The future direction and challenges of English education in the post-COVID-19 era

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to predict educational transformation in the post pandemic era and address a new agenda for participants in both education and academia of Korean EFL. First of all, this article calls attention to rapid societal changes due to technology for the last few decades, particularly in facets of language use, knowledge building, and learning paradigm. Second, this study attempted to articulate unprecedented challenges of English education in Korea for adapting to educational reform in the digital society: 1) defining digital literacy from the second language (L2) perspective, 2) relocating English curriculum within digital learning ecology, and 3) achieving normalization of Korean school English curriculum. For successful transition, this paper finally suggests that a united voice is needed from participants and that new governance should be established in English education to connect educators, researchers, and policy makers to each other empowered by major academic associations such as KATE. © 2021 The Korea Association of Teachers of English (KATE).