Intercultural Understanding through Global Computer-Mediated Communication

Intercultural Understanding through Global Computer-Mediated Communication

Sunah Park Cho & Stephen Carey

University of British Columbia

     This study examines how CMC can promote multi-cultural and intercultural understanding, second language acquisition, and critical thinking skills as a result of intense on-line written interaction.  Over 100 undergraduate students and instructors residing in four different countries - Canada, Japan, Mexico and Russia - had an opportunity to participate in an on-line global seminar. The aim of the seminar was to encourage intercultural understanding through discussing globalization from their particular cultural perspectives, to a) improve academic English writing and critical thinking skills, b) become familiar with cutting-edge communication technology and c) make international contacts. This study illuminates different cultural perceptions among different cultures and examines how the different cultural backgrounds affect the electronic writing exchange.  Also on-line interaction among the participants was analyzed to investigate how their participation patterns changed over time. Because intercultural communication is facilitated by asynchronous CMC, this allows a new way of teaching course contents.  Findings from this study will contribute to the teaching of Korean language and culture.  

Korean Studies Curricula in the Age of Multimedia Education

Young-mee Yu Cho & Ann Choi, Rutgers University

Kyeong-Hee Choi, University of Chicago

Hae-Young Kim, Duke University

1. Introduction

The panel reports on an ongoing project whose aim is to provide a rich array of writings and develop a series of multi-faceted study guides through meaningful engagement with texts of cultural, historical, and literary significance. The project consists of three parts: 1) developing multimedia materials for language instruction, 2) providing a systematic curriculum for introducing Korean culture, 3) creating a series of  Korean literature materials that crucially  incorporate visual and audio media.

2.  Developing multimedia materials for language teaching

Remarkable developments in linguistic, cognitive, and psychological theories of second language acquisition during the past twenty years have brought about a fundamental shift from audiolingualism based on repetition and memorization and translation-based language instruction to meaning-based natural approaches. However, incorporating communicative tasks into the KFL curriculum has been slow. Now that the role of foreign language teachers is firmly redefined as ‘facilitators in the process of language acquisition’ rather than the traditional ‘dispensers of linguistic knowledge,’ it is  imperative that pedagogical research should include  designing of a curriculum whose goal is to lead learners to achieve the desired proficiency level by incorporating lexical, syntactic, pragmatic, and cultural components.  In this context, incorporating cultural information into the existing textbooks and providing authentic input for grammatical instruction cannot be overemphasized. For these purposes, we will utilize Korean dramas, sitcoms, TV news, commercials, radio broadcast.

3. Developing Multimedia materials for a literature curriculum

Our texts are selected from a diverse set of authors in the following genres --1) oral tradition (folktales, historical anecdotes, foundation myths); 2) children's stories; 3) short stories and novellas (excerpts, if necessary); 4) novels (excerpts); 5) poetry; 6) essays.   Our reading tasks help students to develop linguistic abilities through meaningful engagement with a variety of texts. Three stages of tasks are constructed for each text: 1) pre-reading warm-up activities involving background information, main plot and key issues; 2) language, literary and interpretive activities organized along the structural, the stylistic, and the thematic dimensions, aided by glossary, culture notes, and comprehension and discussion questions; 3) post-reading activities to link the text to the inter-textual and extra-textual contexts--including the author's life and other works, critical debates, and  relevant works by other writers. The last-stage involves an innovative approach to the textual reading by including activities utilizing audio-visual materials such as film/video clips, music, art objects, cartoons, etc. (See “Linking a short story with a film (최윤 “저기 소리없이 한 점 꽃잎이 지고” 와 장선우 감독 영화  <꽃잎>”).

4.  Developing Multimedia materials for a culture curriculum

We started by compiling an annotated bibliography of multimedia materials for teaching Korean culture. Once the list of useful materials are determined,  we will provide a 12 segments that demonstrate effective ways of linking A/V materials with written texts.

As a sample, we show ways of reshaping Introduction to Korean Culture (Rutgers University, 574:210) to effectively integrate written and visual texts for teaching college-level learners.  This will be  adapted for use in high school instruction as well. There has been a pressing need to build a set of curriculum materials for general, introductory courses, particularly courses under the rubric of “Korean Culture” taught at various universities and colleges; this sort of course has often become the seed to be planted for a full-fledged program in Korean Studies.  Thus, a well-wrought curriculum would enhance the possibility of expansion of the desired program in Korean Studies.  In addition, educators at the secondary level have been requesting assistance and suggestions on teaching the subject to their students.  Though a number of translated works, especially literary fiction, make glimpses into Korean studies available, there is no definitive body of materials, consisting of various sources, put together for the very purpose of use at higher education.  It is also imperative that we include visual aids, i.e., film clips, to the educational process as we have fully entered the multi-media age of learning.  This project covers the above areas of need.

Many Functions of mwusun in Discourse: Interrelationship of semantic and pragmatic aspects

Jane Choi

University of California, Los Angeles

            Teachers of Korean probably have come across at some point in their career with a pedagogical concern of how to successfully teach the use of Korean wh-question word mwusun.  Previous studies (Suh 1987; Im 1988; Suh 1996) have claimed it as a question word which queries about ‘the type/kind of’ nouns syntactically following it (i.e. mwusun yenghwa-lul cohahaseyyo? ‘What type of movies do you like?’).  This seemingly clear-cut description, however, poses a problem in describing many of its actual uses in discourse (i.e. ‘onul mwusun yoil-ieyo?’ is not inquiring about ‘the type of the day’ but is querying ‘to identify the day of the week.’).  Evidently, the traditional description has its limits in describing the actual use and as a result, teachers are left bewildered about how to effectively approach the gap between the current definition and the actual use in teaching.  In an attempt to satisfy the pedagogical need, this paper investigates the use of mwusun in discourse to better account for its authentic use.  

This study provides an in-depth examination and analysis of the actual distribution of mwusun in discourse.  This is done by investigating a spoken corpus from an online resource www.sejong.or.kr.  The tokens of mwusun were counted and highlighted by a corpus concordance program, Monoconc Pro.  They are then categorized into their specified functions (i.e. question words, discourse markers, etc.) for analysis. 

Throughout this paper, I will demonstrate that the actual usages of mwusun are not bounded to the conventional generalization (‘querying the type of nouns following’).  In fact, the traditional description is only a part of many functions they have in authentic discourse.  Moreover, I will demonstrate that their various functions are governed by the interrelationship between pragmatic and semantic aspects.  In addition, many uses of mwusun deployed in actual discourse do not function as question words (e.g. used as a discourse marker: yayn, wuli saiey mwusun, used in rhetorical questions: kukey mwusun kippun sosikini?).

The findings of the present study highlights that the function of mwusun is multidimensional in which the interpretation of its use is highly sensitive to its discourse context.  This underscores the importance of teaching mwusun via integrating authentic discourse.    

Linking Word to the World: Korean Language Learners in the United States

Mihyon Jeon

University of Pennsylvania

     Beginning in the 1960’s and continuing today, the fields of sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology have been concerned with understanding, describing, and defining “speech communities.” As contemporary language contact situations entail the formation of multicultural and multilingual communities, research on speech communities emphasizes the emergent, dynamic, and multiple nature of the concept. This study aims to highlight the ways in which literacy events in a college-level Korean class in the United States index multiple and dynamic speech communities and the ways in which this indexicality between word and the world shapes the learners’ experiences of learning Korean and their sense of identity. 

     The setting of this study, an emerging speech community, consists of mostly second generation Korean-Americans whose mother tongue proficiency has not been fully achieved due to the language contact situation between an immigrant minority language and the host majority language in the United States.  This study draws on one year’s ethnographic study of an intermediate Korean language class.  Data-collection methods include participant observation, audio-taped classroom discourse, document collection, and interviews.  A fine-tuned discourse analysis of the audio-taped classroom interaction is adopted as a main means of data analysis. 

     The findings of this ethnographic and linguistic anthropological study demonstrate that the boundaries of speech communities are highly permeable and that participants constantly draw on multiple speech communities in micro-level interactions.  This study also shows that heritage language learning experiences of second generation Korean-Americans are crucially affected by literacy practice in which participants use words in a text to index worlds outside that text.  Korean language teachers in United State will find this study useful because the fine-tuned discourse analysis demonstrates what happens in a college-level Korean language class when the participants in the class try to link what they learn to the context where they live.  Furthermore, this study has implications for heritage language education, which is gaining emphasis as a means for ensuring a linguistic human right, a rich cultural heritage, and an invaluable resource for the world.

문법과 언어 교육: 한국어 오류 분석을 중심으로

정원돈(Jeong, Weon-Don)

세명대학교 (Semyung University)

  언어 교육은 듣기, 말하기, 읽기, 쓰기와 같은 네 가지 능력을 습득하는데 중점을 둔다. 문법은 이 네 가지 분야의 능력 배양에 필수불가결한 요소로 작용한다. 따라서 언어 교육에서 문법 교육이 필요하고 중요하다는 것은 인정하지만 문법 교육을 소홀히 하는 경향이 있다. 특히 의사 소통 기능을 강조하는 언어 교육의 관점에서는 문법 교육은 더욱 등한시된다. 이런 부정적인 시각은 전통적으로 교실에서의 문법 교육이 실용적이 아니기 때문에 의사 소통 능력 배양에 도움이 안 된다는 생각에서 기인한다. 예를 들어 전통적인 문법 교육에서는 매우 어렵고 불필요한 문법 용어의 설명, 복잡한 구문 분석 등이 다루어졌다. 학습자들은 문법 교육을 통해 구문 분석 능력을 배우지만 실용적인 능력을 습득할 수는 없었다. 결과적으로 학습자들은 언어 학습이 어렵다고 생각하게 되었고 문법 교육이 불필요하다고 믿게 되었다.

  문법 교육이 학습자의 학습 목표에 어느 정도 기여를 했지만 들어간 시간이나 노력에 비하면 효과는 적었다고 할 수 있다. 정확한 어법이나 문법 습득을 강조하여 의사 소통을 위한 도구로서의 언어 교육은 이루어지지 않고 문법 자체를 위한 교육이 이루어진 것이 사실이다. 따라서 문법 교육의 장점보다는 단점이 드러나게 되었고 의사 소통 능력을 강조하는 추세에 맞추어 문법 교육은 서서히 사라지게 되었다.

  그러나 문법 교육은 언어 교육의 네 가지 기능 증진에 중요하고 도움을 준다. 문법 교육을 통해서 구문 분석 능력이 향상됨으로 인해서 언어의 이해를 위한 단위 분절을 더 쉽게 해 주고, 문법에 맞는 제대로 된 문장을 말하고 쓰는 능력이 길러진다. 또한 장기적이고 꾸준한 문법 교육을 함으로써 목표 언어의 내재적인 지식을 얻게 된다. 이밖에도 학습자들의 나이, 성장 배경, 교육 배경, 필요성, 목표, 언어 구사 능력 등을 고려하여 수준에 맞는 문법 교육을 병행하면 더 좋은 효과를 얻을 것이다.

  언어 교육의 궁극적인 목표인 의사 소통 능력 습득이라는 관점에서 문법 교육은 무시될 수 없다. 구문이나 문장은 그것을 구성하고 있는 단어나 어휘의 고유한 뜻만이 아니라 상호 관계도 중요하다. 예를 들어 어순이나 기능 범주 등이 갖는 문법적이고 기능적인 의미가 결합하여 완전하고 진정한 의미를 갖게 된다. 이것은 의사 소통을 위해서는 문법적 요소가 필요하다는 것을 보여준다. 결론적으로 언어 교육에서 문법 교육은 필요하지만 어려운 문법 용어나 까다로운 구문 분석을 피하고 담화문법적인 문법 교육을 하는 것이 좋을 것이다.

  한국어 교육도 위에서 언급한 경향을 보이고 있으며 가능하면 어려운 문법 교육은 피하고 실용적인 문법 교육을 해야 할 것이다. 이를 위해서 실제 사용되는 문장에서 오류를 골라 간단한 문법 지식을 가르치는 것이 한 방법이 될 것이다.

(예) 가. 어머니가 서울가서방을 얻었다. (서울가서 방을/서울가 서방을)

        나. 행복한 [책] 읽기/행복한 [책 읽기]

        다. 철수에게 물을 주었다./나무에 물을 주었다.

       A Study of Contemporary Korean Poetic Words

Sunny Jung

University of California Santa Barbara

      Between poetry and language there exists a dialectic relationship in which poetry challenges the limitations of a language’s power of expression. Language presents limitations and constraints on how it may be used and understood, both through grammar and vocabulary. Poetry can often come into conflict with these limitations and, as a result, poets create new vocabulary and sentence styles in order to better express their attitudes, opinions, and philosophy. Consequently, a country’s language evolves along with its art and culture, and can often be viewed in context to a country’s history.

      In this paper, I would like to examine contemporary Korean poetic words from poetry books published from 2001-2002 in the following ways: First I would like to examine the use of Korean poetry for worldly concerns; economic, political, and social. In particular, I would like to analyze the poetic words that were created for this mode of poetry, which was very popular from the 1970¡¯s through the 1980’s. Kim Chi-Ha and Ko Un created unique poetic words using dialects, slang, and secret words to express nationalistic thoughts and attitudes.

      Secondly, I would like to discuss poetry that is purely for art’s sake. The poetic words that were created for this type of poetry are more similar to classical Korean poetic words than the first type of poetry. This poetry started in the 1930’s through the 1960’s by Park Mokwol, Cho Chi Hoon, Park Tu Jin, and Suh Jung Ju. These poets tried to preserve the beauty of native Korean poetic words. The themes of their poetry centered on nature and inner spirituality.

      Thirdly, I would like to discuss the influence and effect of English and other Western languages on the Korean native poetic vernacular. In particular, since 1920’s to 1990’s, Korea has been flooded with foreign languages, leaving an impression upon Korea’s art and culture. Poetry was no exception and many poets followed a trend of incorporating foreign words and expressions into their poems. In poetry from the time of Kim Kirim to Oh Kyu Won, many Korean native words were supplanted by foreign equivalent terms as a matter of style and unconventional expression.

      I am interested in writing a paper on the aforementioned because I thought it would be important for Korean language teachers to understand the highest form of the Korean language. In summary, I would like to note that Korean poetry and artistic expression has
evolved and become more eclectic through foreign influence. The importation and assimilation of foreign ideas; however, has eroded national identity. Therefore, as we are immersed in a sea of information, it is crucial for poets to acknowledge their own unique national identity.

The Functional Roles of Teachers’ Language Use in the KFL Classroom

Sahie Kang

Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center

Some research results tell us that the more the target language is used in foreign language classrooms the higher proficiency level the students would achieve.  Yet some scholars and classroom teachers believe that students’ L1 has a place in the classroom.  

This paper investigates how much English and Korean are used in several selected KFL classrooms and shows what the roles of English in the classrooms are when it is used.  The selected KFL classrooms were observed, and the teachers’ use of English was recorded.  Subsequent to the observation, each teacher was asked to explain the why English was used.  The teachers’ responses are categorized by the functional roles, such as academic, social, etc.  Also some strategies for changing such functional roles of L1 to those of L2 will be discussed. 

In conclusion, this paper proposes that the use of L1, English, has functional roles in the classroom, although target language use should be encouraged and increased in the KFL classrooms.

References:

Duff, P.A. and Polio, C. G. (1990) “How much foreign language Is There in the Foreign Language Classroom?,”  The Modern         

            Language Journal 74, pp. 154-166.

Duff, P.A. and Polio, C. G. (1994) “Teachers’ Language Use in University Foreign Language Classrooms: A Qualitative Analysis of English and Target Language Alternation,” The Modern Language Journal 78, pp. 313-326.

Macaro, A. (2001) “Analysing Student Teachers’ Code-switching in Foreign Language Classrooms: Theories and

       Decision Making,”  The Modern Language Journal 85, pp. 531-548

Stanley, K. (2002) “Using The First Language In Second Language Instruction: If, When, Why and How Much?” TESL-EJ Vol.5, No.

             4.

고급 학습자를 위한  프로젝트 접근식 소설 수업 지도 방안

김현진

이화여대

외국어로서 한국어 교육에 있어 문학 작품을 통한 한국어 교육의 필요성에 대해  많은 연구자들이 관심을 갖고 있으며 실제 국내외 대학 기관을 비롯한 한국어를 가르치는 기관에서 문학작품을 통한 한국어 교육이 이루어지고 있다. 한국문학 작품 중에서 ƒ무엇을, 어떻게 가르칠 것인가„에 대해서는 그 연구가 이루어지고 있어 많은 성과가 있으리라 기대된다. ƒ무엇을 가르칠 것인가„ 에 있어서는 교수 대상이 누구이며 어떤 배경을 지닌 학습자인가와 연관이 있을 것이다. ƒ어떻게 가르칠 것인가„에 대한 논의도 매우 의미있는 일이라 생각된다. 그러나 외국어 교육의 관점에서 볼 때 일반적인 문학교수법에 대한 이해와는 달리 목표어의 문학을 어떻게 가르칠 것인가 보다는 문학 텍스트나 학생들의 문학에 대한 흥미를 언어 교육에 어떻게 활용할 것인가가 더 중요하다고 생각된다. 본 연구에서는 학습자들의 문학에 대한 흥미를 한국어 읽기와 쓰기 능력 향상에 활용하는 관점에서의 프로젝트 접근식 수업을 접목시킨 소설 수업을 그 모형으로 제시하고자 한다. 본고에서 소개하고자 하는 모형은 5주간 동안 실시된 프로젝트 수업에 관한 것이다.

Teaching Tense Agreement in Complex Sentences in Korean

Kenneth Kong-On Kim

Defense Language Institute

     In Korean, as in many other languages, the grammatical tense form of the verb in a sentence is closely associated with the time of the occurrence of an event or action. What is interesting about the agreement between the grammatical tense and the time of actual occurrence is that the verb in a subordinate or embedded clause frequently appears in the present (not marked for past tense) despite the fact that the tense of the verb in the main clause is in the past. The foll