Misunderstanding Basic Vocabulary:
"Starting Point," "Genealogy," "Round Trip" and More
The academic achievement levels of middle and high school students have declined over the past five years. In particular, there are concerns that the basic proficiency rate in the Korean language subject has dropped significantly, indicating a serious issue even with fundamental vocabulary skills.
According to the “2020-2024 National Academic Achievement Assessment by Region” received by Assemblywoman Jin Sunmi of the National Assembly’s Education Committee from the Ministry of Education on October 8, the proportion of students achieving “Level 3 (average proficiency) or higher” in all subjects-Korean, mathematics, and English-has decreased among both third-year middle school and second-year high school students.
The National Academic Achievement Assessment samples 3% of all third-year middle school and second-year high school students nationwide, focusing on Korean, mathematics, and English. This assessment is conducted annually to systematically analyze the current status and trends in academic achievement levels.
In the assessment conducted in September last year, a total of 27,606 middle and high school students from 524 schools nationwide participated. Academic achievement in each subject is categorized into four levels: Level 4 (advanced proficiency), Level 3 (average proficiency), Level 2 (basic proficiency), and Level 1 (below basic proficiency).
Looking at the trend in the proportion of students at Level 1 (below basic proficiency) by subject, only Korean showed an increase in this rate. The proportion of third-year middle school students falling below basic proficiency in Korean rose by 3.7 percentage points, from 6.4% in 2020 to 10.1% in 2024. For second-year high school students, the rate increased by 2.5 percentage points, from 6.8% to 9.3%. According to a survey conducted last year by the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations (KFTA) of 5,848 elementary, middle, and high school teachers nationwide, nearly half (48.2%) responded that more than 21% of students lacked literacy skills appropriate for their grade level.
There have also been cases where students misunderstood basic terms: some questioned their teachers for “swearing” when hearing the word “starting point,” while others thought “hair freedom” debates were about “two legs.” There were also students who mistook “genealogy” for a “jokbal bossam set” (a pork dish), or could not understand the meaning of “three round trips.”
Assemblywoman Jin Sunmi stated, “I am concerned that the increasing rate of students falling below basic proficiency in the Korean language subject may negatively affect overall academic performance across all subjects.”
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