남․여 한국어교사의 교실 언어 차이 연구

Gender Differences in the Korean Teacher's Classroom Language

This study summarizes the results of previous research on genderpreferential language differences in the Korean language, and outlines teachers’ gender differences in language usage in the Korean as a second language classroom. In any foreign language learning, students often attempt to understand the language nuances through the teacher’s speech. The phrases and expressions employed by teachers therefore have an important effect on the students. It is a particularly relevant issue for Korean second language education, as the teachers are predominantly women. We can infer that this largely female environment would lead to widespread use of female-preferred language by students if it were found that male teachers typically phrase things differently in the classroom. Until now there has been a dearth of research on these particular differences in KSL education; this study is an attempt to fill this void. There have been studies about gender-preferential language differences in Korea and other countries which covered issues including vocabulary, syntax, and phonemics. This thesis will examine the topic from the Korean perspective in the following categories: Interjections In a typical class situation, Korean male teachers tend to use ‘ja’ (자), ‘ah’ (아), and ‘nae’ (네) for interjections while Korean female teachers tend to use ‘ye’ (예) and ‘eo’ (어). Polite expressions Both male and female teachers often use ’-a / eo(yeo) eyo’ (-아 / 어(여) 요) form more than ‘-upnita’ (-ᄇ / 습니다) form. Intonation When ending boundary tone in the sentences, male teachers use a low intonation while female teachers use a rising intonation. It is concluded that female teachers use rising intonation more often than males do in their teaching.