This study examined native-speaking English teachers’ pedagogical knowledge through the analysis of transcriptions of videotaped lessons and interviews with six novice English teachers teaching at middle schools. The goal was to discover what pedagogical knowledge these teachers have and how the knowledge was represented in the form of instructional actions. The dominant categories of the teachers’ instructional actions were repetition of input and instructions. Hence, there were a lot of repetitions of input which seem to come from behavioristic perspectives of language learning and teaching. Also, there were lots of teacher-initiated questions and directives to elicit responses from the students. The primary way of clearing the meaning of the text was translation. The findings indicated that the native-speaking teachers’ pedagogical thought are mostly pertinent to general educational knowledge not about language learning and teaching. In addition, the novice teachers’ pedagogical knowledge deduced from pedagogical thoughts leaned towards heavily to ‘Handling language items’ while experienced teachers in Gatbonton’s (2000) study displayed no dominant category. Implications for teacher training were discussed.

The present study investigated native speaker teachers’ beliefs about learning and teaching English in the Korean university setting. Despite the great influx of native speaker teachers into the Korean English education system, relatively little research has been carried out on teachers’ perspectives on learning and teaching. Considering the significant impact of teachers’ beliefs in the classroom, this study investigated the sources of teachers’ beliefs, their beliefs about learning and teaching, and their beliefs about teacher roles in the second language classroom. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with eight native English speakers who were teaching at the same university. The findings showed that the teachers believed students’ active participation was the key to successful second language learning. It was shown that the teachers’ beliefs were closely associated with their prior learning experiences and that differences in the learning experiences between the teacher and students may cause difficulty in the second language classroom. These findings suggest the importance of teachers’ awareness of students’ learning experiences and the need to negotiate within the given teaching context without completely giving up teachers’ own beliefs about learning and teaching a second language.

The purpose of the study was to explore the reflective process of pre-service English teachers by analyzing critical incidents entered in their teaching journals during a fourweek student teaching practicum. Thirty-three student teachers were asked to report critical incidents in their journals once a week, especially focusing on „lesson breakdowns‟ or „events that deserve critical significance‟ during a lesson. 133 journal entries were collected and a total of 104 critical incidents were analyzed to see some aspect of secondary classroom teaching and the reflective processes that student teachers went through right after the incidents. From the content analysis, it was found that many critical incidents happened during the initial stage of lesson and were mostly caused by student teachers‟ lack of experiences in either time management or material preparation tailored to students‟ level. By describing and analyzing critical incidents, student teachers became more aware of their assumptions about language teaching and learning and tried to transfer knowledge into real practices. A survey administered after the practicum also revealed that self-observation of critical incidents in their own classroom helped them to generate powerful insights about teaching and to develop reflective teachers.

This study investigates secondary school English teachers’ perceptions and psychological burdens involved in the implementation of the speaking and writing tests of the National English Ability Test, which is being developed by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The study surveyed 138 secondary school English teachers in Seoul. Although more than half of the teachers were aware of the new test, 18% of the surveyed teachers were not aware of the fact that speaking and writing skills would be assessed in the new test. Also, 22.7% of the teachers were opposed to the productive skills test. More than half (56.2%) of the teachers felt some psychological burdens toward the inclusion of the speaking/writing tests. Although the teachers admitted that serving as raters for the new test would help improve their teaching, the majority of them were reluctant to participate in the actual rating process. The teachers felt that the difficulty of subjective rating and the lack of time for the speaking and writing tests were serious problems in implementing the new test. The teachers were sensitive toward the students’ test anxiety. They also indicated that they feel a strong psychological burden when making judgments on the students' performances. Implications and suggestions are made based on the findings.

The purpose of this study was to explore the co-teaching experiences between native and non-native English teachers in the Korean elementary and secondary school context. Research data included classroom observations and teachers’ interviews collected over one school semester. A constant comparative data analysis method was employed to provide an in-depth description of the co-teachers’ teaching practice, the aspects of their interactions, and their professional development in a classroom setting. The findings of this study revealed that the co-teaching styles and role distributions in the co-teaching process were different depending on the non-native teachers’ English proficiency and their professional relationships. It also suggested that the successful implementation of collaborative team work was deeply related to the participating teachers’ willingness to cooperate and conceptions created by the dynamics of interaction between the two teachers in and outside of the classroom. Given the research result that both native and non-native teachers benefitted from their co-teaching experiences, some pedagogical implications on the improvement of co-teaching English in Korean classrooms are proposed.

The Korean Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology has made strenuous efforts to improve the quality of English education in public sector. One such attempt is a long-term, intensive teacher training that began in 2007 to facilitate teachers' ability for teaching English in English (TEE). This initiative has expanded over the years such that the number of training institutions has increased to 22 in 2009 to serve growing numberof trainees. This development is not without problems as there is a lack ofconsistency in curriculum, course content, quality of instructors, and overseas training among these institutions. This study aims to check the current status of various teacher training programs and suggest ideas for enhancing the quality of the programs. For the purpose of the study, questionnaires were administered to 900 English teachers to have themevaluate the training programs they had participated in. The findings from 449 respondents showed that most teachers were satisfied with their training programs. These teachers felt that the training programs helped to promote both English skills and teaching skills. Yet, they expressed some concerns about unbalanced curriculum, lack of follow-up service, inefficiency ofoverseas training, etc.

The present study explored the experiences of six elementary teachers as they had strived to develop expertise in teaching English since it was introduced as a regular subject in 1997. The focus was on what they have done for their professional development, what they perceive to have influenced on the acquisition of expertise, and how they reflect on their professional growth over time. Two rounds of life story interviews were conducted with each teacher, and they were all recorded on digital audiotape and transcribed verbatim. Interviews centered on uncovering teachers’professional histories, teacher education experiences, past and current work with children, conceptions of themselves as an English teacher, critical incidents in their teaching careers, and their future career plans. Five themes emerged from the content analysis of the interview data. They include teacher development as social development; the unique challenges of being and becoming an English teacher; learning for and from students; developmental concerns and needs in teachers’ career cycle; and the impact of policy changes on teachers. The study concludes with some implications for educating in-service teachers.