Native-speaker teachers
1.4.1. Strengths
Park (2010) conducted a survey with 40 students of M middle
school in S city, 20 Korean teachers of English in S city and 2 NESTs on
NESTs. Korean teachers answered about the strenths of NESTs is indirectly
experiencing foreign cultures(52.8%) followed by giving motivation(25.0%).
NESTs responded improving communication skills(27.3%) and indirectly
experiencing foreign cultures(27.3%) as the biggest strenths. Most importanly,
the learners replied „indirectly experiencing foreign cultures(47.6%)‟ as the
most important strenths of NESTs.
In addition to perceptions about strenths of NESTs, the researcher
has found out

actual effectiveness. Kim & Han (2009) argued that

differences were found in the use of NESTs in middle school in all four
functions such as listening, speaking, reading and writing for the upper level
group of students. The differences were found only in the listening and

writing areas in the under-level groups and in the speaking area in the
middle group. At the same time, even though there was no statistically


9

significant difference in the effectiveness of NESTs according to the types of
cooperative class with Korean teachers, but the jointly- leading type was
more effective in the upper level groups and the NESTs leading type was
more effective in the lower level group. On the other hand, Jin (2006)

suggests a contradictory study, insisting that NESTs have little effect on
improving their confidence in English language learning. Taken all together,
studies by Hong, Kim, Lee and Jung(2009) reported that the results of
previous studies show that most of the studies related to NESTs have
attempted to measure changes in teachers' and students' perceptions and
attitudes. Only a small number of studies attempted to reveal the impact of
NESTs on students' English achievement and confidence in using English.
Morever, most of these studies have conducted case studies of some number
of classes or schools, and only describe the transverse phenomena at a
particular point in time.
1.4.2. Weakneses
Lee (2007a) pointed out about NESTs on a survey of NESTs and
NNESTs that the explanation of grammar is not logical as well as have a
language barrier with beginners so that they are rated low as a role to learners.
Kwak (2002) found out a problem when progressing classes that most of
students cannot understand uttering of native speakers. Kim (2006) compared
anxiety in Elementary school class with Korean and NESTs and the results
showed that the degree of anxiety felt by the candidate was higher in class
when with NESTs. Sthe study on the use of NESTs from Kim and Go (2008)

also indicated negative views on NESTs due to difficulties in managing
NESTS uncertainty of quality.
1.5. Professionalization in ELT


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There is not one, consistent definition of professionalism for teachers,
because the definition should reflect each nation‟s situation of society and
culture. In the early 1990s, the question was raised whether ELT
professionalism was considered less trained than other professionalism such
as doctors or lawyers (Maley, 1992). However, nowadays common
understanding of a teacher's professionalism is to recognize its importance.
Farmer (2006) indicates that professionalism considered desirable at ELT
throughout the world.
Many Asian countries expected NESTs to be professional and started
policies on recruiting NESTs to be a part of English education in public
schools. Japan has Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET Program),
Korean has English Program in Korea called EPIK, the Native Englishspeaking Teacher Scheme (NET Scheme) of Hong Kong, and Taiwan has the
Foreign English Teacher Recruitment Project (FETRP). Nevertheless,
Pasternak and Bailey (2004) state, among qualifications of professionalism,
proficiency is just one element, and other is preparation. It means, teachers
need to be trained. No one will argue that teachers with appropriate and
enough training will perform better than those who have had only short or no
training (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Malm, 2009). It is possible for some of
the NESTs may lack of proficiency or be a less known dialect. People can
develop and increase their proficiency. In other words, for the adequate
education, preparing a language teacher for proficiency and professional skills
is essential.
Summary

This chapter reviews the literature on the strengths and weakness of the socalled „native-speaker‟ teachers and those of non-native-speaker teachers in
ELT. Particularly, the chapter highlights the scholar views on native-


11

speakerism and professionalization in ELT. While the mythical superiotity of
„native-speaker‟ teachers of English remain to be pupular in many Asian
countries, including Vietnam, it is critical to investigate the experience of
South Korea so that other Asian countries can have a better-informed policy
regarding native-speaker teachers of English.
CHAPTER Ⅱ: METHODOLOGY
2.1. Qualitative research
This study is a qualitative research method which investigates people‟s
experiences, perceptions and reactions with policies on NESTs. (Creswell, 2015;
Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) It tried to give relevant suggestions for improving
policies on NESTs in English education in Korea as well as in Vietnam. There has
been little research on why the policies of NESTs has been changed, and expecially
most of suggestions have been focused only on domestic needs, not for international.
Therefore, qualitative research is more appropriate than quantitative research
because the goal is to explore new things. Two research methods; content-anaysis
and interview in qualitative research were used for the folliwing reasons. Firstly, the
researcher picked the content-analysis to get the most reliablity. Contents are
always re-readable and re-checked and the reasercher had choosen most of the
contents which goverment issued. The researcher needed to see policies that have
been changed throughout the time for a long time, so the content-analysis method
fits the nature of the study the best. It also fits the context of the researcher who
were out of Korea studying in Vietnam. Content-analysis methods enabled the
researcher to keep investigate whereever the researcher is. The disadvange of the
content-analysis is that if it is not written, it is difficult to analyze. To cover this

disadvantage, the researcher conducted an expert who are working in this field to
get an actual and realistic results. The researcher used convenience sampling
method (Creswell, 2015) in this study. As a person who is interested in English


12

education, the experience of working at the office of English department helped the
researcher to know an expert and interview with frankness.

2.2. Research questions
In an attempt to achieve the aims and objectives stated above, the
following research questions were addressed:
(1) How have the policies of recruiting native English-speaking teachers been
changed in South Korea?
(2) Why were those changes made?
(3) What Vietnam can learn from Korean experiences regarding Native
English-speaking teachers.
2.3. Research Instruments
As stated earlier, this study employed two instruments of data
collection : content-analysis and interviewing. The researcher investigated
from Ministry of Education and Seoul metropolitan office of education to
refer to the changes and reasons for the changes of policies on NESTs in
Korea. In addition, to see the public opinions for the policies over time, the
researcher used variety of internet newspaper articles. To closely look at the
actual case, the author conducted interviews with experts.
The aim of the content-analysis is to provide a complete, detailed
description of the changes of policies of recruitment of NESTs in South Korea
and reasons why those changes were made. The aim of an interview it to
provide the voices of the insiders, i.e. South Korean professionals working in

the field of ELT. A content-analysis and an interview were used to answer all
the research question (1) How has the policies of recruiting native Englishspeaking teachers been changed in South Korea? (2) Why those changes were
made? And (3) What Vietnam can learn from Korean experiences regarding
Native English-speaking teachers.


13

2.4. Research participants
The first expert participant for the interview in the study is currently
a director of an office of International Affairs at C university of Korea located
in Seoul. He had been working in this school since 2001 and mostly had
worked in the department of International Language Institute where in charge
of recruiting NESTs. This interview was conducted via an email (see
appendix 1), and the language used in the interview was Korean. The relevant
extracts of the interview were transcribed and translated into English for
analyses. The second expert partiipant for the interview is a current English
teacher at high school in Sangju, Korea. To avoid being biased, she was
selected to have an interview. She could give a more realistic responses since
she actualy meets students at the education field. This interview was also
conducted via email. (see appendix 1)
2.5. Data collection methods
The researcher investigated from Ministry of Education and Seoul
metropolitan office of education to refer to the changes and reasons for the
changes of policies on NESTs in Korea. In addition, to see the public opinions
for the policies over time, the researcher used variety of internet newspaper
articles. To closely look at the actual case, the author conducted an interview
with an expert.
2.6 Data analysis methods
Following table is the analysis model for this study.

Content-

Analysis of public

Analysis of an

Findings and

analysis

opinions

actual case

discussion

- Analyze

Analyze internet

Analyze an

Give

policies made

newspaper articles over

interview


suggestions

on NESTs

time focusing on

Analyze other


14

- Analyze

teachers/students/parents‟ country‟s cases

reasons for the opinion
changes
Table 2.1 Data analysis model
This study maninly adopted the content-analysis method. To answer
the three research questions, over 40 papers from Korea were read by the
researcher, all relavant data were abstracted, and analyzed according to the
passage of time. Since this paper wanted to show the changses of polices over
time, the researcher focused on each period of time. To not to omit any
necessary information which are fixed and historically fact, the researcher
cited data from Ministry of Education and Seoul metropolitan office of
education for the part 3.1.1 for legal status of NESTs, position of NESTs,
requirements to apply, types of visa, reqired documents to apply and salary
and qualifications of NESTs. To answer the second research question, the
author analyzed both content and interviews with two experts. Based on the
polices of each period of time, the author closed looked public opinisons of

parents, students and teachers. To avoid subjectivity, interviews were
conducted with two experts, not just one.
2.7. Summary
This chapter presents the research methodology that was adopted in
this study. Information about the research participant, methods of data
collection and methods of data analysis is also provided in the chapter. The
next chapter presents the results of the data analysis.
CHAPTER Ⅲ: FINDINGS

3.1. Content analysis
3.1.1. Policy documents on NESTs recruitments


15

1) The beginning of the polices on NESTs
The first time the official use of NESTs in Korean English education
dates back to 1966. According to Bae (1990), 200 members of the Peace
Corps from the United States taught English and reeducated English teachers
at secondary schools, teach English communication skills for students in
universities as well as staffs woking for professional organizations throughout
the country. It is said that they contributed a lot to English education in Korea.
Then, in 1992, the Korea-US Board of Education invited about 30 American
youth (who hold a bachelor's degree and under 30 years of age) to the
Fullbright Program for middle and high schools nationwide. Since 1994,
some metropolitan and provincial offices of education have been inviting
small-scale people who had graduated from universities in American (mostly
Korean Americans).
Since 1994, the policy of using NESTs was selected as the central
task of the Ministry of Education's Comprehensive Plan for Globalization

Education. It began on 31st of May in 1995 under the name KORETTA
(Korea English Teacher Training Assistants) and was renamed EPIK in 1996.
2) Policies on NESTs now
- Legal status of NESTs
Seoul Metropolitan of Education (2018) states that according to
Article 21 (Qualification of Teachers) of Elementary and Secondary
Education Act, teachers must be persons who are examined and received
qualification by the Minister of Education according to the Presidential
Decree. It is reasonable for NESTs to interpret it as an English Assistant
Teacher who assists Korean teachers. As the interpretation of the instructor
under Article 22 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Article
42 (1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act includes foreigners and assistants,


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the native teachers' assistant teachers are included in the Basic Plan for the
Implementation of Teacher Competency Assessment (Feb. 2, 2010) and are
classified as a lecturer by law.
- Position of NESTs
Status of NESTs in Korea are employee of the superintendent of
education. NESTs should accomplish a job at an assigned workplace and
cannot in involved in public decision-making as a civil servant and exercise of
public power. Types of employment of NESTs is temporary position. The
term of employment is based on one year, but it can be renewed on a yearly
basis by agreement, and can maintain the status as a NEST only during the
period of employment. NESTS are special employees who must perform all
of the given tasks such as processing cooperative classes with Korean
teachers, developing instructional materials and educational materials,
supporting for school education activities and other special activities

(including after school programs), instructing foreign language conversations
for Korean teachers and students, and carrying out other tasks designated by
employers. NESTs play a role as bridge between NESTs country and Korea.
NESTS will lead cultural exchange between country where he/she comes
from and Korea and will promote Korea to foreig countries as a pro-Korean.
- Requirements to apply for NESTs
As of 2018, candidates of NESTs were requested to meet following
requirements to apply for the job. Firstly, should have a nationality of nations
who speak English as a native language (Citizens). The nations include USA,
UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa (7 countries). If
the applicant has permanent resident permits as a Korean, this person must
provide record of being educated in the relevant country at least from 7th
grade and residing in that country for more than 10 years. In case of male


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candidates, contract should not be conflicting with the contract for military
service. Candidates should fluently use of proper pronunciation and standard
English for teaching English. Candidates also need to have a positive and
desirable personality who can adapt to Korean culture and life. Educational
background must be Bachelor's degree or above. More than 100 hours of
TESOL / TEFL or major in English education are preferred. In addition,
candidates should be healthy in body and mind. Lastly, candidates should be
qualified to obtain a valid visa (E2, F2, F4, F6)
- Types of visa for NESTs
Types of visa which are allowed to teach foreign language in
educational institutes are D2, E2, F2. F4, F5, F6, and A3. D2 D2 is given to
International student. To teach English, a person should acquire permission
outside the status of stay at the immigration office, and after six months of

enrollment, can be hired within 20 hours per week with the recommendation
of a guidance teacher. E2 is given to foreign language conversation instructor.
This person must have nationality of country where use that language as a
native language, and graduated from university in his / her country of origin
and obtained a bachelor's degree or higher (must issue alien registration card
within 90 days). F2 is for long-term resident to obtain permanent status.
Person who has stayed in Korea for at least 5 years with E2 visa status and is
living in Korea and recognized by the Minister of Justice. F4 is for overseas
Koreans. These people only need to report residence in Korea. F5 is Korean
permanent residents. This person does not need to acquire additional E2 visa
for teaching foreign language conversation. F6 is for a foreigner married to a
Korean. With F6 visa, this person does not need to acquire an additional E2
visa to teach English, but must renew it before visa expires. Finally, A3 is for
those by agreement with the government of the Republic of Korea (USFK,