日本語学習者対象の漢文訓読教育 ─崇実大学校日語日文学科〈日本語文献講読〉を例に─

Abstract

The Department of Japanese Language and Literature at Soongsil University is currently offering a course called “Japanese Classics Reading” in the first semester as a major course for fourth-year students. In other words, the course teaches the ancient Japanese academic method of “Vernacular reading of Literary Sinitic (Kanbun Kundoku)” to undergraduate students who wish to become specialists in the Japanese language and the Japanese region. In this paper, we first give a brief history of the course “Japanese Classics Reading”. And we will discuss the prospects for this course in the current university environment and in the context of changes in students’ interests and basic knowledge. Literary Sinitic (Kanbun) is basically a written language based on the grammar and lexical system of classical Chinese. It is widely used across countries and languages not only in China but also in pre-modern East Asia, and is considered an important element in understanding Japanese language and culture. For this reason, Literary Sinitic is taught along with Japanese classical literature in Japanese language courses in secondary education (junior high and high school) in Japan, and a certain percentage of questions are included in university entrance examinations. Literary Sinitic can be positioned as a basic requirement for those who wish to advance to higher education.