일본 고전을 활용한 일본어․문화교육과 교양교육에 관한 제언

Abstract

This article aims at providing a foundational study for applying the Japanese classic literary works to the Japanese-language/culture education and liberal arts education and setting out a new academic subject through this application. For this purpose, we first review several works on the teaching of the Japanese classic literary works in Korea to capture the current situation. We then report the classes organized and run by the author of the present article as an example of such attempt, and analyze the consequences of these educational activities from the perspective of the learners. Based on this analysis, we make suggestions about the direction towards which the Japanese-language/culture education and liberal arts education may proceed. Korea has recently seen the surge of “popularization of the humanities,” as manifested in several program developments conducted in a number of universities, especially relating to the reading of the world’s classic literature. Against this situation, a noteworthy problem is the ignorance of the Japanese classic literature. Serious attempts are required to popularize the Japanese classic literature and further expand it subsequently. In particular, we need to reconsider the wisdom of life and the meaning of the classic literature which are consequential for our contemporary society. In connection with this activity, more efforts are required to translate the classic works in order to popularize the Japanese classic literature. Further, in view of the Japanese-language/culture education, the classic literary works should be presented more accessibly, for which purpose a wider range of supplementary materials and resources would be essential so that the learners can broaden their understanding of “Japan, Japanese culture, the Japanese classic literature.”