Because English education in Korea focuses on reading and grammar, many Koreans who have learned English for ten years in school still have difficulty in daily conversation. This tendency is not caused by the fact that the English curriculum in Korea's middle and high schools concentrates on reading and grammar rather than improvement in expression in areas such as speaking and writing; the current curriculum has been established to improve expression in speaking and writing, but learners cannot be motivated due to an absence in connection with evaluation. From the dimension of the school field, three causes impeding improvement in English expression (including speaking and writing) of learners are as follows. First, schools present classes focusing on the college entrance examination centered on listening and reading, thus hardly evaluating speaking and writing. In the college entrance exam, listening and reading are evaluated directly but speaking and writing are evaluated indirectly. Classes presented by schools should center on listening and reading while excluding improvement in expression such as speaking and writing, and it is difficult for schools to normally comply with the curriculum. Second, it is hard to present performance assessment of speaking and writing in large classes. As for speaking assessment, it is not possible to assess face to face speaking ability between teachers and students in large classes with 35 or more students. As for writing assessment, it has insufficient time for conducting process assessment in which teachers correct the drafts or answers of English writing written by learners in large classes several times to enhance their percentage of completion, due to teachers' excessive classes and work. Third, the expertise of English teachers on speaking and writing assessment is insufficient. Because schools are accustomed to assessment centered on multiple-choice or short-answer questions, they have no systematic standards of marking speaking and writing. Teachers have no training on marking standards that can be differentiated according to questions, and as a consequence reliability on marking is not secured. The assessment system in the level of school units for securing reliability among markers in performance assessment of speaking and writing stands out in particular. In order to solve the three problems, the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) is developing the State English Aptitude Test, which can help to solve the problem of feedback effect on curriculum. In other words, when speaking and writing assessment is performed by direct evaluation and not by the current indirect evaluation, English teachers or learners in school units have to prepare for speaking and writing, in addition to reading and listening. Then, the problem of balanced evaluation of the four functions will be solved and the measure can be helpful to realize the English curriculum in a normal manner. Also, the State English Aptitude Test can settle the difficulty in performance assessment of speaking and writing in large classes. Even when high-quality questions on speaking and writing are developed to be used, it is insufficient in time to assess individual learners and to mark individual answers. In the State English Aptitude Test, the individual answers of learners' speaking can be recorded and preserved and teachers can mark the answers when they are convenient. As for writing, when a securing system for markers is constructed, statistic and analysis processes can be conducted only by inputting grades via a marker securing login conducted anytime and anywhere. Therefore, the problems caused by large classes can be solved by improving the methods of marking speaking and writing assessment. Furthermore, the State English Aptitude Test can solve problems where there are no systematic standards of marking speaking and writing. The KICE supervising the test is planning to establish and distribute a system of speaking and writing for school units, and the system contains types of assessment questions and example materials, as well as the marking standards of speaking and writing. Also, the KICE intends to enhance the expertise of teachers on the assessment by developing training manuals for school teachers in order to properly distribute the system. When the system is properly materialized, processes from design of rubric marking to questions analysis will be able to be realized in a school unit. Therefore, when the State English Aptitude Test is established and realized on a stable basis, the learning methods of English speaking and writing can be improved and consequently the ability of students to speak and write can be considerably enhanced. Other than the current college entrance exam as an indirect assessment, the test directly assesses English speaking and writing to conduct performance assessment with authenticity, to be able to realize balanced teaching of the four linguistic functions including expression such as speaking and writing, and then to normalize the management of English curriculum in the school field.

The preliminary test for May of the State English Aptitude Test was performed on May 28, and 29, 2009. The test was conducted at 33 high schools located in Seoul and the capital area in order to identify the reliability, level of difficulty, and establishment of the Internet-based, large-scale assessment system of the State English Aptitude Test, or the so-called "Korean type TOEIC or TOEFL." Further preliminary tests will be conducted in order to verify the validity and reliability of the test, and then the actual test will be introduced in 2012. In order to do this, the State English Aptitude Test is planned to sufficiently reflect the school curriculum of listening, reading, speaking, and writing, and to be conducted at ordinary times for reduction in student burden. Based on the basic plan for introduction of the State English Aptitude Test that was established and pronounced in 2007, two types of the test will be developed for students and the general public, respectively: the type for students presents a national standard with public confidence on school English education by connection with curriculum; and the type for the general public replaces foreign tests for domestic purposes (such as TOEIC), to conduct balanced assessment of the four linguistic functions, and to secure and promote international use. The contents of the plan for introduction of the State English Aptitude Test shown from the measure to innovate English education presented in November 2006 to the report on operations by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology were partially adjusted and have been promoted with consistency, except the fact that the State English Language ability test for elementary school students was removed. More concretely, the first-class test is going to be developed for the purpose of assessment domains including expressive ability such as speaking and writing and securing international use, as well as assessment reflecting the curriculum for middle and high schools and receptive ability such as reading and listening. Also, the application to the college entrance exam will be decided in 2012, and the efficiency in assessing and marking speaking and writing will be promoted via the Internet Based Test (IBT) method, not the Paper Based Test (PBT) method. The State English Aptitude Test is based on a system of speaking and writing assessment as follows:

As seen in the above chart, the system of speaking and writing assessment will be established by teams for assessment framework, marking research, establishment of IBT infrastructure, and for support for school unit assessment.