In this paper, the authors aim to highlight the differential perception of public and private English teachers of 139 female middle and high school students in Gyeonggi province. Three different types of survey were administered to the participants. F...
In this paper, the authors aim to highlight the differential perception of public and private English teachers of 139 female middle and high school students in Gyeonggi province. Three different types of survey were administered to the participants. First and second surveys had questions about teachers in public and private education in five domains respectively: 1) expert knowledge in English, 2) teaching skills, 3) fairness of testing, 4) communication skills and class management, and 5) personality factors. The other one, which had 33 questionnaire items, asked about the participants' English learning motivation. The results indicated that students have evaluated private teachers more highly qualified than teachers in public education in all five domains. This differential perception increased as the participants advanced to a higher school grade. However, a series of regression analysis results showed that for public English teachers, among the five domains, expert knowledge in English, teaching skills, and personality factors had a statistically significant effect on students' English learning motivation whereas for private English teachers, none of the five domains bore any statistical significance. This study indicates that public English teachers need to have more time for in-service training to upgrade their expertise in English teaching and to have less administrative works at school.