earticle

영어

The purpose of this interview study is to report how six Korean primary school parents perceived Korean primary English education. Based on the data from interviews, the research uncovered five perceptions: (1) 2 parents perceived the importance of primary school students’ English learning very confidently, but 4 parents perceived it hesitantly; (2) they perceived that the best English learning methods were word memorization and talking/listening-based English learning; (3) two informants had very strong beliefs about how their children learn English while the other four informants were not very sure of their children’s English learning methods; (4) all but one informant were not clearly aware of the current primary school English curriculum; (5) five parents planned or wanted to send their children overseas to help their children learn English, but one parent did not want to sacrifice his family life for the sake of his child’s English education. The findings from this study of six parents’ voices on primary English education shed light on the urgent need for the education of parents on how to assist their children’s English learning at home, as well as on how to balance their children’s English learning and family lives. Further implications of the findings are also discussed.