Based on the theories of the extended meanings of vocabulary and foreign language acquisition, this study aims to highlight the teaching methodologies of the meanings of Korean verbs for foreign learners.
The objective of the teaching of vocabulary a...
Based on the theories of the extended meanings of vocabulary and foreign language acquisition, this study aims to highlight the teaching methodologies of the meanings of Korean verbs for foreign learners.
The objective of the teaching of vocabulary and its meaning is to get the learner remember a large quantity of vocabulary and to use this vocabulary appropriately. According to various studies conducted both in Korea and overseas, in order to efficiently teach the meaning (both basic and extended) of vocabulary it is necessary to consider the learner’s standard and level, and also to take into account the unique characteristics of the learner’s mother tongue. As such, this study proposes a teaching methodology for meanings of Korean vocabulary through the results of a comparison of the characteristics of the meanings of vocabulary in Korean and the characteristics of the meanings of the learner’s native language.
In the first section, based on previous studies, this article examined how the study of the education of Korean vocabulary and its meaning has progressed up until now. The existing studies have contributed a great deal towards showing the research trends and the necessity of the education of the meanings of vocabulary. However, one problem is that much of the research has been focused on the technical aspect of classes rather than the principles of the education of the meanings of vocabulary.
The second section organized the theoretical background on which this article is based. It examined the aspects of the principles of extended meaning, the acquisition of vocabulary, and the education of the meaning of vocabulary. The principles of extended meaning revealed that each meaning has to be developed in stages based on the existing difference between the basic meaning and the extended meaning. Also, by examining the characteristics of the extension of meaning of vocabulary and structural differences in the meaning it organized the areas that can be used in various teaching methodologies. Regarding the acquisition of vocabulary and its meaning, by looking at how the native language vocabulary’s system of meaning influences the target vocabulary’s system of meaning, it described methodologies teaching the meaning of vocabulary where the learner’s native language can be used. Finally, we summarized the research trends of modern education of meanings of vocabulary, and summarized the areas that can be used in teaching methods in this area.
The third section looked at the present state of the education of the meanings of vocabulary. Through an examination of the stages and methods of presentation of vocabulary in Korean language textbooks, and a survey of Korean language teachers, this part of the article assesses how the teaching of meanings of vocabulary is treated in present-day Korean language education. The conclusion is that the presentation of vocabulary meaning in Korean textbooks is lacking in organization and that the teaching of vocabulary meaning is not sufficiently covered in Korean language classes.
The fourth chapter summarizes the types of meaning of Korean verbs based on the characteristics of meaning extension, and then examines the meaning of the learner’s native language and what kind of responses are formed. The types of vocabulary meaning can be divided into a neutral meaning type and a specific meaning type, and the specific meaning type can again be divided according to four different characteristics. Firstly, the neutral meaning type means that the Korean verb and the respective verb of the learner’s native language have a one to one equivalency. The learners can use their L1 meaning system and thus understand and use the verb. Regarding the specialized forms, the first kind of specialized form is a kind of word that, while not corresponding on a one to one basis to a L1 word, is not difficult to understand as they are only slightly more specialized than the basic meaning. Next there is the partly abstract form. This form does not have a one to one corresponding word, and is more abstract than the basic meaning so it is difficult to explain. The third is an abstract form that does not have a one to one corresponding word and is farther removed from the basic meaning. As such, it is more abstract and specialized and is difficult to understand with only the basic meaning. Finally there is the set use form that does not have a one to one corresponding word and includes a heavy Korean meaning. In these cases, other than linguistic knowledge, some background knowledge is also required.
The fifth part explains, through the use of real examples, methodologies for vocabulary meaning education based on the types of vocabulary meaning summarized in part four. This includes real examples for classes or textbooks that can be used in the classroom, and examples that can be used during the learners’ individual study time.
This study summarized the characteristics of the expansion of meaning in Korean vocabulary and through a comparison with the learners native language system emphasized polysemic aspects of vocabulary rather than the monosemic educational methods that were focused on by previous research on vocabulary meaning education. Following that, the study presented an educational methodology for vocabulary meaning that considered the learners level, as well as the differences between the learner’s native language and Korean.