South Korea conducts developmental evaluation on students academic achievement through National
Assessment of Educational Achievement(NAEA). Through this test, students with below-basic academic
proficiency level are screened out. Below-basic academic proficiency level refers to lowest score section in
the NAEA. As compulsory education is expanded to middle school education, students who are in need of
help regarding studies from elementary school, students with below-basic academic proficiency level, go to
middle school. The purpose of this research was to deeply understand experiences of middle school students
with below-basic academic proficiency level. In order to practice this study, a phenomenological qualitative
research about middle school life took place on 19 middle school students with below-basic academic
proficiency level from all over the country. According to phenomenological analyzing method, 8 category
and 25 sub-category were noticed about experience of these students. In essence of participants’ experience,
following components were shown ‘amotivation & repetition of learned helplessness’, ‘uncomfortable
relations with peers, family, and society’, ‘negative emotional experience at school’, ‘difficult & long road
of school study’, ‘unhelpful learning strategies’, ‘vague career beliefs & plans’, ‘disciplinary punishment by
juvenile delinquency’, and ‘rediscovering resources & strengths in life’ etc. They certainly seemed to be in
hard going and to be in deep waters. There were encounter with a dark reality and a faint hope among
their life.