Because scores are not curved, unexpected spikes in difficulty can significantly affect university admissions outcomes.

A ministry investigation found that 19 English questions were rewritten shortly before the exam, limiting time for proper difficulty assessment. Only 33% of English item writers were active teachers, below the cross-subject average, weakening alignment with classroom learning levels.

What will change

Under the overhaul, at least half of English test writers will be practicing teachers, screening of expertise will be tightened, and an integrated review committee will oversee difficulty calibration. 

Artificial intelligence tools will also be introduced to assist with passage generation and difficulty prediction, with pilot use planned for 2028.

Where South Korea lies in global English proficiency

The reforms come as South Korea’s English proficiency faces global comparison. 

According to the State University of New York’s (SUNY) South Korean arm, the country placed a lowly 49th in the  EF English Proficiency Index 2023. South Korea scored 525 — classified as “moderate proficiency” — down 13 spots from the previous year.

EF English Proficiency Index 2023 ranked the Netherlands first with a score of 661, followed by Singapore at 642, with other top performers concentrated in Northern Europe . 

Despite early exposure to English and widespread private education, only a minority of Korean learners attain strong conversational fluency, according to SUNY Korea’s analysis. 

“The reasons seem to stem from cultural and social differences, the significant differences between the two languages: Korean and English, and the Korean Educational System,” the university noted. 

With the planned overhaul of Suneung’s English section, officials hope the reforms will restore fairness and ensure the exam reflects realistic learning outcomes rather than magnifying systemic gaps.

That moment says a lot about how English really works.

English spread through colonisation: through schools, churches, government, and media. But once it arrived, people didn’t just copy it. They adapted it, mixed it with local languages, humour, food, music, and everyday life. Over time, those local versions became the most real forms of English in those places.

We’ve seen this before. Words from Latin America and Asia have been part of English for years: macho, gringo, taco, guacamole, ceviche, reggaeton, cartel. These words stayed because English needed them. There was no better way to say what they meant.

In March 2025, the OED leaned fully into this idea with a “World English” update . It added everyday words like gigil from the Philippines, which means the urge to squeeze something cute, and alamak from Malaysia and Singapore, an expression of surprise or frustration. English didn’t have words for these feelings, so it borrowed them.

Then came December 2025, and a big moment for West Africa. The OED added words people already use daily: abeg and biko for polite requests, amala and moi moi for staple foods, mammy market for women-run community markets, and Ghana Must Go.

These words carry stories of migration , survival, humour, and community. And once they’re in the dictionary, no one can say they’re “not proper English.”

What’s changing is power. English is no longer shaped by one centre. It’s shaped by how people live. For years, speakers from the Global South were told their English was wrong. Now the same institutions are saying: this is English too.

Maybe English was never really “king.”Maybe it’s just a shared language constantly remade by the people who speak it. Global South isn’t just speaking English anymore. It’s rewriting it.

Click here to watch our previous episodes

World Reframed is produced in London by Global South World, part of the Impactum Group. Its editors are Duncan Hooper and Ismail Akwei.

ISSN 2978-4891