韓․日 初等學校 漢字敎育 比較硏究 2-韓國 初等學校 漢字敎科書와 日本 小學校 國語敎科書 分析을 중심으로-

Abstract

Both Korea and Japan have been using Chinese characters as a crucial means to write for a long time. In fact, Japan has been conducting Chinese character education systematically in native language class from the elementary school period considering Chinese characters to be important along with gana (仮名) as a part of their native language. In Korea, however, Chinese character education has not been systematical as it is left to a school or teacher’s discretion. Yet, 2009 National Curriculum revised has laid the foundation for students to learn Chinese characters from the hours of the same ‘subject group’ or ‘creative exploring activities’. However, it is still not one of the main subjects but is a selective subject, so it have not secured enough instructional hours yet. Although Korea and Japan have different language policies from each other and also different environments for Chinese character education, both of them belong to the same Chinese character cultural area; thus, it is necessary to analyze the actual status of Chinese character education through the textbooks comparatively. Since Chinese characters for elementary school education have not been established in Korea yet, the levels of Chinese characters and vocabulary contained in the textbooks differ. Besides, the goal of Chinese character education tends to mainly focus on connection to that of the middle school, there are numerous textbooks including the area of Chinese characters that is hard to be dealt with in elementary school students’ language lives. In the meantime, vocabulary or the number of vocabulary used in each textbook are consistent in Japan since it publishes the textbooks based on Chinese characters (1006 characters) selected for elementary school education. Also, it secures the area of Chinese characters as a part of the native language area and teaches them grounded on Chinese character vocabulary. Therefore, it is urgent to revise the National Curriculum properly and produce Chinese character textbooks appropriately for the goal of the education and periodic demand in Korea. Thereupon, this article aims to examine the problems in the current status of Chinese character education by analyzing Korean and Japanese elementary school Chinese character textbooks (native language textbooks) comparatively to suggest a desirable phase of Chinese character education and a direction to publish Chinese character textbooks.