A Study on the Development of Korean Literary Textbooks for International Students
The purpose of this study was to develop Korean literary textbooks for international students. It's stressed that linguistic skills and cultural communication are b...
A Study on the Development of Korean Literary Textbooks for International Students
The purpose of this study was to develop Korean literary textbooks for international students. It's stressed that linguistic skills and cultural communication are both necessary for foreign students who study in Korean colleges. Literary works are the best teaching materials to meet these requirements in that they represent unique Korean sentiment and emotion in refined language.
The goal of teaching Korean to international students is to foster superb Korean proficiency by using literary texts. Superb Korean proficiency refers to not only vocabulary and grammar skills but cultural knowledge and cultural understanding. That is, it is comprehensive of Korean skills, cultural competency and even literary competency, namely appreciating Korean literature.
In this study, earlier studies were analyzed to check the results of teaching Korean to international students. Although there have been steady discussions on literary education in Korean language education, how to provide literary education for foreign students who study in our country for the purpose of learning has scarcely been discussed so far. As a consequence, few studies have ever attempted to develop Korean literary textbooks for international students, which indicated the timeliness of this study.
Chapter 2 described the significance and purpose of literary education geared toward international students in Korean language education, and discussed the necessity of Korean literary textbooks for these students as practical, specialized textbooks. Literary works that were included in existing Korean language textbooks were analyzed to grasp the state of Korean literary education, and what should be reflected in Korean literary textbooks for foreign students was investigated. As a result, it's found that Korean language textbooks neither included many nor different types of literary works in general, since they intended not to teach literary works but to focus on language. In contrast, literature- centered textbooks included lots of literary works but weren't appropriate for language education, as they focused on understanding Korean literature. Once again, all the circumstances justified the necessity of new textbooks that deal with all the language acquisition, literary understanding and cultural understanding.
Chapter 3 analyzed theories related to the development of Korean literary textbooks for international students. And the needs of the selected learners were analyzed by conducting a survey, by having interviews and by making an observation, and related data were additionally analyzed. To find out about learner needs, a survey was conducted on 60 selected international students at a college located in Seoul. They showed a lot of interest in literature and were much concerned about it. And they were surveyed and interviewed to investigate their background variables such as age, the period of Korean language education and nationality, their literary education experience, opinions on the necessity and effects of literary education, and favorite genre and theme to learn. And then what to teach and how to teach were determined based on the results of all the survey and interviews. After experimental teaching was provided according to the prepared lesson plan, what results it produced was analyzed.
Besides, the selection criteria of literary works were explained, which were linguistic, literary and cultural. And it's decided to select literary works from among the literary works that were included in the middle and high school textbooks that were revised in and after 2010. As for the reason, Korean college students have already known these works because they learned about them in their middle and high school years. So it's advisable to communicate through these works. Another reason was that literary works included in textbooks already turned out to be of educational value. The third was that the works were of linguistic, literary and cultural educational value for international students.
Chapter 4 described the selection criteria and scope of literary texts necessary for the development of Korean literary textbooks, and literary works were selected after an analysis was made. Besides, another criteria for effective teaching and textbook development were prepared. After every literary work included in textbooks was put in order, the works that were included five times or more were sorted out. The frequency of inclusion is one of the ways to make a selective choice if there would be plenty of works. A high inclusion frequency of a work shows how the work is evaluated.
The selected works were analyzed according to the linguistic, literary and cultural criteria, and the works that were to be included in a new textbook were finally selected in consideration of time, genre and writer not to lean toward any particular period of time, not to deal with similar themes and not to include the same writers. After the works were finally selected, the unit structure was determined, and an example of the new textbook was offered. The unit structure was determined to offer 14 weeks of instruction except for two weeks for mid-term and final examinations, since there were 16 weeks of instruction per semester. As for the example of the new textbook, a unit was presented as an example, and a teacher's guide was attached to show how to make use of it in class.
Chapter 5 offered how to teach by using the Korean literary textbook. There may be various ways to teach. In this study, a method that seemed to be effective in terms of the development of the literary textbook was presented. The teaching method was mapped out to improve language skills, literary competency and cultural communication. Finally, how the learners who took this literary class responded to it was analyzed. What activities should be used to deal with a literary text in a textbook is quite important. The way of understanding and utilizing a text depends on how learners approach it, and their response gives a good clue on how to teach next time.
Meanwhile, the importance of literature is emphasized in Korean language education, but there aren't appropriate textbooks and teaching methods available. This study is expected to be of use for the resolution of the problem under the circumstances. In the future, sustained research efforts should be channeled into the development of diverse, differentiated and specialized textbooks geared toward different groups of learners.