A practicalities and experiences of being non-native english teachers in korea by sardor akramov. A student of

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A Practicalities and experiences OF being NON-NATIVE ENGLISH 
teachers in korea by SARDOR AKRAMOV . A student of 
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The purpose of this study was to investigated the perceptions held by 
South Korean students who study at the University of unvestet nomi of
NESTs (Native English Speaking Teachers) and NNESTs (Non-native 
English Speaking Teachers) in TEE (Teaching English through English) 
courses to examine strengths and weaknesses of NESTs and NNESts.
Furthermore, the researcher found what kinds of challenges Korean 
students encounter both before they have language skills, affective 
areas, and teaching behaviors.The results revealed that except for 
speaking ability, students did not express a strong preference for NESTs 
and they did have a preference in learning some specific skills. In terms 
of affective areas, students had a preference for NNESTs. In addition, 
there were differences in teaching behaviors of NESTs and NNESTs. 
These findings have valuable implications for NNESTs to improve their 
speaking proficiency The following studies were discussed in the 
literature review:.
Introduction 
There are more than 7,000 different languages used daily around the 
world, and Mandarin Chinese, English and Spanish are the three most 
widely spoken languages around the world (BBC, n.d.). The world-
renowned United Nations (UN) has designated six official languages: 
English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Arabic. English is one of 
the only working languages used by the UN Secretariat, and English is 
also commonly used in most business meetings (UN, n.d.). Additionally, 
the increasing number of international students coming over to English-
speaking countries shows how important the English language is all 
around the world. Furthermore, Swales (1987)found there were more 
than several million research papers and published articles written in 
English, and he expected that “English will remain the primary language 
of research” . Consequently, many countries which do not have English 
as a first language have invested for several decades much money and 

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effort into improving their English proficiency. In addition, these 
countries have sent large amounts of students to the following English-
speaking countries to learn English efficiently and effectively: the 
United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. South Korea 
is one of the countries described above, and one of the most 
prominent. The South Korean government puts large amounts of 
money toward English education and Native English Speaking Teachers 
as well as Non-native English Speaking Teachers. In addition, South 
Korean students not only study English for 2 numerous hours, but their 
parents are also willing to invest in their children by sending them to 
private English tutoring services and institutions. The cost of sending 
their children to these private schools is often more than half of their 
incomes. This kind of phenomenon could be hardly seen around any 
other Asian or European country.
The global importance of English education has significantly influenced 
the entire society of South Korea. As a result, having English proficiency 
is now essential for all Korean people who wish to successfully find a 
good job, improve social status, gain admission to the top universities 
in Korea, build a good career, and so forth.Interestingly, South Korean 
students spend the most amounts of time and money for their English 
education in the world, but their English proficiency is still lacking . As 
previously stated, the South Korean government has tried to change 
the English education structures and policies quite a few times, but it 
has still been struggle ingto improve the English proficiency of the 
whole country. These academic reforms, combined with the 
importance of English education, make South Korea best place for all.
The number of foreign residents in South Korea (hereafter Korea) has 
greatly increased in recent years, and these residents now face the 
challenges of life as newcomers to a traditionally homogeneous society. 
Among the various groups of foreign residents in Korea are foreign 
English teachers; people from inner-circle English countries (Kachru, 
1996) who find employment teaching English as a foreign language to 
Korean students. Such teachers are faced with the decision of whether 
or not to learn the Korean language. For an immigrant in Korea, Korean 

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language ability may be a useful form of social capital (Bourdieu, 1993), 
and help to bridge the divide that exists between them and the Korean 
majority community (Jun & Ha, 2015). It can also be a means of working 
against stigma, such as the preconception that foreign English teachers 
in Korea are culturally insensitive and boorish (Killick, 1995). Though a 
foreign English teacher may be well treated and live comfortably in 
Korea without learning the language (Gordon, 2012), may not be 
expected to learn (Bailey, 2010), and might be advised by colleagues 
(Waygook.org, 2011) not to demonstrate knowledge of Korean to their 
students, some nevertheless choose to learn, and some become highly 
competent speakers. The goal of this research was to explore the 
experiences of those foreign English teachers who have acquired a high 
competence in Korean by collecting and analyzing detailed narratives of 
their experiences, their challenges, and what they had sought and 
achieved through learning Korean. 
Research rationale 
While research on foreign English teachers in Korea has tended to focus 
on their work as language educators, this research examined their 
experiences as language learners, their interactions with native Korean 
speakers, and whether they felt that knowledge of Korean had 
provided them with social benefits, with a view to providing insight into 
the discourses that surround foreign teachers and the Korean language 
in Korea. 
More globalized Korea 
The Korean government has made a number of policy decisions in 
response to increased multiculturalism, decisions that Watson (2012) 
suggests have to be understoodin light of the discourse of Korean 
cultural and ethnic exclusivity. For example, while the Korean 
government has stated that: ‘policymakers need to be aware that 
migrant workers or spouses are not subjects that should be assimilated 
into this country but human beings who have different cultural 
standards’ (p. 239), Watson suggests that statements of this sort are 

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carefully crafted to avoid infringing on the idea of Korean ethnic 
uniqueness, whilst paying lip service to multiculturalism. Indeed, the 
Asan Institute for Policy Studies has suggested that a majority of 
multicultural programs in Korea are ‘culturally assimilating,’ in that they 
may focus on teaching Korean norms to foreign residents (Lee, 2014). 
Also, the Korean government has instituted a minimum Korean 
language competence standard for acquiring certain visas (Heit, 2010; 
Lee, 2010). Modern Korean society has complex relations to ethnicity 
and nationality, and a strong sense of the importance of homogeneity 
is in evidence. Groups that have been shown to experience 
discrimination in Korea include immigrant spouses from countries such 
as the Philippines and Mongolia (Lee, 2010), multi-ethnic public school 
students (Kim & Kim, 2015) and ethnically-Korean Chinese and 
American immigrants (Cho, 2012; Redmond, 2014; Seol & Skrentky, 
2004), though Korean immigration policy provides advantages in visa 
acquisition to immigrants of Korean ethnicity (Kim, 2008;Park & Chang, 
2005). This research presents the experiences of foreign English 
teachers, another minority and immigrant group in Korea, to contribute 
to this body of data.