Professor Chae-gwan Jeong

Professor Chae-gwan Jeong of the Department of English Language and Literature at Incheon National University received the Outstanding Academic Paper Award from the academic journal Secondary English Education, published by the Korea Association of Secondary English Education and indexed by the National Research Foundation of Korea. The university announced the award on the 3rd. The winning paper is titled “From ‘Anglophone Culture’ to ‘World Cultures and English’: A Survey of English Education Stakeholders’ Perceptions and Strategies for Successful Implementation.”

The 2022 revised English curriculum introduced the subject World Cultures and English, broadening the perspective from treating English solely as the language of a specific cultural sphere to emphasizing intercultural communication competence. As textbook composition and instructional objectives change, teachers’ lesson planning and evaluation methods are also inevitably affected. As a result, there has been increasing demand for empirical evidence on how this curricular shift is interpreted in educational settings and what conditions are necessary for its successful implementation.

Professor Jeong’s study addresses these concerns by examining the expectations and concerns present in the educational field through empirical data and by identifying the conditions required for designing instruction and assessment. The study conducted a survey of 99 English education stakeholders, including in-service secondary school English teachers, university professors and researchers, and pre-service teachers. It comprehensively analyzed perceptions of the subject transition, directions for teaching and learning, and tasks required for successful implementation in schools.

The analysis revealed that approximately 93% of respondents positively evaluated the shift from Anglophone Culture to World Cultures and English. The findings confirmed a widespread recognition that English should be understood not merely as the language of a particular cultural region but as a global lingua franca, with a stronger emphasis on developing intercultural communication competence. At the same time, respondents emphasized that for the subject’s purpose to be fully realized in classroom instruction, curriculum content selection, lesson operation, and assessment criteria must be systematically improved together.

Regarding teaching approaches, respondents indicated that inquiry- and performance-based instruction, such as investigating and sharing cultural information or conducting collaborative projects, would be effective in achieving the educational objectives. This reflects the view that learner-led inquiry processes can foster both communication skills and critical thinking beyond the simple transmission of cultural knowledge. However, respondents also noted that the successful institutionalization of such teaching practices requires sufficient instructional materials, feasible time allocation in class, and practical process-based assessment frameworks.

The paper proposes several measures for the stable implementation of the subject, including improving the quality of textbooks and instructional materials, strengthening teacher training and professional development, and establishing performance- and process-oriented assessment systems. Professor Jeong commented, “English education should move beyond an Anglo-American cultural framework and foster global citizenship through interaction with diverse cultures,” adding that “follow-up research will continue to ensure that the revised curriculum is not merely declarative but effectively implemented in real classroom instruction.”

This study examines the intent of the curriculum revision from the perspectives of educational field awareness and instructional implementation conditions. As discussions continue on how the subject World Cultures and English will take root in schools, the study provides meaningful empirical evidence on how textbook development, teacher support, and assessment systems should be interconnected.