Effects on the Use of Two Textbooks for Four Types of Classes in a South Korean University

This paper determined students' ranks of difficulty on the use of materials in terms of 1) understanding the layout of the learning materials, 2) reading comprehension of the learning materials, and 3) realization on relevance to needs of the learning materials. It also determined students' 4) rank and frequency of attitude on the materials. With the data gathered through 128 survey questionnaires, 7 focused group discussions, and 10 interviews, the results were found out that there was an inappropriate assessment procedure set by this particular university. The researcher concludes that: 1) design of four types of classes by just using the two textbooks with their respective workbooks is grammar-based with limited conversation activities; 2) placement for these students in one big class size was implemented without considering their common interest and motivation and language levels; and, 3) qualification of teachers teaching these EFL students did not support students' real needs and the language program itself. Content professors who were made to teach may have the ability to input learning, but their teaching styles may differ from the ones who are real English teachers. This paper then recommends that teachers and school administration should have an appropriate placement exam before students attend the class, especially in a big class size. There could only be a few problems among students in one big class size when students' level of competence is proportioned. With this, topics and conversation activities can even be more flexible with the maneuver of art of questioning, various dimensions of thinking, strategic competence, learning attitude or behavior, etc. to ensure sustenance of communicative mode and level of interest and motivation in the classroom. Grammar-based instruction can only be taught when a need arises. Thus, the course description of each class will be able to transact the objectives ready for developing students' communication competence. Moreover, proper measurement can be utilized to validly assess the amount of students' learning and the progress of language curriculum design in terms of materials selection and teaching approach.