[KS] Revisiting the Failed Koreanist Issue

[Keith Leitich]

Dear List Members,

I recognized most of the names of the North American Korean Studies scholars 
who contributed to the 'Failed Koreanist' issue and want to further engage 
in a critical dialogue on the issue of language instruction.

I want to examine the structure and manner in which language is taught in 
the United States. I speak as someone who has graduated from state 
land-grant universities at the undergraduate and graduate level (M.A.) 
during the late 80s and early 90s, as a Korea Foundation Fellow and someone 
who has worked in Education Abroad office at a land-grant university. So I 
cannot speak to language instruction at private, liberal arts college nor to 
recent innovations to the curriculum.

Two issues that I would were brought up during the course of the discussion 
were comparisons with our Russian and Australian colleagues to see if the 
'streets of Moscow and/or Melbourne were littered with failed Koreanist's' 
as I had the honor and priviledge of studying with colleagues from both 
Russia and Australia.

I would like to address some of the differences that I observed during my 
studies in Yonsei University.

I. Comparing American and Russian Language Instruction:
- At the undergraduate level:
American students typically take a language course per semester (1 hour per 
day for 5 days) for a total of 5 contact hours per week. Russian students 
have language instuction 4 to 6 hours per day 5 days a week for a total of 
20 to 30 contact hours per week. Thus, Russian students enjoy 15-25 more 
contact hours per week.

II. Comparing American and Australian Education Abroad:
- At the undergraduate level:
Americans students education abroad typically consists of a junior year 
spent overseas with credit earned for a set of specific courses taken, 
usually with a set curriculum taught in English. Additional courses taken 
are electives or not included in the course of study. That is not to stay 
that there are not students who are fluent enough to take classes in 
country's native language. My Australian friend the 2 1/2 years abroad 
studying and took a variety of courses that included langauge instuction as 
well as English language coursework.

I would like to begin the discussion by asking the following questions:

1. Should language instruction be more intensive? Perhaps, language 
instruction could be increased to 2 to 3 hours per day more along the lines 
of the traditional ESL model.

2. Perhaps, being a Korean Studies majors should be required to spend at 
least one year in Korea as a student with all coursework transferable back 
to the home institution, including elective courses and language courses.

Regards,

Keith Leitich

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