A Study on the Selection and Classifying of Korean Euphemism for Chinese-Speaking Learners This study aims to effectively apply the list of the euphemisms for educational purposes related to Korean as a foreign language education to the education fi... A Study on the Selection and Classifying of Korean Euphemism for Chinese-Speaking Learners This study aims to effectively apply the list of the euphemisms for educational purposes related to Korean as a foreign language education to the education field by classifying the Chinese learners of the Korean language into different levels through the selection of the list based on main theories and expression methods related to euphemisms and the analysis of frequency of practical use and level of difficulty. The purpose of foreign language education is instructing learners to communicate smoothly. People tend to avoid and beat around the bush when it comes to negative and sensitive topics and use smooth and indirect speech for smooth communication. The use of euphemisms helps achieve communication goals by avoiding taboo, maintaining the companion's honor while abiding by courtesy, and inducing positive and smooth dialogue. In other words, euphemisms take the role of an important 'lubricant' in communication. Emphasis on phoneme, form, and grammar of target language is important in foreign language education but the significance of vocabulary, expression, culture, the use of pragmatic speech, euphemisms, and so on cannot be neglected. Therefore, this study looked at the state of the education with regard to euphemisms and the existing problems in education environments. A number of problems exist in the education regarding euphemisms in the language education systems of Korea and China and these problems exist within the teaching materials and education contents of the universities in China. Since the materials seldom mention euphemisms or due to the absence of guidance by instructors, learners have no other choice but to learn through the communication with Koreans. The education contents related to euphemisms for the Chinese learners of the Korean language is very small. In addition, even though some euphemisms and vocabulary are mentioned in Korean language materials, there were no detailed explanations with regard to how these expressions are used in the daily life of Koreans. Since there were no explanations, the learners find it difficult to understand and do not have any idea how to use them in actual conversations. Thus, the Korean euphemism education contents for the Chinese learners of the Korean language are very poor. Next, similar problems are found regarding the Korean euphemism education in the education field of Korea. In other words, there is no definition of the euphemism concept in the Korean language education and the materials did not have anything in common. Furthermore, the problem of not perceiving the parts related to the euphemisms of the Korean language materials, the problem of distinguishing the euphemisms of courteousness and honorific speech, the issue of not selecting an education list, and the issue of classifying the learning levels are found. The contrastive studies between the Korean language and other languages have been conducted so far but the study on the selection of the euphemism list for the Korean language education are insufficient and the studies which have taken into account the learners of different nationality can barely be found. Therefore, this study examined the representative education materials in Korea and China and the relevant supplementary materials and conducted surveys through interviews which targeted the Chinese learners of the Korean language. Nevertheless, the problems which had been brought up in the existing studies still remain unresolved. In particular, systematic Korean euphemism materials and professional Korean euphemism dictionaries have not been published. As a result, it is truly difficult to select euphemisms. This study asserts that the selection of the euphemisms for education and the classification of these euphemisms are the most urgent tasks in the Korean euphemism education in order to resolve such pending issues. Amid the increasing number of people learning the Korean language, the importance of the Korean euphemism education for smooth communication is also increasing. Researchers, teachers, and learners mostly share the idea that the Korean euphemism education and studies are necessary. In spite of such a widespread opinion, a number of problems remain unresolved, the Chinese learners of the Korean language desperately need the Korean euphemism education, and various and in-depth studies are necessary. That is, this study realized that there are many insufficiencies and problems with regard to the Korean euphemism education in the process of examining the existing materials and the current conditions of the Korean language education. Especially, the number of the materials which professionally dealt with euphemisms is too small and the dictionaries and dissertations related to the Korean euphemisms suggested in a list can hardly be found. Thus, this study deemed that the resolution of this matter is essential in the process of proceeding with the Korean language education with the Chinese learners of the Korean language. For this aim, the highest priority is making a list after designating the Korean euphemisms for educational purposes and reference materials should be provided to systematic compilation of teaching materials and field education through frequency of use and level of difficulty based on list making. Thus, this study considered the theories and previous research materials related to euphemisms and analyzed the occasions of using euphemisms, expression methods, and the principle of realizing euphemisms. The basic materials of this study were the euphemisms included in the existing studies, a list of euphemisms for educational purposes was created by selecting 81 most frequently used euphemisms through survey, and the selected euphemisms were classified into different levels by taking into account frequency of use and level of difficulty. The 81 expressions selected by this study can be classified into 11 categories: 10 are related to death, 6 are related to disease and injury, 5, 15, 7, and 4 are related to disability, gender, illegal actions, and economy respectively. Also, 8 are related to dating, home, marriage, and pregnancy, 7 are related to menstruation, excretion, or secretion, and 15 are related to occupation and social position. Then, they were divided into different levels by taking into consideration the frequency and the level of difficulty of the selected Korean euphemisms. The following is the combined result. There are 16 expressions adequate for teaching at the beginner level since they are used frequently and easy to use, 36 are suitable for teaching at the intermediate level, and 29 are appropriate to be suggested at the advanced level since the frequency is low and the level of difficulty is high. The list of the Korean euphemisms for educational purposes drawn from this study will be helpful when compiling systematic Korean language teaching materials or euphemism materials and it can be used as a reference material for learners. To sum up, this study is comprised of six chapters according to the aforementioned research methods and the following are the key points of respective chapters. Chapter 1 discussed the background, purpose, and necessity of this study and proposed research methods and scope after systematically reviewing the previous studies of both Korea and China. Chapter 2 dealt with the theoretical consideration for the progress of this study and examined the theories related to the definition, characteristics, basic theory, and cause of creation, and the principles and expression methods of euphemisms. Chapter 3 analyzed Korean euphemisms from two aspects: verbal formation style and non-verbal formation style. Based on previous studies, this chapter analyzed and reviewed all Korean euphemism formation styles which had been discussed so far. In particular, the reviewing process had been carried out based on the euphemism formation style of vocabulary category - verbal formation style. Chapter 4 selected the vocabulary category of Korean euphemisms for educational purposes and suggested the list. First of all, after establishing the concept of selecting the vocabulary for educational purposes, the criteria of selection was clearly mentioned, and the targets were selected. In other words, based on the questionnaire surveys which targeted 223 Koreans, this chapter selected the euphemisms of vocabulary category out of 403 candidate expressions that had been collected and organized in previous studies. As a result, the list of euphemisms for educational purposes was suggested after selecting 81 Korean euphemisms with the highest scores of compatibility assessment. Moreover, based on the selected result, the validity of the list was discussed. Chapter 5 analyzed the frequency of use and level of difficulty of the selected euphemisms. This chapter analyzed the transparency of the selected euphemisms for educational purposes, the similarity with Chinese euphemisms, and the level of difficulty of vocabulary and classified them into the beginner level, the intermediate level, and the advanced level. As the conclusion of this study, Chapter 6 summarized and organized the previously discussed contents and proposed the direction of future studies by drawing the limitations of this study. Lastly, the following are two limitations of this study. First, this study chose the method of harmonizing Koreans' intuitive and subjective judgements and the analysis of objective data when selecting euphemisms. The selection result was derived from questionnaire surveys. However, since the styles of euphemisms differ according to the survey respondents' age, occupation, gender, academic background, and experiences, the results are not absolutely objective. However, the results derived from this study are the expressions frequently used in daily life and the attempt is meaningful in the sense that the list is what learners want to beat around the bush. Future studies need to continuously seek the ways to select euphemisms and basic selected data. Furthermore, a variety of studies are necessary with regard to more plentiful vocabulary and expression data and more objective selection methods that can possess representability. Second, this study selected the euphemisms within the Korean vocabulary category and left out the phrases of Korean sentence category or the euphemisms regarding the euphemisms related to the level of pragmatics from discussion. Therefore, professional and in-depth studies on the euphemisms at the sentence level and the euphemisms at the level of pragmatics should be carried out in the future. ，韩语毕业论文，韩语论文网站 |
