This study was aimed to construct appropriate teaching materials in order to aid academic students in the pursuit of successfully completing their studies. Overseas students who make up the majority of those in Korean language education study with spe...
This study was aimed to construct appropriate teaching materials in order to aid academic students in the pursuit of successfully completing their studies. Overseas students who make up the majority of those in Korean language education study with specialized, field-specific materials and need to be attended to in order to ensure that they are properly handling their studies. They are also burdened with the fact that they have to study Korean, a foreign language, while studying the major of their choice.
In order to achieve this, to facilitate the study of a major field of education in a foreign language, Korean Language Education with an academic purpose was the major subject chosen for this study. This study looked at this problem from a perspective of providing academic aid by using appropriate study materials to teach them the language and the knowledge simultaneously. This study aims to deal with these problems and feels the need to develop appropriate educational materials for them.
These students don’t have many problems in everyday situations, but tend to show difficulties when starting their major studies. Humanitarian, social and business related subjects have had a comparatively high amount of research done related to their language aspects. As the number of overseas students wanting to specialize their majors in Korea, the fact of the matter is that the demand for materials for language education is on the rise while there is a continued lack in supply, and this is also true for natural science majors. Therefore this study aimed to find a remedial solution to overcome the difficulties in studying natural sciences, with respect to the fact that the number of natural science majors is on the rise and that there is a definite need for an answer to this problem. The study can be regarded as the beginning to the development and search of effective materials that can help students to utilize Korean while studying, and suggested a new research method by introducing the concept of “Prerequisite Academic Korean Vocabulary”
Prerequisite has the meaning of an occurrence happening precedent to another, and is used as a term to describe prerequisite education or learning. This study redefines the concept of prerequisite academic Korean vocabulary, meaning vocabulary that can aid in major studies.
In order to achieve this, Chapter I clarified the necessity and purpose of the study and took a look into other relative studies and research paper. Papers on Korean language education processes for academic purposes and research papers on the needs of said students were studied and analyzed focusing on the purpose of this study, after which, research related to major specific vocabulary selection was analyzed. Previous studies have shown that the variety of research into the matter has increased but there is still a lack in discussions to provide a solution to overcome the issue. Therefore, by analyzing the needs of students majoring in natural sciences, educational materials to aid them in achieving their academic purpose can be developed.
Chapter II observed the overall concept of academically purposed Korean language education and viewed its changes over time. Changes in vocabulary education, and the purpose and method of education were identified. Since students speak of difficulties in major studies, resolving their problems are of the utmost priority. Based on the findings, a new concept of “Prerequisite Academic Korean Vocabulary” was introduced. “Prerequisite Academic Korean Vocabulary” carries the purpose to be used as a tool to be used as a bridge for students to succeed in their major studies.
Chapter III analyzed the needs of natural science majors to clarify their academic needs, the academic differences between Korean students and overseas students, and the difficulties in major studies. Participants were invited to take part in a preliminary survey, a main survey and an interview, and using the results of the needs analysis and the vocabulary classification index from chapter II were utilized to construct a method and standard to select the academic Korean vocabulary.
The contents of chapter III were compiled in chapter IV to finalize the list of prerequisite vocabulary for natural science majors studying in Korea. It also suggested plans and methods for the practical real-world use of the compiled vocabulary.
Chapter V was focused on resolving problems for overseas students majoring in natural science in Korea using the compiled vocabulary and on suggesting the need to compile educational materials for various different major fields.
This study was focused on identifying the difficulties students have in successfully studying their majors and to resolve these problems. Needs analysis was conducted to clarify the issues while the results were used to compile educational materials for the same purpose. As specialized major studies increase, the number of students wanting to specialize in these fields are also increasing, and the educational processes are also changing to follow suit. For this, understanding what is to be taught was highly necessary, and according to the findings, a list of educational materials for overseas students majoring in natural science was compiled which gives high hopes for it to be used as a useful tool in the future.