한국어 고급 학습자의 문법 학습에 대한 인식 연구 - 대학 내 학문 목적 학습자를 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find how advanced Korean learners in university perceive Korean grammar. The learners this study focused on were the Korean learners for academic purposes studying in major subjects and liberal arts in earnest after their entrance into university. With the policy on the expansion of international students by the government and university institutions, the number of Korean learners for academic purposes in domestic schools is on the constant rise. One of the difficulties that they, as a member of university, have in performing academic tasks is a linguistic factor, or Korean language. In order to improve their communication skills and perform tasks in academic context in school, they should not only receive the education concentrating on specific academic functions like writing or presentation, but learn linguistic knowledge as a material to perform such tasks. Unfortunately, learners in an advanced level of language perceive grammar learning as formal knowledge learning, or see themselves as those who reached a certain level of grammar skills. For this reason, the importance of grammar learning is on the reduction. Such stagnant grammar learning can lead to no improvement in grammar skills, which can cause these learners’ imprecise Korean language or impede their smooth performance of academic tasks. In order to perform a variety of academic tasks in university, Korean language learners for academic purposes, no matter how advanced their skill are, should continuously and continually learn the grammar that contributes to their linguistic proficiency and precision. Therefore, a questionnaire study was conducted with foreign undergraduates in order to analyze whether to continue to learn grammar after obtaining an advanced level, how they perceive the necessity of grammar learning, how much grammar competency is demanded in the academic task performance process in university, and so on. A survey on their perception was conducted with the international students studying in top 10 universities in terms of the number of international students. The survey participants had a variety of nationalities and majored in diverse fields. As a result, the foreign undergraduates perceived that their grammar abilities were low and became keenly aware of the necessity of Korean grammar learning even after their entrance into university. In addition, they had the demand of the grammar items needed in the academic context, which is different from an advanced level of grammar learned in the Korean language curriculum for general purposes. More specifically, it is required to provide separate grammar learning hours on the basis of the grammar items needed in school, rather than the grammar items based on different levels of difficulties in Korean language curriculum for general purposes before their entrance into university. In addition, it is necessary for them to continue to pay attention to grammar at the time of performing academic tasks and thereby to complete their studies successfully on the basis of their precise and fluent Korean language. Therefore, it will be necessary to reflect such perception and demand and to teach the grammar that supports their Korean language abilities for academic purposes.