정규중학교에 재학 중인 탈북청소년의 영어학습 실태 분석

Abstract

The number of North Korean refugee adolescents has been increasing over the past few years. Nevertheless, few attempts have been made to investigate on North Korean refugee adolescents’ English education in secondary public schools. The purpose of the study is to investigate the state of North Korean refugee adolescents‘ English education in terms of their learning difficulties and needs. 7 North Korean refugee adolescents who were attending a public middle school in a metropolitan city and their English teacher participated in the semi-structured interviews. The findings are as follows: first, the North Korean refugee adolescents studied English in a similar way that their Korean peer students except that they didn’t take any courses from a private English institute and that they didn’t spend much time on studying English as their Korean peer students. Second, 3 major factors that caused the North Korean refugee adolescents to experience learning difficulties were in learning: the time when they had immigrated to South Korea, the difference of English teaching between North and South Koreas, and the difference of students’ English ability between the North Korean refugee adolescents and their peer Korean group. Finally, the North Korean refugee adolescents expressed the need for special courses and materials that are customized for their learning needs. Implications of the findings are provided along with some pedagogical suggestions.