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Korean students' motivation to study English drops as AI tools rise: study
An increasing number of middle school students in South Korea are asking whether they need to study English at all, now that artificial intelligence can do the work for them.
A new government report shows a clear drop in student motivation to learn English, and education officials say the widespread use of AI-powered translation apps is playing a key role.
According to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Achievement, released Tuesday by South Korea's Ministry of Education and the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, just 61.3 percent of third-year middle school students (roughly ninth grade in the US) said they are motivated to study English. That marks a drop of 2.5 percentage points from 2023 and a more significant decline of 10.1 points compared to 2022.
The report also found that fewer students see English as valuable for their academic or professional futures. In 2023, 73.1 percent of surveyed students said they believed English was a worthwhile subject. That number dropped to 69.6 percent this year.
The survey drew responses from a nationally representative sample of 27,606 middle and high school students.
Classroom teachers say the change is palpable. Many students now complete homework assignments by plugging English sentences into translation apps like Naver's Papago or OpenAI's ChatGPT. One Seoul teacher told researchers that students who returned from overseas trips and showed a renewed interest in learning English now heavily rely on AI tools, feeling less need to improve their skills on their own.
An official from the Education Ministry put it this way: 'In Korea, English has mostly been something you study to pass exams, not something you actually use. That's always been a challenge."
"But now, with AI tools handling translation so easily, students are asking themselves why they need to study at all. The ones who already lacked confidence in English are the first to give up, and over time, that's going to widen the learning gap,' he added.
