Korean Learning Style

Traditionally, the teaching of English in Korea is dominated by a teacher-centered, book-centered, grammar-translation method and an emphasis on rote memory (Liu and Littlewood, 1997). These traditional-language-teaching approaches have resulted in a number of typical learning styles in Korea, with introverted learning being one of them. There, most students see knowledge as something to be transmitted by the teacher rather than discovered by the learners. They, therefore, find it normal to engage in modes of learning which are teacher-centered and in which they receive knowledge rather than interpret it. According to Harshbarger, et al (1986), Korean students are often quiet, shy and reticent in language classroom. They dislike public touch and overt displays of opinions or emotions, indicating reserve that is the hallmark of introverts.

The teacher-centered classroom teaching in Korea also leads to a closure-oriented style for most students. These closure-oriented students dislike ambiguity, uncertainty and fuzziness. To avoid these, they will sometimes jump to hasty conclusions about grammar rules and reading themes. This characteristic makes the learner to jump into self-understanding in a communicative exercise rather than require clarifications and connotations. Many Asian students are less autonomous, more dependent on authority figures and more obedient and conforming to rules and deadlines. They have further noted that the students insist that the teacher be the authority and are disturbed if this does not happen. That is why Korean students are reluctant to stand out by expressing their view or raising questions particularly if this might be perceived as expressing public disagreement. (Song, 1995)

Perhaps the most popular learning style originated from the traditional book-centered and grammar-translation methods. In most reading classes, for instance, the students read new words aloud imitating the teacher. The teacher explains the entire text sentence by sentence, analyzing many of the more difficult grammar structures, rhetoric and style for the student, who listen, take notes and answer questions. Not only in the class, most of the books published in Korean carry this characteristic.

Another characteristic of Korean learners is visual learning. In an investigation of sensory learning preferences, Reid (1987) found that Korean students are all visual learners. They like to read and obtain a great deal of visual stimulation. For them, lectures, conversations and oral directions without any visual back up are very confusing and can be anxiety-producing. It is obvious that such visual learning style stems from a traditional classroom teaching in Korea, where most of the teachers emphasize learning through reading and tend to pour a great deal of information on the blackboard. Students, on the other hand, sit in rows facing the blackboard and the teacher. Any production of the target language by students is in choral reading or a closely controlled teacher-students interaction (Song, 1995). Thus, the perceptual channels are strongly visual (text and blackboard), with most auditory input closely tied to the written form.

Closely related to visual, concrete-sequential, analytic and field-independent style are the thinking-oriented and reflective styles. According to Nelson (1995), Korean students are in general more overtly thinking-oriented than feeling oriented. They typically base judgment on logic and analysis rather than on feelings of others, the emotional climate and interpersonal values. Compared with American students, Korean show greater reflection (Condon, 1984), as shown by the concern for precision and for not taking quick risk in conversation.

Some Korean preferred learning style is concrete-sequential. Students with such a learning style are likely to follow the teacher’s guidelines to the dot, to be focused on the present, and demand full information. They prefer language learning materials and techniques that involve combinations of sound, movement, sight and touch and that can be applied in a concrete, sequential, linear manner. Some teachers observed Korean students using variety of strategies such as memorization, planning, analysis, sequenced repetition, detailed outlines and lists, structured review and a search for perfection. Some others like to follow rules and this might be a sign of being a concrete-sequential style.