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The government is to make the final decision on whether to substitute the English comprehension part of the College Scholastic Aptitude Test with a standardized English proficiency test often referred to as the "Korean TOEFL" in 2012. This is a climb-down from the original plan to introduce it in 2013.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced said that it will begin developing the new test from next year with the aim of implementing it from 2012.
The Education Ministry will test run the new test and decide whether to replace the existing English comprehension part of the CSAT in 2012. It also plans to give students a grace period at least until 2015, which means that changes to the CSAT will not be made before 2016.
The ministry said it will increase English classes in elementary school by one hour from 2010 and the number of teachers for English conversation in elementary, middle and high schools to 10,000. Critics say that it is not enough to produce a visible nationwide improvement in a short time.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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