Literacy Education in Korea: A Sociocultural Perspective.

Traditionally, children's social environments have been assumed to have little to do with their literacy development. This perception probably is based on a deep-rooted conception of literacy as a cognitive ability, something that is taught to children when they start school. Recently, a much broader definition has been given to the term "literacy." As a cultural, social, and cognitive achievement (McLane & McNamee, 1990), literacy encompasses the social and personal use of reading and writing, the various levels in written language, and the cognitive and behavioral processes of written composition (Gundlach, McLane, Scott, & McNamee, 1985). It also includes activities that once were considered play, such as games of Scrabble[R] and doing crossword puzzles. Literacy development, then, is the acquisition of a complex set of attitudes, expectations, feelings, and behaviors, as well as skills. This article illustrates why the concept of literacy should include the characteristics of a language and the sociocultural situation in which the language is used.

The Past and Present Circumstances of Literacy Education for Young Children in Korea

In Korea, literacy traditionally has been taught through repetition and memorization, a practice very much supported by most parents. Moreover, since it is very difficult to be admitted to a college in Korea, parents make every effort to have their children begin to learn at an early age. Parents especially focus on reading and writing skills. Reading and writing are considered readiness skills that children should possess before entering elementary school.

In conflict with these behavioral perspectives of parents, maturational perspectives on literacy prevailed among preschool practitioners until the early 1980s. Most practitioners believed that reading and writing should not be taught at preschool (known as "yuchiwon" or kindergarten, for children between the ages of 3 and 5), and they only focused on young children's development of listening and speaking abilities. Korea's national kindergarten curriculum reflected this language development perspective. The most popular language-related activities included discriminating among various sounds, listening to stories, and sharing and presenting experiences in circle times. In addition, Korean preschool teachers traditionally have preferred such activities as "linking the last syllable" and "utilizing name tags." They valued the former as a way to foster children's listening and speaking abilities, and believed the latter helped children feel that they belonged to a class.

Since the 1980s, the education business market targeted to young children has grown, fueled in large part by parents' high expectations for their children's educational attainment, and reinforced by the nation's economic growth and reduced birth rate. The hakseupjee (worksheets) segment of the market, in particular, has increased explosively. Korean parents think that the physical development and emotional well-being of their children should be fostered at home, while cognitive skills such as reading, writing, or math should be taught by teaching experts, either at school or at home (Chang, Park, & Kim, 1998).

When children reach age 3, most parents pay for special lessons from a private tutor who visits homes with hakseupjee. Usually, hakseupjee are delivered to the children's homes once a week, and then collected and corrected by the tutors. These worksheets are used to teach letter names, letter sounds, picture-word correspondence, and writing order. They also contain activities that provide children with practice in copying and tracing letters/words and using consonant-vowel combining principles.

Parents appear to believe that worksheets provide their children with systematic lessons and show the progress of daily practices. However, these worksheets rarely result in children mastering reading and writing skills because they are used too early, sometimes when children are only 2 years old. Therefore, parents also rely on the yuchiwon to teach their children reading and writing skills. Most parents firmly believe that reading and writing skills can be effectively taught by drill-and-practice, regardless of their child's age. Teachers and researchers, however, generally oppose such direct instructional strategies for children at very young ages. Meanwhile, the number of yuchiwon has increased rapidly because of the Early Childhood Education Promotion Act, issued in 1981. Yuchiwon are excluded from the public school system in Korea. Because they have little support from the government, yuchiwon are almost completely dependent on tuition from parents. Therefore, they compete against each other to recruit children, and the yuchiwon try to meet parental demands. Most often, parents demand that the yuchiwon teach reading and writing skills. The yuchiwon react to these parental requests in two ways: either ignoring them in support of maturational perspectives, or actively accommodating them by introducing worksheets into their programs.

Since the emergent literacy perspective was introduced to Korea in the late 1980s, it has exerted a strong influence on the early childhood education field. Its impact on literacy education in the yuchiwon can be explained in threefold. First, activities commonly implemented in the United States, such as storybook reading, journal writing, and using big books, now are carried out in the yuchiwon. Second, activities such as "linking the last syllable" and "utilizing name tags," once employed based on the maturational viewpoint, were reinterpreted from the emergent literacy perspective. Third, some Korean educators do implement activities that adapt the emergent literacy perspective, and that incorporate the characteristics of the Korean writing system, called Hangul.

The Characteristics of the Korean Writing System

Hangul consists of 14 consonants 

[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]

used as both initial and final letters; it also includes 10 vowels

[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]

Double consonants and double vowels are formed by and based on the original set of single consonants and vowels.

These 24 consonants and vowels are used to represent sounds and syllables and are combined into an equidimensional block. There are two combining rules: one is to combine an initial consonant and a vowel, and the other is to combine an initial consonant, a vowel, and a final consonant. For example, in the word "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" ([sah * ram]), which means "person," the first syllable--[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]--consists of the initial consonant "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" and the vowel "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]." The second syllable ([KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) consists of the initial consonant "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]," the vowel "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]," and the last consonant, "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]." In Hangul, when a consonant and a vowel make up a syllable, wherever the syllable is located in a word, the shape and sound do not change. For example, the syllable "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" in "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" is used in the word "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" ([sah * kuah]), which means "apple," with the same pronunciation and the same appearance. The same syllable ([KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) can be used in the same way in the second part of the word "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" ([cho * sah]), which means "investigation."

As shown in the former examples, Hangul represents a syllabic-alphabetic writing system, one in which a syllable takes up its own space, and is separated from the next one--this syllable is called a natza. In Hangul, the number of syllables in a word are exactly the same as the number of equidimensional blocks in a word. Using the word "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" ([sah * kuah]) again, it has two natza and two equidimensional blocks. Therefore, children easily understand the relationship between a syllable and a symbol. In an alphabetic system, an unlimited number of words can be produced with a limited number of consonants and vowels. Thus, the number of letters that children need to memorize is relatively small. Hangul has the advantages of both a syllabic and an alphabetic system.

The major strengths of Hangul are as follows: 1) a small number of basic consonants and vowels are used to represent sounds and syllables, 2) consonants and vowels are combined into a limited number of equidimensional block patterns, and 3) the sound and symbol relations show nearly perfect one-to-one correspondence (Kim, 1992).

Literacy Activities Unique to Korean Children

Practitioners commonly use the following five literacy activities:

* Linking the last syllable. This is a word game that has no restrictions in time, space, or number of players. The first player picks a word, the next player then must think of a word that starts with the last natza of the first player's word, the third player continues with a word that starts with the last natza of the second player's word, and so on. For example, if the first player says "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" ([sah * kuah]), the next player must start with [KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] such as "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" ([kuah * cha], meaning "cookies"). Then, the third player must think of a word that starts with [KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], as in "[KOREAN TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" ([cha * dong * chah], meaning "car"). This kind of game is possible because of the Korean natza. Whereas syllables are continuous in English, the natza in a Korean word are pronounced with short pauses between them. As mentioned earlier, when a consonant and a vowel in Hangul make up a natza, regardless of its location in a word, its shape and sound do not change. Because of this characteristic, it is not difficult for children to find a word that ends and starts with the same natza, and children feel a sense of accomplishment.

In the past, educators believed this game fostered children's listening and speaking abilities. Subsequently, its value in literacy development has been reinterpreted in light of the emergent literacy perspective. The game does alert children to the sound of each natza and helps them detect the structure of words, which leads to metalinguistic awareness. In addition, since children need to think of a word that starts with the last natza of the previous word, they become naturally interested in words, which helps them improve their vocabulary.

* Utilization of children's names. Children's names can be used in various contexts. In the most common activities, children attach their name tags to the attendance chart or to their cabinets. They mark or write down their names on various sheets that are used for planning daily schedules, self-grouping for small-group activities, or taking turns with housekeeping jobs (which include preparing snacks for the class, feeding the animals, and watering the plants).

As children see their names being used in various contexts, they get to know a functional use of literacy. Because of the characteristics of Hangul, using children's names is a highly effective way of teaching literacy. As already mentioned above, when a consonant and a vowel make up a natza, its location does not make any difference in the shape and sound. Korean names usually consist of three natza. Once children learn how to read and write their own names, they can recognize the same natza in other words. Since young children attach special meaning to their names, activities involving their names help them be self-motivated in expanding their vocabularies. It is common for Korean children to master Hangul by learning their own name, as well as the names of friends or family members.

* Activities for combining consonants and vowels. Various activities help children practice the rule of combining consonants and vowels. The following activity is the most commonly used in yuchiwon. Six consonants are written randomly, one on each side of one die. The other die shows six vowels. More than two players can play the game. The first player throws the dice. The player makes a natza with the consonant and the vowel that are facing upward. The next player continues the same procedure. After collecting several natza, whoever makes a word with them first, wins the game.

Although the consonant-vowel combining principles that this activity is designed to teach are the same as those in hakseupjee (worksheets), the contexts are different. In hakseupjee, children learn the principles by drill and practice. Through the game, however, the principles can be learned in a meaningful context. Even with the same natza collected, each child may make different words. Since the words made by each child tend to reflect his or her personal experiences, children learn these principles easily and joyfully, and they acquire a rich vocabulary.

* Making a pictionary. The three activities above are suited to the linguistic features of Hangul, and can help children who are at the early stage of the literacy development. By contrast, "making a pictionary" is an activity for children at any literacy level. In order to make a pictionary, the teacher assembles scissors, glue, blank booklets, and writing tools, as well as pictures to be cut out that are related to the unit in progress. Children cut out the pictures they have chosen and glue them on the blank booklet. A pictionary can be made in various ways, depending on the children's literacy developmental levels. Children who are at the beginning stage just cut out the pictures, glue them on the booklet, and color the pictures. If they do not know how to spell the words, they can invent their own spelling, or ask a teacher or a friend to help them. Children who have just started to write can label the pictures; those who are at a more advanced stage can explain each picture in sentences or connect them to make a story.

Children choose pictures that clearly express their experiences, feelings, purposes, interests, or thoughts, thereby adding meaning and context to the activity. When children make a pictionary, they put their own label or make a unique sentence, even if they are using the same picture. The pictionary activity helps children acquire vocabulary concepts about objects, and picture-word correspondence. It also gives children opportunities to practice sentence making and creative writing.

* Writing a poem. This activity is best suited for children whose literacy level is moderately high. Poetry writing can be introduced to children in several ways. One way is to have children alter an existing poem by changing a few words without changing the structure of the poem. For example, if a poem describes features of a chicken, children may modify it to describe another animal's features.

In another poetry writing activity, children create a poem after listening to music or a story, or after discussing a field trip. Before writing the poem, children dictate their experiences and impressions to the teacher. Afterwards, the teacher and the children rearrange the contents of the dictation and connect them in different ways to make a poem with a coherent subject, rhythm, or structure. A skillful child writer may write down the rearranged poem on a big piece of paper. Children who are less capable in writing may draw pictures that best represent the content of the poem, so that children at any stage of literacy development can participate in the activity and can "read" the poem. The teacher usually displays the poem in a highly visible area of the classroom.

This activity helps children understand relationships between oral and written language, become interested in the process of oral language being written down, become interested in creating a poem, express their thoughts by drawing or writing a poem, and appreciate the final product that they have worked on together. This activity also helps children develop decontextualized language ability.

Conclusion

Korean children start learning reading and writing at home from a very early age. Most Korean children first learn basic literacy skills from hakseupjee (worksheets) at home. Then, they are involved in the functional use of literacy from various meaningful activities at yuchiwon (kindergarten). Many arguments still occur about whether hakseupjee should be used to teach reading and writing. While some practitioners and most parents believe in the effectiveness of hakseupjee, researchers believe that they are developmentally inappropriate.

Compared to the English writing system, Hangul's syllabic structure and consistent sound-symbol correspondence make it much easier for children to learn about letter formation and spelling. Many unique activities in Korean preschool reflect these characteristics and also follow the emergent literacy perspective of embedding literacy in meaningful experiences.

Generally, the emergent literacy perspective assumes that children tend to be more interested in the functions of literacy first, then the form (Morrow, 1997). However, most Korean children first start to read and write about age 5, before they fully experience the functional aspects of literacy. Although Korean children's literacy development does not exactly follow the emergent literacy perspective, supportive components of literacy development are contextualized within the Korean language and culture.

References

Chang, E., Park, E., & Kim, H. (1998). The expectations of mothers and teachers regarding the development of three-year-old children. Journal of Korean Home Economics, 36(4), 137-146.

Gundlach, R., McLane, J., Scott, F., & McNamee, G. (1985). The social foundations of children's early writing development. In M. Farr (Ed.), Advances in writing research. Vol. 1: Children's early writing development (pp. 1-58). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Kim, B. (1992). South Korea. In J. Hladczuk & W. Eller (Eds.), International handbook of reading education (pp. 329-343). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

McLane, J., & McNamee, G. (1990). Early literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Morrow, L. (1997). Literacy development in the early years: Helping children read and write. Needham, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Jeehyun Lee, Eunhye Park, and Heejin Kim

Jeehyun Lee is Assistant Professor, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea. Eunhye Park is Associate Professor and Heejin Kim is Assistant Professor, Ewha Woman's University, Seoul, Korea.