Enacted Curriculum of Private English Kindergartens in Korea: Cases of Three Play-Based English Kindergartens in Seoul
Enacted Curriculum of Private English Kindergartens in Korea: Cases of Three Play-Based English Kindergartens in Seoul
In South Korea where English is highly valued for one’s academic and career success, the English immersion programmes offered by private English tutoring institutes (English kindergartens) have become a popular alternative to general, Korean-medium kindergartens. In contrast to the highly prescriptive policy governing general kindergartens, the policy for English kindergartens allows for autonomy regarding their curriculum. Several existing studies, however, have pointed out the negative impacts of such free rein on children’s balanced development in English kindergartens, due to its strong emphasis on English proficiency development. This multiple-case study, however, reveals that it is the lack of flexibility that causes these consequences, which is brought by another policy that governs the English kindergartens, i.e. private institute regulations. Guided by policy enactment theory and drawing on policy documents published at the national and institutional levels and the interviews with the directors of three English kindergartens, this study documents their practiced curriculum and illustrates how unintended and unpredicted tension between policies inadvertently shapes the curriculum in play-based English kindergartens. It also shows how the directors navigate through the policy restrictions to realise their educational ideals. The chapter concludes with suggestions for the government on handling the parental aspiration for early English education.
Kim, Jeehee
fd59103c-dad2-4da4-b4ae-61665cc6bf5f
Choi, Tae-Hee
3cec7c93-92cd-4329-b0a7-3b208c65dcb7
2023
Kim, Jeehee
fd59103c-dad2-4da4-b4ae-61665cc6bf5f
Choi, Tae-Hee
3cec7c93-92cd-4329-b0a7-3b208c65dcb7
Kim, Jeehee and Choi, Tae-Hee
(2023)
Enacted Curriculum of Private English Kindergartens in Korea: Cases of Three Play-Based English Kindergartens in Seoul.
In,
Khan, Rubina, Bashir, Ahmed, Lal Basu, Bijoy and Uddin, Md. Elias
(eds.)
Local Research and Glocal Perspectives in English Language Teaching: Teaching in Changing Times.
Springer.
Record type:
Book Section
Abstract
In South Korea where English is highly valued for one’s academic and career success, the English immersion programmes offered by private English tutoring institutes (English kindergartens) have become a popular alternative to general, Korean-medium kindergartens. In contrast to the highly prescriptive policy governing general kindergartens, the policy for English kindergartens allows for autonomy regarding their curriculum. Several existing studies, however, have pointed out the negative impacts of such free rein on children’s balanced development in English kindergartens, due to its strong emphasis on English proficiency development. This multiple-case study, however, reveals that it is the lack of flexibility that causes these consequences, which is brought by another policy that governs the English kindergartens, i.e. private institute regulations. Guided by policy enactment theory and drawing on policy documents published at the national and institutional levels and the interviews with the directors of three English kindergartens, this study documents their practiced curriculum and illustrates how unintended and unpredicted tension between policies inadvertently shapes the curriculum in play-based English kindergartens. It also shows how the directors navigate through the policy restrictions to realise their educational ideals. The chapter concludes with suggestions for the government on handling the parental aspiration for early English education.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 3 March 2022
Published date: 2023
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 472558
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/472558
PURE UUID: eb6cec07-1869-4a11-98ba-a21bcc94dd6d
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Date deposited: 08 Dec 2022 17:31
Last modified: 08 Dec 2023 03:04
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Contributors
Author:
Jeehee Kim
Author:
Tae-Hee Choi
Editor:
Rubina Khan
Editor:
Ahmed Bashir
Editor:
Bijoy Lal Basu
Editor:
Md. Elias Uddin
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