The purpose of this study was to investigate the lasting effects, if any, of elementary English education on middle school English education in terms of students' responses on the survey items. For this purpose, nation-wide questionnaire-based survey ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the lasting effects, if any, of elementary English education on middle school English education in terms of students' responses on the survey items. For this purpose, nation-wide questionnaire-based survey was conducted three times once in 2001 and twice in 2002 onto first-year middle school students. It was found that elementary English education has had both positive and negative effects on middle school English education. The positive effects were found mainly in such areas as students' attitudes to and interest in English, the learning of listening skills in English, and classroom activities. On the other hand, the negative effects were found in grammar and writing of English, apparently due to the lack of continuity between elementary and middle school English education. Students found the content of the textbooks too difficult and bulky for them to comfortably handle. This may be attributable to problems in the timing of the implementation of the new curriculum and, accordingly, of the textbooks. This is seen as one of the main reasons for the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of English language teaching in Korea. Finally, it is suggested that the balance between the teaching of spoken English and that of written English should be redressed.