This study examines university students’ attitudes toward learning English as a second and foreign language (L2) in Korea. 121 university students were measured on their attitudes toward English, goal orientations and definitions of success in L2 learning using a questionnaire and English learning reflection essays. The participants also reported their L2 proficiency through self-rated English competence and their TOEIC scores. The study shows that students revealed a strong cognitive orientation toward the importance of English learning based on their perception of EIL and the pervading need for functional ability to communicate in English, yet such cognized significance of English was not fully realized in their attitudes behaviorally and motivationally. The social demand for high English proficiency within the nation was positively conceived, yet students’ attitudes toward the exclusive role of English as an official language and as the only medium of instruction were negative. English in general is still seen as a linguistic construct that needs to be studied for assessment, not as a skill that needs mastery for its functional use; despite the growing concern with intelligibility as a practical norm for international communication, the standard varieties yet remain effective as the criterion for their success in L2 learning.