This chapter examines English education in South Korea during the period from 1987 to 1992, following the country’s democratization and amid growing demands for social reform. As political liberalization expanded public discourse and individual freedoms, English education became increasingly entangled with aspirations for globalization, higher education, and white-collar employment. The chapter highlights how criticism of examination-driven, grammar-focused instruction intensified during this period, accompanied by rising public interest in communicative competence, particularly speaking and listening skills.While official curricula had not yet fully shifted toward communicative language teaching, debates surrounding English education reform became more visible in academic, media, and policy discussions. At the same time, private English education expanded rapidly, reflecting both heightened demand and persistent dissatisfaction with public schooling. The chapter argues that this transitional period laid the ideological groundwork for later large-scale reforms of the 1990s by reframing English not merely as an academic subject, but as a practical skill essential for participation in a democratizing and increasingly global society.