Historically, the Korean peninsula has been in a state of language but no writing. Scholar Zhang Guangjun believes that Chinese characters were introduced to Korea around the 3rd century BC, and began to be popularized on a large scale in the early days of Goguryeo in 37 BC, and have continued to this day. The use of Chinese characters has a long history in Korea and has had a profound impact. In 2004, the world's first Confucius Institute was established in Seoul, South Korea, and Chinese language education in South Korea also entered a period of vigorous development.
Hanja Policy in South Korea
Since Chinese characters were introduced to Korea in the 3rd century BC, Koreans have been using Chinese characters to write official documents and record historical and cultural activities. It was not until 1446 that King Sejong presided over the creation of "Hunminjeongeum", and Koreans began to use Korean characters. However, due to the far-reaching influence of Chinese characters, the two languages have been in a state of simultaneous use.
In 1945, North Korea officially issued a series of relevant regulations in the "Abolition of Chinese Characters Trial Implementation Statement", the main purpose of which is to completely abolish Chinese characters. In 1948, the South Korean government formulated the "Korean Special Act", which stipulated that the official documents of the Republic of Korea must be written in Korean, and Chinese characters can be marked in brackets when necessary. From 1945 to 1957, the South Korean government issued a series of policies to abolish Chinese characters. However, problems such as homophonic duplication and ambiguous meanings would occur after the exclusive use of Korean, and some experts believe that about 70% of the Chinese words in the Korean vocabulary use Chinese characters to Understanding and mastering Korean is also helpful. Therefore, in actual use, government documents, newspapers and magazines are mixed with Korean and Chinese characters. In 1968, the South Korean government established the "Korean Special Research Committee", abolished 1,300 educational Chinese characters, and stipulated that official documents and textbooks must use Korean characters, and Chinese characters are not allowed.
In 1971, academic groups such as the Korean Language Education Research Association suggested to the government to resume the use of Chinese characters and were affirmed; in 1972, the Korean government stipulated 1,800 "basic Chinese characters for education", 900 for junior high schools and 900 for high schools; Names in Chinese characters can be used when registering ID cards; in 2005, it was announced that Chinese characters should be used again on official government documents and traffic signs.
The South Korean government has formulated a series of policies to abolish Chinese characters in the past few decades, but due to the long history and far-reaching influence of Chinese characters on the Korean peninsula for thousands of years, the Korean-only policy cannot be truly implemented; at the same time, after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea in 1992, in order to promote The cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, as well as the inheritance and development of traditional culture, the promotion and use of Chinese characters have received corresponding attention.
Chinese Character Education in Korea
In the 1940s, after the promulgation of the "Korean Special Act", Chinese characters gradually disappeared in Korean written language, and Chinese character education in primary and secondary schools was greatly affected. From the 1950s to the 1960s, the Ministry of Culture and Education formulated the "Thousand-Character List of Commonly Used Chinese Characters", which stipulated that Chinese characters should be taught in primary and secondary schools, and the status of Chinese characters has been improved to a certain extent. In the 1970s, the Korean government’s Chinese character education policy changed repeatedly: first, the mixed or combined Chinese characters in textbooks were all abolished; later, the “Basic Chinese Character List for Education” was formulated, and Chinese classes were set up in middle schools, and Chinese characters reappeared in middle school textbooks (Chinese characters are placed in brackets). In 1992, when China and South Korea established diplomatic relations, the "Korean Chinese Character Proficiency Test Association" became the authoritative Chinese character proficiency test and examination institution in South Korea. In 1998, the "General Association for the Advancement of Chinese Character Education" was established, proposing to restore traditional Chinese character education, and suggested popularizing Chinese character education from primary schools. In 1999, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Korea put forward the "Report on Promoting the Combined Use of Chinese Characters", which included the adaptation of the Chinese character education system. After the "Chinese fever" heated up in 2000, South Korea's Chinese character education policy gradually stabilized.
Since South Korea introduced the Chinese character proficiency examination policy in 1992, Chinese character proficiency can help students enter school and get a job, so Chinese character learning has also been relatively valued. From the third basic curriculum education reform (1974-1981) to the seventh reform (1997-2011), South Korea has made detailed regulations on the mastery of Chinese characters at different learning stages for middle and high school students. The requirements for Chinese characters are getting higher and higher.
King Sejong
However, in actual teaching, affected by the arrangement of textbooks, teachers focus on teaching Chinese characters using etymology and character theories. The students' fear of difficulty in learning. In addition, due to the long-term influence of the instability of the Korean character policy, the teaching of Chinese characters lacks a unified teaching plan. Different schools and different teachers have different attitudes and emphasis on Chinese character teaching. What should be taught in Korean basic education? , How to teach did not reach a consensus.
The Teaching Situation of Chinese Characters as Second Language Acquisition in South Korea
As the demand for Chinese in South Korea heats up, public education in South Korea also takes Chinese as one of the optional foreign languages. Students learning Chinese no longer need to learn the traditional Chinese characters traditionally used in Korean, but the current simplified Chinese characters.
With the popularization of Chinese language teaching in South Korean primary and secondary schools, more and more Chinese teachers have joined the South Korean primary and secondary school teachers in addition to their own teachers, thus injecting new strength into the teaching of Chinese and Chinese characters in South Korea. However, due to the limitations of the curriculum and the level of teachers and students, the situation of Chinese character teaching is not ideal. First of all, in terms of curriculum setting, the Chinese class has limited hours, and pays more attention to cultivating students' listening, speaking, reading skills and Chinese oral communication skills, and pays little attention to the teaching of Chinese characters. Secondly, in terms of teachers, some Korean teachers have insufficient knowledge of Chinese characters, and the Chinese characters they learn are traditional traditional characters. They lack the understanding and mastery of modern Chinese simplified characters, which will inevitably affect their teaching. Some Chinese textbooks are local textbooks written by Korean teachers. Although they are more suitable for the learning characteristics of Korean students in some aspects, they are not systematic and scientific. Thirdly, from the perspective of learners, as Korean students in the cultural circle of Chinese characters, although some of them have a certain understanding of the recognition, reading and writing of traditional Chinese characters, in the process of learning and using modern Chinese simplified characters, there will be mixed use of traditional and simplified characters. Errors occur, and at the same time, due to the influence of the Korean writing method, negative transfer will occur when writing Chinese characters; in addition, the Chinese character test is not included in the compulsory subjects of the Korean college entrance examination, and students' attention to Chinese character learning is also greatly reduced.
In 2000, the Korean Ministry of Education and Human Resources recognized the national certification qualification of the Chinese character test, and introduced Chinese characters into the university entrance and enterprise recruitment exams. In 2007, in order to promote the popularization of simplified Chinese characters in South Korea, the Korea-China Common Chinese Character Ability Test Association launched the "commonly used Chinese character test" to examine 3500 commonly used Chinese characters, including 1277 simplified characters. The promulgation of these policies and regulations has further emphasized and paid attention to the education of Chinese characters in South Korea.
With the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea and the continuous heating up of the "Chinese fever" in South Korea, the number of South Korean colleges and universities offering Chinese-related majors has gradually increased, and the proportion of professional courses and teaching focus have also changed. , Chinese tourism Chinese and other more practical majors, while traditional majors such as classical literature and ancient Chinese have decreased. At present, the Chinese departments of major universities in South Korea have added courses on Chinese language skills, including Chinese character courses.
Confucius Institute in Seoul
However, as far as the professional background of the existing Korean teachers is concerned, the majority are Chinese classical literature teachers, and relatively few language teachers. This will undoubtedly affect the proportion of professional courses, including the professors of Chinese character courses. Judging from the curriculum settings of the Chinese departments of several famous national universities and private universities in South Korea, the proportion of Chinese character courses is not large. In addition, although most of the students in the Chinese Department had Chinese learning experience in elementary and middle schools, they were affected by repeated changes in educational policies during this period, and their understanding of Chinese characters and their writing were far from what they should be. The curriculum is still based on teaching Chinese literature and Chinese language, focusing on the understanding of traditional literature and the application of modern Chinese. The Chinese character course is regarded as a learning task that should be completed early and neglected, so that college students do not have enough time to study and practice Chinese characters. .
Therefore, in order to improve students' ability of Chinese characters, we must pay attention to the teaching of Chinese characters, introduce teachers, and change teaching methods. At the same time, the promulgation of various Chinese character proficiency test policies and the demand of major Korean companies for Chinese professionals have in turn prompted colleges and universities to pay more attention to the teaching and practice of Chinese language majors. It is undeniable that the overall development trend of Chinese language teaching in South Korea is positive.
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