한국어교육 개론서의 문법 기술 고찰

On the Description of Korean Grammar in Introductory Textbooks

This paper analyzes the description of Korean grammar in the recently published textbooks on Korean language written for language teachers. It examines the adequacy of grammar descriptions by comparing different textbooks and by comparing them to references in introductory textbooks on Korean linguistics and Korean language dictionaries. The actual use of the grammatical items in literary texts is also examined as necessary. Results of the analysis suggest several issues to be resolved. First and most importantly, contradictory descriptions within a given book must be revised. For example, we found several cases where a sentence with negative malta used with an adjective is cited as an grammatical example, immediately following the notation that states negative malta cannot be not used with adjectives. This can create unnecessary confusion among readers. Secondly, descriptions for which counterexamples can easily be found in references in Korean language dictionaries must be re-examined for revision. For instance, there are at least four textbooks that indicate that malta is in general used in imperative sentences, or for invitations or solicitations, or in declarative sentences with desiderative sense expressed in predicates. However, in Korean language dictionaries, examples of the use of malta in declarative sentences that denote obligation or speaker’s intention are also abundant, which is not coherent with the textbook description. Lastly, expressions that are used in actual communication among native speakers should not to be entirely excluded, even if they are not to be taught in class. For example, several textbooks state that issta or alta cannot be used with negative an or mos, with the exception of alci moshata. However, in real life settings, the use of an issta, issci anhta, mos issta, issci moshata, or alci anhta is abundant.