한국 영어영문학 연구 70년의 지형도: 의미연결망 분석과 학술지『영어영문학』(1955-2024)

Abstract

The English Language and Literature Association of Korea (ELLAK), founded in 1954, and its journal, The Journal of English Language and Literature (JELL), launched in 1955, have been central to Korean English studies for over 70 years. This study marks JELL’s 70th anniversary by analyzing all papers published from 1955 to 2024, using digital humanities methodologies to complement existing qualitative research. The study employed co-occurrence network analysis of semantic terms extracted from paper titles. Metadata was collected from the Korea Citation Index (KCI) and Research Information Sharing Service (RISS) databases, with networks visualized using Gephi software to identify discursive patterns and conceptual relationships. The analysis revealed that Korean English studies form two distinct Korean and English clusters, reflecting the duality of Korean scholars studying foreign literature. A significant paradigm shift occurred around 1994. Pre-1994 literary studies focused on canonical white male authors and universal themes, while post-1994 research emphasized identity politics, particularly feminism and post-colonialism, with ‘narrative’ emerging as an alternative literary form after 2014. Linguistics shifted from theoretical English linguistics to English education, though its presence declined sharply after 2014. Through semantic network analysis, this paper empirically illuminated major trends and their dynamic interrelationships and transformations in Korean English studies. It contributes to recovering the field of academic discourse and its evolution in Korean humanities academia. Future research should expand to include other journals and East Asian English studies, employing more sophisticated methodologies to broaden understanding of Korean humanities scholarship.