외국인 유학생을 위한 한국어 문학 교육의 방법 연구

Abstract

This article makes the claim that by using Korean literature as a learning tool, international students not only improve their performance of Korean but their understanding of Korean society and culture. As the first stage of this research, I surveyed ninety-nine international students currently enrolled in Sungkyunkwan University. The questionnaires inquired about the students’ experience with reading Korean literature before enrolling the university, the genre and titles of Korean literature they had read (if any), and their opinion on the necessity and goal of studying Korean literature. I found out that 60 percent of the target group studied Korean literature beforehand, and that the majority of literature read was Korean classical literature. Although they concurred with the necessity of learning Korean literatures, they did not want to enroll in literature courses. The major reason for their reluctance to enroll in courses of Korean classics was their concern about competing with heritage students and language competency. Considering that about 80 percent of students asked to open the courses on Korean literature exclusively for the international students, Korean literature classes exclusively for international students is necessary. An important matter to address for this proposed course is the selection and development of pedagogically pertinent Korean literature. A fiction, Wandeukyi by Ryouryoung Kim, seems to be an exemplary text for the exclusive course since Wandeukyi satisfies the requirements—the proper use of language, Korean culture, and the growth of characters. I propose to teach a Korean literature course based on Wandeukyi in three phases. The first phase is to understand the explicit contents of the text. Students will deepen their understanding in the second phase. In the third phase, students will expand the knowledge accumulated through the previous phases. Through these phases, not only will students be able to improve their language proficiency, but develop and expand their understanding on the society and culture in Korea. The pedagogy for teaching Korean language and culture to the international students has not been fully developed. This article is an attempt to contribute to the pedagogy.