국외 한국어 교사의 자질에 대한 학습자 인식 연구

Characteristics of an Effective Language Teacher as Perceived by Learners of Korean in the US

This study attempted to characterize qualities of an effective Korean language teacher in the U.S. perceived by U.S. college students. For this purpose, a survey was conducted to 190 learners of Korean at university in the U.S. The results of this study indicate that (a) the students deemed teacher’s mastery of the target language to be more important than teacher’s nativeness; (b) the students found it more important for teachers to understand students’ different cultural background than to understand American culture; (c) the students gave weight to giving good feedback and clear criteria; (d) the students agreed upon the importance of teaching Korean in Korean, however, they disagreed about the effectiveness of ‘teaching only in Korean’ in class; (e) the students perceived that Korean teachers were more approachable, understanding, patient, and creating a greater bond with students comparing to teachers of other subjects. The results of this study will help (a) training program for teachers who will be dispatched overseas and (b) hiring decision of Korean instructors in the US.