by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
Can an American score higher than two South Koreans on the English-language portion of a Korean college entrance exam?
American expat Dave decided to find out and took a mock exam with his Korean colleagues, Jin Ho-hyun and Jeong Hyo-sun, who both scored higher than 90 percent on the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC).
The test, which should have been a cakewalk for a native English speaker like Dave, revealed some surprising results. While Dave barely passed the English-language exam with a 76, the Korean test-takers scored a 96 and a perfect 100.
However, when Dave tried to speak to Jin and Jeong in conversational English, neither of the two Koreans were able to comprehend or respond to his questions.
“Even if we score perfect on tests, in front of foreigners, the reality is that we can’t even utter a single word,” Jeong said in Korean. She added that she wished she could speak English more proficiently instead of performing well on written exams.
Most South Korean companies hire recent college grads based on their TOEIC scores, according to the Korea Herald. Large conglomerates such as Samsung, LG, Hyundai and CJ require job applicants to have a minimum TOEIC score of 720, although many students say a 900 is the benchmark for employment eligibility.
In 2013, South Korean parents spent more than $18 billion in private education to give their children an advantage in the college entrance exam, particularly in the English-language section.
According to EF Education First, a Swiss-based language learning company, South Korean students receive about 20,000 hours of English education from kindergarten through college. However, these long, rigorous hours of studying do not necessarily translate to English proficiency.
“A lot of my friends who are studying TOEIC/TOEFL have trouble with basic conversation, which is why I created this video experiment in the first place, to see the contrast between testing ability and speaking ability in English,” Dave told the Korea Observer.
“They have spent years practicing and honing their test taking skills, memorizing hundreds of words at a time, and it’s come to a point where an English question is no different than a simple puzzle to a lot of the students.”
See Also
South Korean and Japanese Students Talk About English-Language Education
SAT Cheating Investigation: The Latest Scandal in SKorean Education
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