영문학 교육의 새 방향―문화교육

Toward a New Orientation of English Literature Education: Cultural Education

&nbsp;&nbsp;The paper starts with reflecting upon the origin and the historical development of English literature education and arrives at a new vision of cultural education, which is expected to overcome the current crisis of English literature education. This historical review reveals the hidden ideologies of the English texts conventionally regarded as the canon and thereby provides a criterion of examining the solutions so far suggested to solve the problems of English literature education. Most of the solutions are simply an introduction of a reformed curriculum in English department, an introduction of a new developed text, or an individual case study of teaching method. They may attempt to change the curriculum, the canon, or the teaching method of English literature education, but it is of little significance to discuss a new curriculum, text, or teaching method as long as they hold the existing framework or objective of English literature education.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Lately in the field of English education, there is an active discussion going on the usefulness of cultural education in the language classroom. English specialists turn their eyes to a new perspective that language education is perfected by cultural education: Language competence is not only achieved by linguistic knowledge but also by cultural knowledge of the customs, the way of thinking, the way of life, etc. of the target society. In other words, cultural knowledge is a necessity for the completion of language education. Cultural education, therefore, should be treated as seriously and specifically as the current education of the four basic skills, such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing, in English education.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Culture requires a lived experience of the target society, but this kind of experience is not available for the EFL students in Korea. One possible way of acquiring such cultural experience is a literary, even though indirect, experience. Literary texts contain a variety of contents for cultural experience compared with the texts of other specialization. This new direction of cultural education requires the change of curriculum, text, and teaching method in English literature education accordingly.