Professor Jihye Moon has published her first volume of Topics in Korean Language and Culture as the leader author, which is designed to accommodate a wide range of courses and curricula existing for Korean programs today. As she has been devoted to establishing the curriculum for the growing Korean studies program at Mason over the past decade, she witnessed that the transition from the intermediate level to the advanced level in a four-year curriculum is not always seamless for learners of Korean as a foreign language or as a heritage language spoken outside of Korea. Due to their lack of exposure to real-world Korean language and culture, they are often not adequately prepared to seek a career path that requires working proficiency in Korean or to further their study in graduate programs in Korea after college. For this reason, the current series aims to address the specific needs of Korean majors and minors in their third or fourth year of learning Korean taking upper-division core courses that are theme-based and are taught in the target language.
Twelve topics have been carefully selected to deal with the essential aspects of both traditional and contemporary Korean society to prepare our learners to be well-rounded student scholars in the field of Korean studies and which enables the comparison of cultural products, practices, and perspectives to build their intercultural competence required of global citizens today. Additionally, several topics touch upon the issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion to be aligned with current educational and institutional visions, which we find particularly relevant to our world language classrooms and learning communities around the globe. Each chapter comprises of listening and reading passages, key expressions and grammar, and performance-based activities unfolding across different modes of oral and written communication. The grammar section is uniquely organized into foundation review, semantic distinction, and language function to help learners advance beyond the plateau of intermediate proficiency.
March 27, 2024