THE amount of money spent on South Koreans' quest to master English was 15 trillion won (US$ 15.9 billion) last year, according to a report entitled "The Economics of English".
The study has been released by the Samsung Economic Research Institute in South Korea. It showed that around 14.3 trillion won (US$ 15.2 billion) was used for private English studies such as "hagwon" (a sort of school where Korean students go for extra study) tuition and private tutoring. Another 700 billion won (US$ 0.7 billion) went for test application fees including TOEIC and TOEFL.
The total amount took up 1.9 per cent of the nation's GDP and 47.5 per cent of its annual education budget. But this large sum of money does not produce effective results, the report says.
The Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development ranked South Koreans' English skills 35th out of 61 countries. The Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), a consulting firm in Hong Kong, pointed to South Korea as the country where communication in English is the most difficult among 12 Asian nations.
South Koreans themselves do not think their practical English skills are good. A survey conducted in 2003 indicated 74.2 per cent of Seoul citizens said they have difficulty communicating in English or hardly speak the language.
To maximize the effect of the great investment in English studies, the Samsung Economic Research Institute suggested teaching general subjects including maths and science in both Korean and English in schools, or increasing related events such as English presentations and plays.
"Students should have more chances of using English besides in class, such as English storytelling or participating in English-language plays," a researcher at the institute said.
The report urged universities to attract more foreign students and raise the proportion of lectures in English. It also recommends setting up a trial region where English is used as a common-use language.
