| Students’ Perception of Art, Humanities, and Social Sciences Courses Taught in English in a Science and Engineering University of South Korea: Examining a Survey of Undergraduate Students |
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Chunwoong Park, Jae-Yon Lee, Jooyoung Lee |
| 영어 강의 교양 교육에 관한 학부생 인식연구 |
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박천웅, 이재연, 이주영 |
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| Abstract |
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This article examines the attitudes of undergraduate students toward non-science subjects taught in English at a government-funded science and engineering school in South Korea. It analyzes the reasons for students’ perceptions of courses regarding art, humanities, and social sciences (AHS) as insignificant and lacking in value. The university, which serves as an example in this study, teaches almost all its subjects in English except for a few language classes, and the AHS courses are offered as part of liberal education. The existing literature on general education reveals that disregard for liberal education tends to occur in institutional settings which place too much emphasis on courses related to academic majors. Research also shows that the students’ satisfaction with courses taught in English closely correlates to their level of English skills. Yet, few studies have dealt with the low levels of student motivation for non-major courses taught in English in science and engineering schools. Furthering the results of pervious literature, this study sets a premise that the reasons for considering AHS course valueless include the pressure to use English in class, passivity in acquiring knowledge, students’low interest in AHS subjects, and an overemphasis on science and engineering majors. To test such hypotheses empirically, data was collected from a survey of more than 1000 undergraduate students in a science and engineering school, and analyzed using Logistic Regression Analysis. The analysis showed that 1) students who felt burdened in the areas of English reading, writing, and listening, 2) students less interested in deepening and expanding AHS programs, and 3) students who spent more hours on their majors than on AHS courses, tended to complain that the reading and assignments for AHS courses were excessive and less effective for learning. On the basis of our findings, we propose the following suggestions for the betterment of AHS education in science and engineering universities: tailored English education fitting the different levels of the students’ language capacities, pedagogy to draw the attention of more students to liberal education, as well as structured curricula meeting the diverse academic needs and interests of students. |
| Key Words:
English mediated instruction (EMI), science and engni eering university, general education, undergraduate student survey, logistic regression analysis |
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