earticle

영어

The purpose of this article is to approach Konglish, which is the Korean style broken English, from the perspective of nativism not from the behavioristic one. I view Konglish as a natural language development in the process of Korean’s acquiring English as a foreign language, which is very similar to the interlanguage development made by other foreign language speakers of English. To explain the features of Konglish in detail, I provide very specific reasons and examples via three aspects such as linguistic(L1 transfer), socio-psycholinguistic, and educational ones. According to my own experience and observation as an EFL learner and teacher educator in Korea, I suspect that Konglish is, by and large, due to the English language education at Korean public schools from K-12, including the curriculum, teachers, learning materials, and assessment methods. Based on the critical analysis of each of these factors, I offer several practically applicable ideas and solutions in order to change the current situation, bringing in a small paradigm shift for English language education at Korean public schools. In conclusion, I do not hesitate to strongly voice that Konglish is not a shameful and negative phenomenon made by L1 transfer over English but an active and positive sign for Korean speakers of English to develop their English communication skills.