직업을 위한 한국어 교육 연구

Research on Korean for occupational purposes: Examination of the current state of the education and the development of Business Korean

Recently Korean learners have been increasing in number as well as diversity. The target learner who used to be primarily adults now includes teenagers and children. Also the goals of learners has diversified and the number of learners of Korean for business and academic purposes is increasing. Establishing a plan for a curriculum and syllabus that meets the changing needs of learners must be foremost in the work of Korean educators. To lay the foundations for “Korean for Occupational Purposes”, this paper first looked at the special characteristics of teaching Korean for occupational purposes. Second, it looked at the current state of Korean education as a whole in Korea. Third, it analyzed the learners' needs in developing “Business Korean”. Business Korean Education is the teaching of Korean that is needed in the work place and in professional fields. At present, legal workers employed in Korea study Korean in Korean education centers, but none of the centers offer Korean classes for occupational purposes. And industrial trainees who work in small to medium sized companies only receive a handful of Korean lessons in a government-run training program. Therefore, there is a pressing need for developing courses in Korean for occupational purposes. The greatest need for Korean education for occupational purposes would fall under the category of Business Korean. This paper analyzed the needs assessments for Business Korean among workers in the regular evening courses at Ewha Woman's University's Institute of Language Education. The results show the job distribution of learners, their purposes for learning Korean, the number of hours they want to study and the business skills they need in their jobs.