Understanding the Importance of English Education in South Korea and Exploring the Reasons Why South Korean Students Come to a University in the Midwest

Recommendation for Future Research 
Recommendations for future research included: 1) developing English speaking 
skills in Korean students needs more careful; 2) greater attention to how Korean student 
can build relationships with American cultures and students by American universities 
needs to be studied; 3) non-degree seeking students need more international 
programming to use their limited time in the USA learning English more efficiently. 

---

95 
Through this study, the researcher reviewed the English educational environment 
in Korea and America and determined that the society of South Korea surprisingly places 
much weight on English proficiency for all South Korean students. In addition, the 
researcher found that the majority of the 30 Korean interviewees strongly believed that 
the English educational environment in Korea is poorly developed and only focuses on 
English grammar, reading, and vocabulary skills through the entire public and private 
educational system in Korea. The Wall Street Journal recently stated that typical South 
Korean students spend more than 20,000 hours on English education from kindergarten 
to university (Kim, 2013). In addition, according to Kim (2013), “In a recent English 
Proficiency Index Survey of 60 countries worldwide by EF Education First, South Korea 
ranked 24
th
” (para. 7). Due to the ineffective and inefficient structure of English 
education in South Korea, the researcher wants to further study how the society of South 
Korea starts restructuring an effective and efficient way of teaching English. Especially, 
it could be a good way for American educators and professors who received English as a 
Second Language (ESL) certificates and teach ESL courses in America and Korean 
English teachers and Korean professors who teach English courses in South Korea to 
work together and research how to restructure the South Korean English educational 
system significantly.
The future research needs to focus on finding the data from Korean students who 
study and learn English at the other American colleges and universities. This research 
study is only focused on UNK, so it will be beneficial for all higher educational 
administrators to know about the other reasons Korean students come to the other 

---

96 
American colleges and universities. In addition, there were two different groups of this 
research study’s interviewees, non-degree seeking students and degree seeking students.
Therefore, the future research would like to focus on one specific group, either non-
degree seeking students or degree seeking students, and the researcher will be able to find 
out different perspectives of learning and studying English and motivations to come to 
the United States.
As described above, it seems that the majority of Korean students have a lack of 
English communication, English listening skills, English vocabulary, and English writing 
skills. Moreover, it has been really challenging for Korean students to learn English in 
the United States because they are not able to build a strong relationship with American 
students and the local community members. Through this study’s findings, the behavior 
of Korean students is to frequently hang out with Korean students while they attend UNK.
As a result, the future research wants to determine how to help South Korean students get 
connected with American students and the local community members. In addition, the 
researcher would like to find an American college or university which has successfully 
resolved the above difficulties in the future study.

---

97