한국의 영어평가의 발전과 현황과 과제

The development, current status, and future missions of English language assessment in Korea

This paper reviews and discusses the development and current status of English language assessment in Korea and presents some missions for English testing professionals. This paper first reviews the development of college entrance examinations, noting that they had traditionally focused on vocabulary, grammar, and reading before the introduction of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), which emphasizes communicative competence and introduced a listening comprehension section. The paper then discusses English language testing in school settings. The national curriculums had not put much weight on testing prior to the 2011 curriculum. As for English language assessment in Korean society, the paper describes the extraordinary fever for English language testing by the general public. Next, several issues surrounding English language testing in Korea are discussed, including the government’s control of the difficulty level and content of the CSAT, the National English Ability Test, and productive skills assessment in schools. Finally, the paper discusses the dilemmas that English language testing professionals are faced with, suggesting that professionals have the mission of educating both the government and society for the improvement of English language assessment.