외국인 유학생의 한국어 능력이 학업 성취도에 미치는 영향 연구

A study on the effects of Korean language competence on academic achievements in international students: focusing on the mediating path analysis among the learning variables

This study aims to analyse a correlation between Korean language competence and academic achievements of international students through the mediation analysis using the variables such as ‘comprehension of lectures’, ‘learning attitudes’, ‘class satisfaction’, and ‘assessment system’. This study found that Korean language competence has a relatively strong correlation with academic achievements, and that there is a mediating path through which Korean language competence give a mediating effect to ‘comprehension of lectures’ and ‘learning attitudes’, finally to ‘academic achievements’, meaning that the better proficiency of Korean language brings the better understanding of the class lectures, which ushers foreign students into the higher academic achievements. These findings suggest us that we should encourage foreign students to continue with the leveled up degree because it will both advance the degree of learning attitudes and in return lead towards better academic achievements, and that we should not set back by only focusing on the development of Korean proficiency. This study shows that lowering the Korean language competence standards for international students would not be reasonable. This study leads to the conclusion that college admission officers are required to increase the entrance level of Korean language competence to allow international students to be successful in college.