Series Index
1. Why Learning Standards Are Breaking Down in the AI Era
How AI is eroding traditional learning benchmarks and blurring the question of what students should learn.
2. What Is Language Learning For Now?
Why language is shifting from a tool of expression to one of interpretation and understanding.
3. What Does It Really Mean to Be Good at English?
A redefinition of English proficiency around structure, context, comprehension, and literacy.
4. More Dangerous Than Dopamine Addiction: The “Click” Brain
How AI’s response structure is conditioning children to react before they think.
5. In the AI Era, By What Standard Should We Learn?
A concluding framework for educational choices that connects exams, judgment, and the future.
By Kang Sang-woo, Head of Future Strategy, CREVERSE
The recent education reform proposal announced by South Korea’s National Education Commission offers a clear signal of where education is heading. It formally places essay-based and descriptive assessments, along with literacy-centered evaluation, at the core of future education. This is not simply a change in test format. It marks a deeper shift toward competency-based assessment that values process, reasoning, and the ability to organize thought.
A similar change is already visible in middle and high school English exams. Grammar questions have noticeably decreased, and even subjective writing questions, once considered the core of grammar-based testing, are increasingly being replaced by performance assessments that ask students to express their own ideas.
If English learning in the past focused on microscopic analysis — identifying grammatical errors and decoding sentence structures — today’s students are being asked to understand the logical connections between sentences and structure their own thinking. The ability to move fluently through both the English language and the practical gateway of exams has become not only an academic advantage but an essential admissions strategy.
Why Literacy Must Be Understood Through Logic, Meaning, and Knowledge
True literacy goes beyond reading and translating words. It is completed only when three frames — logic, semantics, and knowledge — work together. Literacy is the ability to select information within a text, understand its deeper meaning in context, and connect it with existing background knowledge to create new value.
This ability comes from cognitive stamina. A student with strong thinking skills can use a logical framework to fill the gaps between sentences and identify the basis for the correct answer. A student without that foundation, however, receives each sentence as fragmented information and must begin interpretation from scratch each time. In the end, this leads to wrong answers and a shortage of time at critical moments.
The Shortcut to Advanced Literacy Begins With Reading the Student Accurately
For many years, I have studied ways to classify and diagnose students’ cognitive literacy types. In seeking the best approach to English literacy learning, I have found that each student processes information and grasps context in a different way. Cases from real classrooms show this clearly.
Student A is “a child who sees the forest but misses the trees.” This student grasps the overall flow of a text quickly and intuitively. At first glance, the student may appear fluent in English, but often lacks the ability to verify precise logical evidence. This type of student frequently says, “I knew the material, but I made a mistake,” especially on high-level questions. Such mistakes usually come from relying on background knowledge to grasp the general context and then making assumptions about the rest. For this student, training must focus on finding the writer’s actual evidence within the text.
Student B is “a child who sees the trees but misses the forest.” This student is excellent at analyzing sentence structure in detail. Yet because the student becomes absorbed in individual words and sentences, the larger context of the passage is often missed. One piece of information can distort the entire logic of the text. For this type of student, the fastest path is to lift their eyes from individual sentences, grasp the main line of the passage, and practice reorganizing knowledge by integrating information across the text. Summary training centered on the main topic is especially effective.
The Power of Literacy: Thinking That Technology Cannot Replace
Vocabulary memorization and basic grammar learning are still important. However, the fluency of expression — simply memorizing information or learning to speak at length in polished English — can no longer serve as a competitive advantage in an age when artificial intelligence can generate knowledge and language in real time. The meaning of “being good at English” must now be redefined beyond surface-level speaking ability. It should be understood as fluency of thought: the ability to receive information critically and structure it within a logical framework.
A child’s ability can grow dramatically when we accurately understand their unique cognitive tendencies and help them find a learning method that fits them. The goal is not simply to know the child’s current level. We must help children recognize for themselves what they know and what they do not know, so that they can take control of their own learning.
In the next article, I will discuss concerns about children’s brain development in the age of AI and short-form videos. Rather than offering vague countermeasures, I will propose specific methods for how tailored training based on each child’s cognitive tendencies can lead to critical thinking, creative thinking, and independent thinking.
About the Author
Kang Sang-woo holds a master’s degree in business administration from Seoul National University, studied economics at Duke University, and graduated from Daewon Foreign Language High School. He is currently Executive Director of Future Strategy at Creverse, where he leads content and curriculum for THE OPEN. His previous experience includes heading strategy at AI companies in the medical and entertainment sectors, as well as working as a U.S. college admissions consultant.
