외국인 대상 한국어교재 개발의 현재와 방향

The Current and Direction of Korean textbook Development for Foreigners

The title is enough to arouse the interest of the learner, because Korean textbooks, developed recently, contain new ideas and interesting study material. But one needs to review more closely whether those textbooks which are based on interesting materials, are effective from a didactical point of view. Many textbooks exhibit a lot of problems with regard to the control of difficulty levels (rate of progression) and the composition of learning content. In addition, they often have no syllabus in common, and no primary goals are set as standards for new textbook development. There is an urgent necessity to establish some criteria for Korean textbook development. Given the situation, identifying the status of Korean language textbooks used in other countries is bound to be an even more difficult task. To explore the future direction of Korean textbook development in Central and Eastern Europe, one needs to inspect samples of Korean textbooks development in Korea. When developing a new textbook, the curriculum, the syllables, teaching materials, the learner level, the learning objectives and student characteristic, such as proficiency should be comprehensively examined. Further consideration should be given whether or not the context and the use of language functions, grammar, vocabulary, and other elements are combined organically. I selected three Korean textbooks that reflect these factors well and analyzed their advantages and disadvantages. These three textbooks are well received by learners, because their content consists of a lot of interesting information on Korean culture and the demand for sufficient information on topics such as K-pop, typical lifestyles, etc. is well met. This means that developing a customized textbook is the key element in meeting learners’ preferences. Development of an e-book is worth actively considering for Eastern Europe. Although geographically removed from Korea, European learners can easily encounter Korean culture (K-pop, Korean dramas and movies etc.) through the internet, YouTube etc. Korean education through the internet and other digital media is capable of arousing interest and increasing educational impact. It is also important to intensify utilization of Korean culture. Korean culture education using Korean works of literature translated into the national language and included in Korean textbooks can be an important element of textbook development in many ways. (Kangwon National University)