Korean Studies

2019 Korean Learning Students' Short Film Festival
2019 Korean Learning Students' Short Film Festival

The Korean Studies Program at George Mason University

The Korean studies program at Mason is seeking new frontiers in Korean studies. In the past decades, the field of Korean studies has made a major transition from regional studies to interdisciplinary studies, including film and media studies, cultural studies, literature, linguistics, translation studies, and international studies. For this reason, our program uniquely offers diversified content-based courses beyond basic language courses for many students who are pursuing Korean studies in conjunction with other minor or major academic fields. Students are encouraged to contribute their unique and different perspectives to the field of Korean studies.

We started a minor in Korean studies in the fall of 2017 and a B.A. in foreign languages with a concentration in Korean in the fall of 2019. Students pursuing Korean studies at Mason are given ample opportunities for experiential and integrative learning through film projects, conference presentations, language exchange or study abroad programs, and internships at the Mason Korea campus. In addition, many students spend a semester as an exchange student at Yonsei University. It is our goal to meet students’ diversified needs in terms of the strong foundation in Korean language as well as professional knowledge in Korean culture, which are required in various fields today, including international relations, transnational corporations, education, translation and interpretation, federal and local governments, and other global cultural industries.

We currently offer the basic Korean language sequence, ten core courses taught in Korean, and six electives taught in English. Students who are minoring in Korean studies will attain Korean proficiency equivalent to the Intermediate High on the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and Level 4 on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) by the end of the program. Students who are pursuing a B.A. in foreign languages with a concentration in Korean are expected to accomplish the Advanced Low on the OPI and Level 5 on the TOPIK by the end of the program.

Korean Studies Advising Resources

Students who have self-studied Korean or are a heritage speaker of Korean are required to take our online level placement test. Those who have completed or tested out of KORE 202 can enroll in our upper division core courses fully taught in Korean. The proficiency guideline for our basic language sequence is as follows:  

Proficiency_Guidelines_for_the_Basic_Korean_Language_Program_2021 

Students who are interested in pursuing a minor or major degree in Korean studies should contact the Korean program coordinator, Professor Jihye Moon at jmoon9@gmu.edu. They can also schedule an appointment with the MCL academic advisor, Professor Xi Chen through Navigate Mason. Students who are interested in studying abroad in Mason Korea can contact Ms. Grace Lee at glee36@gmu.ed for detailed information.

Those who are interested in the summer or semester exchange program at Yonsei University can find the information about applications and study abroad scholarships at http://studyabroad.gmu.edu/. Also, the full course database for both Mason Korea as well as Yonsei University are available through the CERS system, where students can submit their course equivalency requests.

 

Korean Learning Resources

Korean dictionaries:    https://www.korean.go.kr/  

                                        https://endic.naver.com                                     

                                        https://papago.naver.com/

Korean encyclopedias:   https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/

                                           https://folkency.nfm.go.kr

                                           https://heritage.unesco.or.kr/

                                           https://terms.naver.com/    

                                           http://www.okpedia.kr/

Korean online lessons:   https://www.iksi.or.kr/lms/main/main.do

                                           https://www.youtube.com/quickkorean/

                                           https://talktomeinkorean.com/curriculum/

                                           https://www.duolingo.com/course/ko/en/Learn-Korean

Korean bookstore:  https://www.booksonkorea.com/

                                   https://www.darakwonusa.com/book/list

Study Abroad Scholarship Resources

https://mcl.gmu.edu/programs/la-ba-frln/scholarships

The Diversifying Study Abroad Travel Scholarship 

 The Jacquemin Family Foundation Education Abroad Scholarship

Critical Language Scholarship

Boren Scholarship

The Fund for Education Abroad Scholarship  

Global Korea Scholarship

The Academy of Korean Studies (AKS)

Teaching English Resources

Korvia Consulting

TravelBud

Teach and Learn in Korea (TaLK)

English Program in Korea (EPIK)

Internship Resources

https://mcl.gmu.edu/undergraduate/internships