The purpose of this study was to explore how English teachers perceive the appropriateness of the quantity and level of content in the 2015 Revised National English Curriculum. In order to evaluate the appropriateness of the modified curriculum, a survey questionnaire was administered to English teachers at elementary and middle schools across Korea. Teachers and university professors were also consulted for guidance regarding the appropriate quantity and level of content. According to the survey results, both elementary and middle school teachers believe that the quantity and level of content are mostly appropriate for students. However, responses related to the appropriateness of achievement standards for reading and writing were less positive than those for listening and speaking for children in elementary school grades 5 and 6 and middle school grades 1 to 3. In general, methods of optimizing reading and writing content in the English curriculum are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to find out what characteristics of the communicative functions are presented and how these functions are reflected in the elementary school English textbooks based on the 2015 Revised National Curriculum. For this purpose, 20 elementary school English textbooks(5 different textbooks from the third to sixth grade) are analyzed and compared. For data analysis, 11 upper categories and 77 subcategories of communicative functions presented in the 2015 Revised National Curriculum are used. The results represent that first, no grade contains all 11 upper categories of communicative functions in the textbooks. Second, the communicative functions presented in the textbook have a wide variation in the frequency of presentation among the upper categories and subcategories. Third, there are no textbooks that reflected all 77 subcategories of communicative functions, and the degree of reflection in each textbook differs. This study suggests that more various examples are needed and organized in the textbooks in order to foster learners’ basic communicative competence, and connectivity and continuity of communicative functions among grades should be considered when organizing textbooks.

Hyunsong Chung. 2017. A Diagnostic Review of English Pronunciation Teaching Based on the Analysis of the 2015 Revised English Curriculum and English Textbooks. Studies in Modern Grammar 96, 191-212. In this paper, we discuss the goal of English pronunciation teaching in Korea and how to elaborate the elements of English pronunciation teaching in the national curriculum based on the analysis of the 2015 revised English language curriculum and English textbooks. We suggest that the elements of English pronunciation teaching should be explicitly and properly specified for all the levels in the curriculum including primary and secondary levels. The activities in the classroom should combine task-based controlled practices in pronunciation with communicative activities. Phonetic symbols in the textbooks should pursue IPA conventions and be consistent. It is necessary to continue the discussions and conduct researches on pronunciation teaching in the national curriculum so that the results can be positively reflected in the future revision of the English curriculum.