한문 교과에서의 ‘한자문화권’ 개념 적용 방식에 대한 검토 -각 시기 한문과 교육과정 및 2015 개정 한문 교과서를 대상으로-

Abstract

Since the 7th curriculum was founded, discussing the necessity of classical Chinese education in respect to ‘betterment of mutual understanding and exchange within Sinosphere’ has gradually become established, in the articulation of characteristics of the curriculum, as well as the subject objectives. As for the contents, recent development has been to designate an individual section for ‘culture’-aside from Chinese characters or reading classical Chinese writings-and to suggest activities that help with learning the ‘language and culture’ of countries in the Sinosphere. 2015 Revised classical Chinese textbooks are also generally complying to the contents elements advised by the educational curriculum; and some textbooks have managed to successfully achieve the curriculum’s objective in creative ways. Based on this analysis, this paper first explores the problems in the current ways of applying the concept ‘Sinosphere’ to classical Chinese education, and proceeds to suggest the alternative. First, the flaw in the logic that classical Chinese would facilitate communication within Sinosphere has been pointed out; as learning classical Chinese may be less efficient compared to directly learning the language, and as it might not be effective in contemporary media environment. In search of the alternative, the concept ‘Sinosphere’ would have to be more clearly articulated in the education curriculum. While Korea is historically and regionally included in the civilization called the Sinosphere, it is nowadays ‘not a country in which Chinese character is popularly used’. Therefore, the aim to secure a competitive edge in culture, against other countries in Sinosphere, should be emphasized in conveying the importance of educating classical Chinese characters and writings. Also, there appears to be a problem in the tendency to limit the scope of educational contents concerning ‘Sinosphere’ to the acquisition of ‘knowledge on culture’. While the domain of ‘culture’ should be extensively applied to include the entirety of literature, thoughts, history, and culture of East Asian Sinosphere, the aim should be to understand the ‘spiritual culture’ of Sinosphere as an outcome of education in Chinese character and classical Chinese. The significations of the East Asian classics that are included in current textbooks should be made clear in the context of intellectual history of Sinosphere. Moreover, making use of the records that show the history of mutual exchange within the Sinosphere-namely sahaengnok (records of envoy trips to Japan), yŏnhaengnok (records of envoy trips to China), brush talks, and letters-might prove to be fruitful. As a concept which interlaces with current demands, ‘Sinosphere’ might substantially contribute in reinforcing the status of classical Chinese education. Still, the mode of application calls for a continued review; more than anything, the approach should be made with a long-term perspective in regards to setting the objectives of classical Chinese education.