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Efforts to Upgrade Korean Language Education in Central Asia

Despite a rather long history of Korean language education in Central Asia, why has the quality of instruction in this region continued to languish? Above all, there is an urgent need to localize the Korean language curriculum and textbooks in order to reflect the particular circumstances of Korean learners in the region.



Since 1991, there has been growing interest in learning the Korean language in Central Asia, after Korea had established diplomatic relations with a number of regional countries. Indeed, various universities in Central Asia began to offer Korean language courses, such as Tashkent State Oriental Studies University, University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Uzbekistan State World Language University, and Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages in Uzbekistan; Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi and Almaty Abai State University in Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan State University and Bishkek Humanities University in Kyrgyzstan.
However, consistent and high-quality education of the Korean language is not readily available due to various domestic and external factors, in spite of the passage of some 15 years. One of the fundamental problems is that the Korean language curriculum and textbooks have not yet been properly developed to assure proper instruction of the students of this region. Prior to the 1990s, they typically used instructional material from North Korea and Russia, while more recently they have been using textbooks published in South Korea. A majority of the Central Asian universities use textbooks published by Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University, and Kyung Hee University. In light of these circumstances, the Korean language education there is in large part dependent on the proficiency and experience of the Korean language instructors. Textbooks are selected by each individual instructor, which can make it difficult to maintain a standard consistency at an institution. In addition, local conditions in Central Asian countries are noticeably different from that in other regions of the world, which means that the basic textbooks published in Korea might not be well suited for learners here. For Central Asia in particular, the regular textbook content should be localized to reflect the following factors, in regard to Korean language education there.

Differences in Korean Language Learners
Korean language learners in Central Asia share a similar regional culture, related to native language and traditions, which is distinctive from the cultural backgrounds of Korean students from other countries and regions. Moreover, the age of Korean language learners in Central Asia generally ranges from 16 to 25, while a much wider range of ages is seen in other countries.

Educational Environment and Circumstances
Korean language learning and application are mainlyconfined to the classroom in Central Asia, while such learning and application includes interaction with native Korean speakers, outside the classroom, in Korea and elsewhere. Of course, for people in Central Asia it is of no consequence if they do not know Korean. But for a learner in Korea, you will experience considerable inconvenience if you do not grasp the basics of the language.

Motivation for Korean Language Education
The level of Korean language proficiency that students in Korea seek to attain will range from basic usage to a high degree of fluency. For example, some people are interested in acquiring a practical level so that they can deal with everyday matters, while others strive to become extremely fluent, in order to pursue academic or business interests. In Central Asia, however, the learners seek to attain a Korean language proficiency that will enable them to study in Korea, work for a Korean business, or be an instructor of Korean.

Educational Content
The educational content offered by Korean language institutions in Korea are focused on an introduction to life in Korea and Korean culture, along with the use of colloquial Korean. In Central Asia, however, Korean language education should include content that might enable the learners to express their knowledge about the local area, understand and utilize research references in Korean, and translate printed matter.

Instructional Methods
In the case of the Korean language learners studying in Korea, even the learners of basic Korean should be able to communicate with others in Korean. In line with this, Korean language institutions in Korea use situation-based teaching methods, teaching Korean by acting out everyday scenarios. Related to this, researchers have even argued for considering the instruction of various dialects. In Central Asia, however, beginners have only limited opportunities to speak Korean outside the classroom.
Central Asian learners of Korean language are usually from a similar cultural group who speak a common language. Korean language instructors in Central Asia speak both the local language and Korean, and therefore can effectively use such teaching methods as a translation task-based approach. In Korea, however, instructors are likely to be teaching a group comprised of learners who speak different languages, and it is therefore not possible to utilize such teaching methods. Korea and Central Asia need to adopt their own instructional approaches because of the different backgrounds and situations of their Korean language education.

These differences need to be considered when developing a Korean language curriculum for Central Asian students. As Korean language courses are mainly offered at the university level in Central Asia, the development and standardization of the Korean language curriculum should be centered around the respective Korean language departments at the individual universities. Each university in Central Asia implements its own curriculum for Korean since there is no standard Korean language curriculum. They teach not only Korean but also Korea-related subjects, such as Korean history, culture, politics, economy, religious history, and folklore. It might not be feasible to standardize the Korea-related curriculum at the various universities in the region, but cooperative efforts should be undertaken to jointly develop curriculum, with a focus on practical Korean (Korean conversation) and other common subjects on Korea, as soon as practical.

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