The purpose of the present study is to learn about English conversation instructors, in particular, to find out (1) who they are; (2) how they cooperate with English teachers at schools; and (3) what needs they have to serve better as English teaching staff at schools. An online survey was administered to all English conversation instructors at elementary and secondary schools in Korea. Around 4,630 English conversation instructors- 2,920 at elementary schools and 1,710 at secondary schools- participated in the study. The collected data were analyzed: (1) to describe the characteristics of English conversation instructors; (2) to examine how they are sharing teaching duties with English teachers; and (3) to assess the needs for their competency development. The needs of English conversation instructors were analyzed by calculating the gap between the current competence and the expected competence. The difference of English conversation instructors competence development needs at the elementary level and at the secondary level were then further analyzed through Analysis of Variance. The results of this study can be used as basic data to establish the training system for English conversation instructors’ competence development.

It recently became evident that the EFL needs of secondary school students could not be met by the then-current complement of teachers. This led to an increase in the number of Conversational English Instructors in the public school system. This growing demand for EFL instructors in our nation‟s public schools requires an obligation to examine the selection criteria and process for incoming EFL instructors. Based on our analysis of a nationwide survey of EFL Instructors, we recommend reforms to the selection process system. A total of 199 EFL instructors in secondary schools including those in Seoul, metropolitan cities, medium-sized cities, and small communities participated in the main survey. The survey considered the entire EFL Instructor selection process including the 1st step of applicant specifications, the 2nd step of teaching-learning performance test and interview test. Our analysis suggests that the selection criteria should include the applicant‟s proficiency test score in spoken and written English, and the teaching-learning performance should be emphasized in a greater extent. This research suggests that the way of testing the applicants‟ teachinglearning performance in the 2nd step selection process should be changed into a more authentic microteaching situation, and that regional needs vary and must be considered in the selection process.