This study compares the phonics instruction with the whole language approach to literacy instruction in elementary English education and investigates the effects of the two approaches on literacy skills and affective factors. The experiment was conducted over eight weeks by sampling 56 fifth-graders at an elementary school in Seoul. The control group was given phonics instruction using English stories, whereas the experimental group was given the whole language approach using the same English stories. The instruments included pre- and post-reading and writing English tests and pre- and post-questionnaires. The analyses showed that the whole language approach had more positive effect than phonics instruction on improving learners’ English reading and writing ability. Furthermore, the whole language approach showed a positive change in the affective domain of interest, self-learning attitude and recognition, whereas two sectors of self-confidence and learning motivation did not show statistically significant difference compared to the control group. These results suggest that the whole language approach is more efficient than phonics instruction in developing learners’ literacy in elementary English education.

This study investigated spelling errors in English stories written by 206 students in an elementary school implementing Korean/English immersion education. Errors were analyzed using crosstab and MANCOVA. Findings are as follows. Spelling errors occurred in 4 categories in order from the most frequent to the least: substitution, omission, addition, and transposition. The error occurrences differed depending on grade level changes: lower grades (Grades 1-3) vs. higher grades (Grades 4-6). The students in both grade levels made more errors in substitution and omission: these error types were significantly decreased as they progressed to the higher grade levels. Errors in addition and transposition showed much fewer occurrences for both grade levels, and these errors did not show a significant decrease because of their rarer occurrences. Overall, the students’ spelling ability increased remarkably as they progressed in grade levels in the immersion environment.

This study explores an exemplary case of an English immersion program originally initiated by some primary school teachers. It investigates how an immersion education was initiated by the members of an English teachers" study group and later supported by a provincial office of education. The contents of the program and the three examples of immersion classes are briefly illustrated and commented. The innovative endeavors for the successful execution of the immersion classes include the use of the daily morning English practice and various ways of exposing students to English. It was found from the interview conducted with 5 immersion teachers that the strong motivation of the immersion teachers was the first empowering factor for this program and the appropriate financial and administrative help from the provincial office of education was another crucial one. Several practical problems from implementing the immersion program are also reported. From these results and findings some suggestions are made for better ways for implementing immersion programs in elementary schools.

This study describes the development principles of the Elementary English Digital Textbook (MEDT) and provides suggestions for the future development of English digital textbooks based on the evaluation of MEDT contents. With these purposes, the study firstly presents relevant theories about the instructional design, e-learning strategies, second language acquisition, and English teaching theories to investigate on what theoretical foundation the MEDT was developed. It then examines how the MEDT integrates and incorporates new technologies such as speech recognition, automatic writing scoring system, games, flash animation, and digital storytelling into a wide variety of English learning activities such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Thirdly, the study reports the learners" and experts" evaluations of MEDT with respect to contents, learning activities, interest, levels, and technological functions. Lastly, based on the evaluation of the MEDT, some suggestions are made on the effective use of MEDT for the implementation of enhanced, high-technological, and motivating English learning environments in Korean elementary schools.

This study investigates elementary school parents’ perception concerning the starting age for early English education. Four hundred and eighty-four parents located in Seoul and Kyonggi province areas participated in this study. The questionnaire for exploring parents’ perception was used and the major findings revealed that: (1) the children who started to learn English before the official school year tend to learn English from native speakers of English; (2) about 90.9 percent of children learned English before the third grade of elementary school; (3) most parents reported that the proper starting age for learning English is 5 or 6 years although they perceived that it was not an important factor in enhancing their children’s English proficiency. These results indicate that the current status of early English education should be restructured to meet the parents’ perception and needs. Major implications will then be discussed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between MI and web-based learning in elementary school English education. For this purpose, this paper first examined MI and instructional models of web-based learning, which was based on constructivism. In order to verify the effects of this experiment, we proposed a web-based English learning and teaching model and applied it to the 5th grade students in an elementary school. After the experiment, we analyzed the effects that MI affects students' English achievement. The results of the study were as followings. First, students' intrapersonal intelligence, linguistic intelligence, musical intelligence, and spatial intelligence had a positive effect to their English achievement. Second, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, and interpersonal intelligence did not have a positive effect on their English achievement. This study indicates that all kinds of multiple intelligences should be thoroughly considered when we design and practice web-based English learning and teaching models.

English language teaching in elementarγ school was proposed and is now in practice on the basis of the Critical Period Hypothesis which is also theoretically supported by innatists who argue that UG begins attrition around puberty and that language acquisition becomes increasingly difficult beyond this period. This was proved true of first language acquisition and naturalistic SLA, but no evidence has been known about instructed second language leaming in formal education. Elementary school ELT is supported by some parents who wish their children to leam this world language effectively, but the educational environment is far from utilizing the leamers' UG: few teachers are capable of providing authentic input, so the leamers depend on their general intelligence and leaming strategy rather than UG. It is suggested that high school age is optimum for utilizing leamers' motivation, intelligence, and leaming strategy.