An Analysis of the Needs of Korean EFL Learners in the Collegiate Level

With all efforts and resources poured into learning English, the outcome of English education in Korean universities is not satisfactory. This status quo requires reassessment of English syllabus in Korean universities. But, in order to redesign the English syllabus, the needs of student: what, how and why they want to learn should be identified. The result of this study indicates that the respondents feel, among the four macro skills of English, speaking and writing are as equally difficult skills to master. These were followed by reading and listening, respectively. Also as the goal of English learning, the respondents answered getting a high score in such tests as TOEIC and TOEFL. As the effective strategies to learn English, the respondents consider immediate correction of mistakes in speaking and writing and using English as a method of instruction to be effective learning methods. On the other hand, the usage of the Korean language to teach English and the intensive grammar classes are considered as unhelpful in English learning. The findings of this study suggest that the English syllabus in Korean university should include more communicative aspects of English Teaching


A social perspective of English education in Korea
Education in Korea has been facilitated through the use of the country's mother tongue. Korean language has been utilized as the medium of instruction in all educational levels, i.e. from kindergarten to graduate courses, in the teaching of subjects like Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education, Practical Arts, and even of the English language. While most people attribute the success of developed countries like Korea and Japan to their mother-tongue based approach to education, it can never be denied that the said approach has taken its toll on the English proficiency of the country's population. As the world changes into the so-called global world, with English serving as the universal language, Korea has done several changes to its educational system and practices in order to cope with this inevitable change. Before 1997, English was not contained in the curriculum of elementary schools. it was in their middle school that most Koreans began to learn English in the public school (Lee, 2015).
But the year of 1997 saw the change of policy. Korean government decided to teach English to the Elementary school students of the third grade on.
However, many parents were dissatisfied with the quality of English lessons in regular public schools, which was mainly due to the large class sizes and other factors. Since English is a key subject in the college entrance exams which called SAT, the unsatisfactory quality of English lessons in the regular public school forced many dissatisfied parents to send their children to private institutes where English is facilitated by a native speaker to learn English on their own expenses. Many children also have lived abroad for several years to learn English. Sometimes, Korean parents even choose to live apart to provide better environments to learn English with their children. A Korean father sends his children and wife to such countries as U.S., Australia and even South Asian Countries like the Philippines only to secure favorable settings for their children to learn English. Moreover, it is quite common for university students to stop attending their universities for a couple of years to go to English-speaking countries and study English. According to Korean-American Educational Commission, which is commonly called Fulbright, there are 61,007 Korean students in the U.S. (USECADMIN, 2016) and Korea has remained as one of the top student-sending countries in the U.S. for the last decade. Korean students at Harvard University are the third most after Chinese and Canadian (Harvard International Office, 2017).
Indeed, English has become the most important factor in finding job for the Korean university students. Almost all the Korean university students invest a lot of money and effort to master English. All these preparations are done with the goal of performing well in English proficiency tests like the Test of English for International Communication (TOIEC) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). A survey conducted by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy showed that, despite being one of the countries in Asia that spends the most money in English-language education, Korea ranks the lowest among twelve Asian countries in English ability (Billah, 2014).
In short, with all these time and efforts Koreans put into learning English, the outcome is far from being satisfactory. This renders a need to re assess and re design the English syllabus. In this paper, focused on the English education in college level, in order to re design the syllabus, the needs of students in learning English will be identified.

Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study is to examine the difficulties of the target population in learning the four macro skills of language education, as well as to identify their preferences in classroom instruction. Specifically, this study intends to answer the following questions: a. What is the current level of communicative ability in English of the target population? b. What are the objectives and motivations of the target population in learning English? c. What are the difficulties that the target population experiences in learning English, in general and in each of the macro skill? d. What teaching methods and personal learning strategies does the target population perceive as effective based on their previous English learning experiences?
This study hopes to provide answers to the above mentioned questions and eventually devised an EFL curriculum relevant and appropriate to the learning needs and preferences reflected by this study. In addition, with the construction of the EFL curriculum relevant to the needs of the respondents, learning modules will be devised in accordance to the devised curriculum's content and goals

Review of related literature
Specification of ends and means, as one of the stages in curriculum development, is crucial to the construction of a syllabus as well as to the selection of instructional activities appropriate, suitable, and responsive to the target population's nature, preferences, and needs. Several case studies on EFL learners have been conducted and through which, a comprehensive list of needs and learning preferences of EFL learners have been identified and put into consideration in the planning of a particular language instruction for a specific set of learners. Kocaka (2010) did an action research involving Turkish university students studying English at Anadolu University in Turkey. Similarly, the researcher identified the development of the speaking skill as the most urgent need that had to be given special attention in EFL language programs. Moreover, the research tried to identify the cause of oral communication deficiency and attributed it to anxiety due to "lack of vocabulary, grammar and syntax knowledge" and "lack of opportunity to use the target language in the surrounding environment" (Kocaka, 2010). Consequently, the researcher suggested the provision of more speaking opportunities in smaller groups in order to lessen instances of anxiety and also, the conduct of lectures on grammatical structures that the students can use in daily conversations such as collocations, e.g. making a change, spending money, and idiomatic expressions, e.g. hit the books (Kocaka, 2010). Kamonpan (2010) supported the results of the previous studies and emphasized the development of "speaking competence and confidence" of undergraduate students as a foremost concern of every language instruction for it is crucial to the "employability" of the students in the country (Kamonpan, 2010). The research was conducted among Thai undergraduate students at Silpakorn University, Thailand. The researcher pointed out that speaking and listening skills were usually intertwined in terms of language learning and development (Kamonpan, 2010) and therefore suggested the application of a variety of course activities, i.e. more exposure to listening through media, and seeking opportunities to speak in real situations (Kamonpan, 2010).
On the other hand, in Korean context, Rusina (2008) conducted a case study to twelve Koreans in the beginners' level and conducted a short modified International English Language Testing System (IELTS). IELTS is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for higher education and immigration purposes. Results of the study indicated that though the participants scored more than 90% in the grammar and vocabulary section, the same competence couldn't be reflected by their speaking marks which only ranged from 62% to 65% (Rusina, 2008). The researcher noted that these results reflected a "more typical profile for Korean learners" at the university (Rusina, 2008). These findings emphasized the fact that the grammatical and vocabulary knowledge of the EFL learners were not easily available to them for "communicative purposes" (Rusina, 2008).
Enumerating the causes of the inefficiency in Korean English teaching, Lee (2009) mentioned English Test oriented education, such as TOEIC, TOEFL, and lack of qualified English native speaking teachers, the big class size, and accommodating students of different English levels in the same class are the major factors that deteriorate the efficiency of English teaching in Korea.
Oh (2009) examines the current College English education program and suggests the way to improve the English education as a subject of general study in Korean universities. In this paper Oh(2009) emphasis the importance of setting well defined educational goal and to define a clear educational goal, the analysis on students' learning needs should come first.
Though based on the small number of participants, what Rusina found in her research shows some similarities with the findings of this study: The Korean EFL Learners encounter more difficulties in Speaking and Writing than Grammar and Vocabularies. Considering the year gap between Rusina's research and this study, it is clear that the EFL education in Korean universities still relies heavily on the grammar-translation method.

Questionnaire and data collection
Forty students of this study were asked to fill out a needs analysis questions which is composed of five parts namely: a. assessment of current ability in English, b. objectives and aims in learning English as a foreign language, c. difficulties encountered in learning English, d. preferences in teaching methodologies and personal learning strategies, and e. other suggestions that will be helpful in learning the target language.
Questionnaires were given to the students during the English class which is a required general study course for their graduation. Questionnaires were written in English to check the students' reading competency and for those who have difficulties in understanding the question, Korean translation was given on student's request. Data were collected by counting and accumulating the total number of answers to each question.

The target population
This study aims to identify the learning needs and preferences of Korean EFL learners in the collegiate level studying at a university in Korea. Currently, the majority of the English classes are conducted in the Korean language with focus on Test preparation putting emphasis on grammatical structure and vocabulary knowledge. The forty respondents in the study came from various courses as follows: Tourism, Police Administration, Nursing, Clinical Pathology, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Security Service, Sports Marketing, Deep Ocean Water (Marine Study), and Early Childhood Education.
The respondents' previous experience of studying English as a foreign language is shown in Figure 1. As can be seen, nearly 8 out of 10 respondents had studied English in regular public schools, which is not a surprising occurrence since it is mandatory for all Koreans to undergo education in public schools while private academies are optional yet considered as necessary supplementary forms of instruction.
While there are special private academies for English which are commonly taught by native speakers, English in public schools are commonly taught by Korean teachers using the Korean language. The form of instruction is commonly the grammar translation and audio lingual methods (Diem, Levy & Van Sickle 2008).
On the other hand, only 5 percent (5%) of the respondents had experiences studying abroad. This finding can be attributed to the fact that nearly eighty percent (80%) of the respondents are freshmen and have just graduated from high school. In Korea, High schools employ semester system, the first of which extends from March through July and the second from September through February.
Practically, the school calendar doesn't provide students with adequate time to study abroad not until they enter the university in which the school calendar usually runs from March to June and from September to December; thus, enabling students to have sufficiently longer time to undergo an English training course.

Results and discussion
Figure 2 plots the current English competence of the respondents whereby nearly fifty percent (50%) are in the high beginners' level.
The entry description for the high beginner's level is as follows: to have a limited volume of common vocabularies and expressions; to have the competence to manage limited, short conversations on a few predictable topics; survival level knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, and idioms; pronunciation heavily influenced by mother tongue.
The other entry level has gained relatively equal results with no respondent reaching the advanced level. These findings coincide with the distribution of the respondents as regards curricular level whereby 80% of the respondents are just in their first year. Moreover, these findings may be due to the fact that though Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been officially incorporated by Korea's Ministry of Education into the curriculum since 1997, its application has gone through several changes (Yoon, 2004). Yoon(2004) depicts how the emphasis on the English Curriculum has changed from grammar-oriented curriculum to fluency centered one and then back to grammar again (Yoon, 2004). He points out that an important factor restricting the use of CLT in Korea might be "the inappropriate choice of specific approach (Yoon, 2004)." Thus, despite the various attempts to put higher emphasis on communicative competence, the Korean syllabus appears to be dependent on grammar which had been found ineffective over the past years. In addition, since English is learned as a foreign language in Korean context, such results, in some circumstances, can be expected since students are somewhat deprived of the opportunities to use the target language in daily communication tasks.
In effect, this needs analysis hopes to provide a basis for a relevant EFL curriculum; thus, it is necessary to identify the learning goals and objectives of the student-respondents in order to choose appropriate learning activities in line with these goals. The topmost priorities of the respondents as regards learning goals are exhibited in Figure 3. As shown, passing qualifying exams, socializing with various nationalities, and having casual conversations are the top three goals of the respondents, respectively. The kind of motivation that Korean learners' have might have contributed to the above results. Han (2003) describes Korean learners' motivation as something "not driven from within", but from external factors such as parents, peers, and the examination system (Han, 2003). Moreover, this result is in line with another important phenomenon in Korean education system which is the "overwhelming focus for exams" (Han, 2003). The topmost concern for the Korean students throughout their schooling is to get a high score in the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) as well as in the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). It is likely that this practice has exerted an impact on the students' learning strategies. On the other hand, it is good to note that the respondents are beginning to place more value on the communicative and socialization purposes of the language rather than the external benefits that it may bring. The continuous emphasis on communicative competence as well as emerging desire of studying abroad tends to affect the shift in language learning and goals.

Figure 3: Respondents' Learning Goals and Objectives
In general, student-respondents identified speaking and writing as the most difficult skills to master, as shown in Figure 4. These are followed by reading and listening, respectively. This occurrence can be attributed to the productive nature of these macro skills whereby external outputs provides concrete evidences of one's competence. It is likely that difficulty in writing and speaking are experienced by learners who learn English by grammar translation method.
Yule (2006) examines the various methods of L2 learning and points out the common criticism for grammar translation and ascribes audio-lingual methods to its learners' inability to transform grammatical knowledge into practical use; thereby, making speaking and writing difficult tasks to accomplish (Yule, 2006).    1 and 1.2 shows a detailed description of the respondents' specific difficulties in learning English. As can be seen, in the area of reading, understanding the main points of a text, guessing unknown words in a text, and understanding a writer's attitude and purpose most likely gives the students a hard time in accomplishing a reading task. Lack of experiences in reading English texts might have contributed to the occurrence of these difficulties. Moreover, too much dependence on electronic dictionaries, in some circumstances, may have decrease students' ability to make assumptions as regards an unknown word's meaning based on context.
In the area of writing, using the appropriate vocabulary word and expressing clearly one's message tends to be the toughest task for the respondents. The inability to choose the appropriate vocabulary word despite rich lexical knowledge could be related to the overwhelming focus on semantic meaning within the Korean education system. According to Ellis (2005), there is an important distinction between the teaching processes required to develop semantic and pragmatic meaning. The former defines language as an object and can therefore focus on "discrete items (Ellis, 2005)" such as grammatical structure and purpose, whereas pragmatic meaning is tied to "actual language use in real situations (Ellis, 2005)" and how it functions as a means of "genuine communication (Ellis, 2005)". It is said that the best way to gain pragmatic competence is the constant use of the language. Efficient production of one's thoughts in the target language as well as pronunciation is most likely a difficult speaking area for Korean EFL learners. Despite the intensive focus on grammar in most Korean public schools, the lack of exposure to the target language hinders learners from achieving communicative competence. In addition, the difference between the native and the target languages might have contributed to the students' difficulty of acquisition. The Korean language itself is also so completely different from English, that the Korean learner may have special difficulties in language acquisition that are not shared by learners from other backgrounds (Dragut, 1998). Lastly, in the area of listening, understanding of lectures and casual conversations are depicted as difficult. Difference in the phonological system between the native and the target language tend to decrease the ability to distinguish words in utterances thereby hindering comprehension.  Table 2 plots the teaching strategies and personal practices perceived to be helpful by the respondents in learning English. As the table shows, immediate correction of mistakes in grammar and pronunciation and using English as a method of instruction are considered as the most effective teaching strategies by Korean EFL learners. It is good to note that these methods are prevalent strategies used in communicative language teaching (CLT) and immersion language programs abroad. Yule (2006) defines immersion as a method of language teaching in which the learners are "surrounded" by the target language through practical use (Yule, 2006). In addition, it is also good to note that the usage of the native language to teach English and conducting intensive grammar classes are considered as unhelpful in L2 learning. Apparently, Korean EFL learners, themselves, are starting to realize the value of communicative competence over pure grammatical knowledge. Similarly, as regards personal strategies, constant practice and ego permeability are considered very effective by nearly 80% of the respondents.
In the questionnaire, to the Question g. 'making myself understood even if I make a lot of mistakes,' about 90 % of the respondents answered it will be helpful. This finding is somewhat contrary to the common myth that Koreans are afraid of making mistakes in speaking English; thus they go through hardships in learning English. Unlike their former generation, the respondents show a flexible ego. This ego permeability is one factor that helps most language learners acquire a target language. According to Schuman (1986) a flexible ego can be defined as something that allows a learner to "lose oneself" in another language without the fear of using the target language incorrectly (Schuman, 1986). Moreover, the data also suggest the interest of the learners in the use of multimedia, i.e., movies, songs, as a medium of instruction.

Conclusion
The purpose of this analysis is to comprehensively examine the difficulties of the target population in learning the four macro skills of language education, as well as to identify their preferences in classroom instruction. The findings gathered are somewhat expected and typical in foreign language learning. In addition, it is also affirming the realities observed in Korean EFL classrooms. The results of the study indicated the English competence of the respondents were in the high beginners' level. High beginner's level was described as knowing a limited number of common words and expressions; being able to manage limited, short conversations on a few predictable topics; having a survival level knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, and idioms; observing pronunciation heavily influenced by mother tongue. As regards learning objectives and goals, the topmost priorities of the respondents were as follows: passing qualifying exams, socializing with various nationalities, and having casual conversations. Moreover, respondents identified speaking and writing as equally difficult skills to master. These were followed by reading and listening, respectively. Specifically, in the area of reading, understanding the main points of a text, guessing unknown words in a text, and understanding a writer's attitude and purpose most likely gave the students a hard time in accomplishing a reading task. In the area of writing, using the appropriate vocabulary word and expressing clearly one's message tended to be the learner's waterloos. Production of one's thoughts in the target language as well as pronunciation was most likely a difficult speaking area for Korean EFL learners. Lastly, in the area of listening, understanding of lectures and casual conversations were depicted as difficulties. In order to improve these difficulties, the respondents' perceptions on various teaching methods and strategies were sought. Immediate correction of mistakes in grammar and pronunciation and using English as a method of instruction were considered as the most effective teaching strategies by Korean EFL learners while the usage of the native language to teach English and the conduct of intensive grammar classes were considered as unhelpful in L2 learning. As regards personal strategies, constant use the language without fear of making mistakes and multimedia were deemed as the most beneficial personal language learning strategies.
Based on the above mentioned findings, a language program mapped out through a well-planned and suitable EFL syllabus is to be suggested. The analysis suggests a language syllabus that integrates the four macro skills with focus on the development of the production skills, i.e. speaking and writing should be developed and applied to enhance the English competency of university students.
Considering the noticeable interest of students in various forms of media, a movie-themed learning material and a SNS-based learning program are also highly suggested. With the advancement of multimedia devices such as smartphones and other mobile devices, Korean students can have easier accesses to those multimedia learning environments than before, which can be utilized to provide them with more opportunities to be exposed to English speaking world.
Moreover, it would be best to use English as a method of instruction and provide adequate opportunities for students to use the target language. Since the fact that English would always be a foreign language in Korean context, providing at least two months of stay in countries where English is spoken is highly recommended. In this way, the learners will experience "immersion" in the target language through its communicative use.
In addition, the teaching of grammar should not be taken in isolation; rather, it should be incorporated into the whole language lesson via reading selection or lesson's theme, and grammatical structures to be taught should be communicative in nature.