A Study on Educational Methods for Korean Classical Literature through a Case of TR Istanbul University

Abstract

The status of Korean literature is not high in the realistic situations of educational institutions abroad. Mostly, it is located in the surrounding position as a part of Korean language education, and even the classical literature, which is far from the local learners in time and space, is often considered as an exception. However, if Korean studies, linguistics, and Korean literature require acquiring knowledge as independent majors, it is impossible to abandon the obligation to educate classical literature for difficult reasons. Therefore, there is a need for a way for students to overcome the absolute challenges of 'distance with learners' and gain knowledge of classical literature. In this regard, the Department of Korean Language and Literature, TR Istanbul University, designed a total of five semesters of curriculum to educate Korean classical literature and applied it to actual education. This paper is to look into the curriculum and to measure its success to find future improvements. The core of the curriculum is to improve the educational outcome by minimizing the disparity of time and space that local learners will feel for Korean classical literature, and recognizing the classical literature as the object of appreciation rather than the object of memorization. Now, looking back at the success of the first round of curriculum graduates, it is successful to make students accept Korean classical literature as an object of appreciation and understand that it embodies human and other universal life. On the other hand, some complementary points were identified. It was necessary to publish local customized textbooks and collections of classical literature. In addition, it was confirmed that measures should be prepared to increase the concentration of theoretical lectures while minimizing the burden on students.