Language Learning Styles and Beliefs of EFL University Students in Korea: Are They Really Stereotypical?

Abstract

The stereotype of Asian students as obedient listeners — whether or not it is a reflection of their actual behavior in class — does not reflect the roles they would like to adopt in class. They do not see the teacher as an authority figure who should not be questioned; they do not want to sit in class passively receiving knowledge; and they are only slightly on the agreement side that the teacher should have a greater role than themselves in evaluating their learning. (Littlewood, 2000: 33)¹

This quotation touches an important nerve in the field of language teaching in Korea, both in its use of the term ‘stereotype’ and in its highlighting of the cultural expectations that such stereotyping indicates. English language instructors in Korea quickly come into contact with truisms about the typical language learner which, on deeper examination, generally turn out to be based on hidden assumptions and lack of cultural and contextual understanding. According to these received truths, which tend to be inaccessible to critical examination because of their word-of-mouth transmission and therefore present an elusive target for anyone wishing to contest their validity, Korean students: (i) prefer grammar-/vocabulary-based rote learning to higher-order thinking (problem-solving, critical thinking, etc.); (ii) are passive absorbers of information, rather than active discoverers; (iii) are unable to use the target language; and (iv) have their ability for creativity and risk-taking burned out of them by a hierarchical, teacher-centered, test-driven, memory-based education system (Finch, 2004b).