Half of students in elementary and secondary schools in Seoul fail to interact with foreign assistant teachers as most of them do not understand what the teachers say in English, a study showed on Sunday.

The study was based on a survey by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on 43,742 students, parents, English teachers and foreign assistant teachers in elementary and secondary schools in Seoul.

The survey found that about 50 percent of students have little interaction with foreign teachers, especially so for low achievers in English and high school students.

About 60 percent of students said they rarely talk with foreign teachers or limit their interactions to greetings.

However, more students interacted actively with Korean teachers, with 34.7 percent saying so compared with 31.9 percent communicating with foreign teachers.

Active participation in English classes conducted by Korean teachers was higher at 81.3 percent. Students who remained passive said that their main obstacle was that the classes taught by Korean teachers were difficult and not fun.

Students participating actively in English classes taught by foreign assistant teachers accounted for 76.9 percent, and those who do not took up 23.1 percent.

In English classes taught by foreign teachers, 32 percent of high school students said they were passive in class.

When asked about the ideal English teacher, about 53.7 percent of students picked Korean English teachers with high English proficiency and good teaching methods. They were followed by foreign assistant teachers with about 29.7 percent, and Korean teachers whose English skills are not high but who are good at teaching with about 16.7 percent.

According to the survey, students, parents and teachers believe that foreign assistant teachers contribute to improving students’ English proficiency and confidence, but the ability of Korean teachers should be strengthened by rigorous training if they are to substitute foreign teachers.

In Seoul, the portion of native speaking assistant teachers was 95.4 percent, the third-highest in the country after Jeju and Daegu. The rate is translated into about 760 students per foreign assistant teacher, according to the Education Ministry data on foreign English teachers in Korea.

Foreign assistant teachers cited the lack of knowhow among Korean English teachers in managing classes as the most difficult part of their job at 27 percent, followed by Korean teachers not used to cooperative work in designing curricula at 18.8 percent and misunderstandings due to cultural differences at 14.3 percent.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)