The prompt : 

Critical Incidence Reflection (100 points): A critical incident needs not to be a dramatic event: usually it is an incident which has significance for you. It is often an event which made you stop and think, or one that raised questions for you during your practicum in Korea. It may have made you question an aspect of your beliefs, values, attitude or behavior. It is an incident which in some way has had a significant impact on your personal and professional learning. In the practicum context, a critical incident might include:

• an aspect of your work (e.g., observation, working with Korean EFL learners, working with teachers) that went particularly well

• an aspect of your work that proved difficult

• a piece of work that you found particularly demanding

• a piece of work which increased your awareness, or challenged your understanding, of social justice issues; or

• an incident involving conflict, hostility, aggression, or criticism (Fook & Cooper, 2003).

When analyzing a critical incident, it is useful to ask yourself questions such as:

• Why do I view the situation like that?

• What assumptions have I made about the student, teacher, or problem or situation?

• How else could I interpret the situation?

• What other action could I have taken that might have been more helpful?

• What will I do if I am faced with a similar situation in the future?

 

    As an American, I have never had any urgent need to learn a second language. Language for me was an interest, something exciting that most other people around me could not understand. I think it stems from my desire to be perceived as mysterious or to be secretive. I loved making new and strange sounds and having multiple ways to say one thing. Language for Europeans is something that is functional and convenient to know, since each country that speaks a different language is a lot closer in Europe. It is nowhere near as impressive to speak a second or third language in Europe compared to the USA. 

 

     I remember when my mom told her friends that I am learning Spanish and Korean, they would act like I was some sort of genius for it. Imagine their reaction when they heard I also started learning Japanese. Despite my low level in these languages, everybody around me has always made it sound so impressive. I have always kept a humble attitude about myself, so I never really thought that my language proficiency in Spanish, Korean, or Japanese was ever anything to “ooh” and “ahh'' about. I knew I was nowhere close to what I viewed as fluency, and that it would take a long time until I could reach that goal. However I am well aware that I know quite a bit of those languages, and I am confident in my classes when attempting to speak and communicate. I found that while the Korean students also contain this humble attitude about their English, they do not possess the same confidence that I have about my language ability. 

 

     Outside of English speaking countries English is a foreign language like any other, but it is much more important to have a native-like proficiency. Due to the importance of English as a worldwide language, there is a lot more stress put on knowing English. Many countries as well as Korea often idolize a native English accent and make English proficiency a requirement in school or for jobs. At first I was confused as to why so many students seemed to either struggle with English or be too shy or not confident with speaking with us. Some students would even be very proficient when speaking and still insist they are bad at English. After reading the articles in our coursework, I found the answer. However, that answer didn’t explain why some of them were still genuinely struggling with English. 

 

     I used to think that it really only took time and practice to learn any language. After a while your brain starts to understand and implement it. This is how babies learn language from birth to adulthood, with supplementary education from school. This is also how we learn new languages even as adults. When we learn slang; we hear it or see it, and then start to implement it in the seemingly correct way. The wonderful thing about already knowing a language when you try to learn another one, is the fact that you have to do less work to figure out meaning. You can use your first language to learn the second one. It is because of this that I never studied very hard when learning language, I would just consume tons of content with no expectation of understanding, and practice it every chance I could. This belief of mine is what made me wonder if it was the teaching methods that made learning English so difficult for these students.

 

      I learned Spanish actively for four years, Korean for two, and Japanese for one. I generally believe that my proficiency in Korean and Spanish are about the same, and Japanese is half of my Korean knowledge. This lines up pretty accurately with how long I have learned each language. Since I learned Spanish in highschool, the time spent actually learning is about the same as two years of language in University. When I heard that these students have been learning English since elementary or middle school, I wondered if English really was that hard of a language for Koreans to learn. I know it's hard for their pronunciation since some sounds in English do not exist in Korean, but I did not think they would have such a low speaking proficiency. 

 

       When I think about it, I think it is the combined difficulty of English, English pronunciation, and intense pressure to have a native level proficiency of English. I also think the extreme focus on education in general puts a lot of pressure on the students to the point where they are afraid of making mistakes. Making mistakes and correcting them when they happen is a very important part of learning anything, especially when it's language. They are so afraid to make a mistake that they would rather not try. This could be even worse if they are getting any punishment for making mistakes. 

 

       In this program I want to make sure the students know that making mistakes is good because then you have the opportunity to fix them. I will not be at the highschool long enough to make a long lasting difference on every student, but I will continue to give this advice, not just to the students but to everybody I can who is learning a language. I hope I will be able to find the disconnect between the Korean students and learning better English so they can achieve what they want to in the English Language. I doubt that the importance of English will subside in the coming years, so I want to help them in their English journey while I am around.