A Better Path to English

Korea is making a very serious mistake in emphasizing speaking in English class ("Speaking to get more weight in English class," Jan 21). Research done over the last three decades has shown that we acquire language by understanding what we hear and read. The ability to produce language is the result of language acquisition, not the cause.

Forcing students to speak English will not improve their ability to speak English. The best way to improve speaking is therefore to increase the amount of comprehensible listening and reading that students do, and the easiest and most cost-effective way to make this happen is to develop libraries of interesting and comprehensible English books and recordings to supplement English class. Setting up libraries would be far more efficient than bringing in expensive foreign teachers and setting up English camps.

I hope policy-makers will consult the extensive research on second language acquisition, some done by Korean scholars, and consider easier, better and less costly ways of improving English in Korea.

Stephen Krashen