해외 한국어학습 담론에 나타난 ‘languaculture’의 구현 양상

Abstract

This study adopts Agar's (1994) concept of languaculture as its theoretical lens and empirically investigates the integrative operation of language and culture by analyzing international online discourse produced between January 2023 and December 2024. We compiled 18,742 English‑language texts—news articles, social‑networking posts, and blog entries. After preprocessing, we applied latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling, bigram frequency analysis, and term frequency–inverse document frequency (TF‑IDF) weighting. We identified seven topics: (1) academic and educational contexts, (2) popular culture consumption, (3) digital learning platforms, (4) experiences of history and tradition, (5) culinary and tourism practices, (6) beginner‑level learning strategies, and (7) formation of learning motivation and identity. Across all topics, linguistic elements (e.g., “Korean language,” “grammar”) and cultural elements (e.g., “K‑pop,” “traditional heritage,” “food”) were tightly intertwined, jointly mediating learners' meaning–making and motivation. Frequent bigrams included “language learning,” “K‑pop culture,” and “Korean studies,” while high‑TF‑IDF terms included “language,” “culture,” “drama,” “education,” and “history.” These findings indicate that international Korean‑language learning operates as an integrated process of cultural practice and meaning reconstruction that extends beyond mere language acquisition. Within the rapidly expanding digitally mediated learning environment that has emerged since the COVID‑19 pandemic, this study quantitatively demonstrates how the languaculture perspective manifests in authentic discourse, thereby furnishing a foundation for designing content‑based, culture‑mediated instruction and for formulating strategies to leverage digital platforms. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that languaculture functions as an operational paradigm in the field of international Korean‑language education. Future research could deepen pedagogical insights by tracking discourse change through long‑term time‑series data and by conducting qualitative explorations in classroom settings.