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Research and Educational Trend of Korean Studies at University in Hong Kong - focusing on the Korean language and culture curriculum
The education of Korean studies/Korean language and culture abroad has been discussed a lot, but not much has been known about that in undergraduate programs of universities in Hong Kong. This paper reviewed the current status of the education of Korean studies/Korean language and culture in Hong Kong's undergraduate programs, focusing on the curricula of four major universities offering Korean studies/Korean language major/minor programs, and found the following characteristics. First, Korean studies/Korean language and culture education at Hong Kong's universities is slowly taking root after nearly 20 years since the beginning. Second, the proportions of Korean language courses and Korean culture courses designated as compulsory slightly differ for each university, depending on the inclinations of the departments offering the Korean studies/Korean language programs. Third, Hong Kong's undergraduate curricula tend to concentrate more on the Korean language rather than on Korean culture, regardless of a major or a minor program. For the future development of the education of Korean studies/Korean language and culture in Hong Kong, it is suggested to more develop Korean language and culture courses and textbooks actively utilizing Korean popular culture, and effective teaching methods of Korean pronunciation for native Cantonese learners of Korean. Also, the Korean language needs to be included in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) as a subject for examination.
Compared to other regions, little is known about education on Korean studies and Korean language and culture at universities in Hong Kong. The number of reports on the state of universities in Hong Kong is very small compared to other Chinese-speaking regions such as China or Taiwan. This may be due to its short history compared with that of China and Taiwan. There is a greater need to introduce it all the more because its recent situation is not well known either.
The state of Korean studies and Korean language and culture education in Hong Kong is much different from that of the neighboring mainland China. It is because, before it was returned to China in 1997, Hong Kong had been under the influence of Britain as the empire's colony for more than 150 years after the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. It is against this unique historical background that Hong Kong's development has been different from that of China, and Hong Kong's language, society, politics, economy, culture, and education are still distinguished from that of China. As a result, the motivation of Hong Kong people to study Korean language and culture and the goals of educational institutions (especially undergraduate courses at universities) in Hong Kong are different from those of China as well. While Korean studies and Korean language and culture education at Chinese universities has developed rapidly as Korean companies advancing into China have hired locals who can speak Korean (Park Kyeong-u, Min Yeong-ran, 2013), Hong Kong people's interest in Korean language and culture education was based on their affection for Korean popular culture led by hallyu (Kim Kang, 2010; Oh Seon-yeong, 2014; Lee Soo-kyung, 2011). Since the social conditions and motivations of the learners in China and Hong Kong are different, the curriculums of universities in China and Hong Kong differ in their focus and content.
The state of education on Korean language and culture was mentioned in the reports by Kang Kim (2010), Lee Su-kyeong (2011), and Oh Seon-yeong (2014), but those previous studies did not focus on Korean language and culture education or curriculums of undergraduate courses at universities in Hong Kong. Kang Kim (2010) summarized the state for the first decade of Korean language education in Hong Kong from 1998 to 2009, when the language institute affiliated with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ran Korean language courses. The report focused on Korean language education offered to adults by lifelong education institutions. The report by Lee Su-kyeong (2011) focused on the results of a survey of students taking Korean language courses like the bachelor's program of the Department of Korean Language and Culture at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The report did not deal with Korean culture and language education offered in the undergraduate courses of universities in Hong Kong. The paper by Oh Seon-yeong (2014) introduced in detail and summarized the state of Korean studies offered by universities in Hong Kong, but it did not deal with detailed Korean studies curriculums.
It is well-known that since it was returned by the U.K. to China on July 1, 1997, Hong Kong has been greatly influenced by the Chinese government and it is being Sinicized. However, as its official name "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China" which was adopted under the principle of one country, two systems, suggests, Hong Kong has a distinctly different system from mainland China, including administration, judiciary, legislation, education, and language.
The difference between Hong Kong and mainland China comes up clearly in the language life in Hong Kong. After it was returned to China in 1997, Hong Kong adopted the "Biliterate and Trilingual' Language Policy, under which Cantonese which is the Hong Kong dialect, English which had been the official language during the British colonial era, and Putonghua (Mandarin) which is the standard language of mainland China are official spoken languages and the Chinese and English are the official written languages. In everyday life, however, Cantonese is the most commonly used language, followed by English.
The situation is the same in school education. Most of elementary, middle and high schools in Hong Kong have Cantonese as their medium of instruction, and English is the official teaching language at universities. This represents a big difference from mainland China, where local dialects and English are not included as official languages and not used in school education. Hong Kong also shows big difference from China in the background of the establishment of Korean studies/Korean language courses at universities. If the direct cause of the growth of Korean language education in China was students' pragmatic goal of getting a job at Korean companies that entered China or Chinese companies interacting with South Korea after the normalization of relations between the two countries in 1992 (Gwak Su-min, 2012; Park Kyeong-u, Min Yeong-ran, 2013), interest in Korean culture of people in Hong Kong resulted in studies of Korean culture (Kang Kim, 2010). Also, the history of Korean language and culture education in Hong Kong is very short compared with that of China. Whereas the first Korean studies-related department at a Chinese university was opened around the 1950s (Song Hyeon-ho, 2012), the first Korean-related undergraduate course whose credit was recognized in Hong Kong did not come until 2003 (Kang Kim, 2010; Oh Seon-yeong, 2014).
2.2. Korean Language and Culture Education at Major Universities in Hong Kong
There are 22 higher learning institutions in Hong Kong, of which eight public universities supported by the Hong Kong University Grant Committee (UGC) are rated as major universities. Hong Kong's UGC, modeled after the UGC in the U.K., was established in 1965, and the Hong Kong government entrusted UGC with an independent authority to set subsidies for universities (Tang, 2010). The following eight universities are supported by the UGC in Hong Kong: Lingnan University (LU), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), University of Hong Kong (HKU), City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU).
Currently, only the University of Hong Kong offers a Korean studies major course and a minor course, while three other universities offers a minor course. At these universities, departments and colleges of regional studies (University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong) or linguistics (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Chinese University of Hong Kong) offer major and minor courses related to Korean language and culture. The University of Hong Kong, which offers a separate major course in Korean studies, does not have an independent department of Korean studies. The course is being offered as part of the diverse regional studies of the "School of Modern Languages and Cultures." Except for the "Korean Language" minor course at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, three other universities use a larger category of "Korean Studies" as the name of their major or minor courses.
The University of Hong Kong offer the most number of courses at 49, followed by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University with 15 and the City University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong with 13 each. The University of Hong Kong, being the only university in Hong Kong which has a Korean studies major, was also different from other universities in that each course of the Korean studies major/minor programs had six credits. Students majoring in Korean studies at the University of Hong Kong are required to take 12 courses (72 credits) and students minoring in Korean studies six courses (36 credits) under the curriculum. Students minoring in Korean studies or Korean language at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, City University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong are required to take six courses, but each of the courses has three credits, which means the total number of required credits is 18, half of the 36 required by the Korean studies minors at the University of Hong Kong. This shows that the University Hong Kong, which runs a Korean studies major course, is providing reinforced minor education compared to other universities.
When classifying the courses into language and culture, the proportion of Korean culture and Korean language courses varied from university to university. Korean culture courses accounted for more than 50% (55% at the University of Hong Kong and 54% at the City University of Hong Kong) of the curriculums, while Korean language courses accounted for more than 60% (60% at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 85% at the Chinese University of Hong Kong). This seems to be linked to the fact that those who opened Korean studies major and minor programs at the University of Hong Kong and the City University of Hong Kong have strong regional studies traditions, while the departments that opened Korean language/Korean studies major course at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong are based on linguistics. Now, let's take a closer look at the curriculums of the Korean language and culture major/minor courses at the four universities.
The Korean studies major course which opened at the University Hong Kong in 2012 is the only major program in the regular undergraduate courses at a Hong Kong-based university. However, the Korean studies major course is not offered by an independent department of Korean studies, but by the "School of Modern Languages and Cultures" of the Faculty of Arts. This seems to be an important factor in determining the direction and characteristics of the Korean studies major course at the University of Hong Kong. The "School of Modern Languages and Cultures" is divided into regional studies and foreign languages. Regional studies have seven categories: Japan, Europe, America, International Creative Industry, Korea, Africa, and China, and there are 11 foreign language courses: French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Swedish, and Thai. The school focuses more on regional studies research and education through an interdisciplinary approach than foreign languages, so Korean studies majors also offer many subjects that take an interdisciplinary approach and follow the trends in regional studies.
A total of 49 courses are offered in the Korean studies major/minor programs of the University of Hong Kong. What's noteworthy is all the courses have six credits, twice as many as the three credits in the Korean studies courses offered at other universities in Hong Kong. With more class hours, students at the University of Hong Kong are supposed to learn more from each course compared to other universities, which is desirable considering that language studies requires a lot of practice on the part of students.
Those who major in Korean studies at the University of Hong Kong must take a total of 72 credits (12 courses). Seven out of the 12 courses (42 credits) are mandatory. Five Korean language courses ('Korean I.1', 'Korean I.2', 'Korean II.1', 'Korean II.2', 'Korean III.1'), and one cultural course ('Introduction to Korean Culture and Society') are mandatory major courses, and there is one project requirement (language or cultural course) in which students select a topic about Korea, conducts research, and writes a thesis before graduation. In addition, students must take at least 5 courses (30 credits) in "interdisciplinary elective courses," and they must select at least two Korean language courses and two cultural courses out of the 5 elective courses. Under the curriculum designed for the Korean studies majors at the University of Hong Kong, students take at least seven Korean language courses (42 credits, 58%) and three Korean culture courses (18 credits, 25%).
In order to graduate from the University of Hong Kong as a Korean minor, students must take six courses (36 credits). Its four mandatory courses ('Korean I.1', 'Korean I.2', 'Korean II.1', and 'Korean II.2') are all about the Korean language. Students are free to take the other two courses, of which one is a cultural course. It is easy to understand that the curriculum for Korean studies minors at the University of Hong Kong was designed to have students take at least 4 courses (67%) or up to 5 courses (83%). The proportion of Korean language courses is high for both majors and minors, and the proportion of Korean language courses is higher for minors who are required to take relatively small credits than that for majors. The university is supposed to have increased the proportion of Korean language courses in its curriculum because Korean language proficiency is essential for Korean studies.
Of the 49 courses offered in the Korean studies major/minor courses at the University of Hong Kong, 27 were related with culture and 22 were related with the Korean language. As there are many cultural courses, the subjects were specific, each dealing with Korean culture, society, popular culture, modernity, literature, thought, politics, gender, Korean War, and North Korea. Most of the subjects are focused on modern times, but there are some that concentrate on pre-modern times. Above all, one major characteristic of the cultural courses offered by the University of Hong Kong is that they have many interdisciplinary courses.
The curriculum has a total of five courses, including two art history courses, "Korean Art" and "History of Korean Painting"; one Japanese studies course, "Japan and the World: 1550-1850"; two social science courses, "International Relations in East Asia" and "Miracles of Asian Economic Development and Thereafter."
Korean language courses offer classes that integrate speaking, listening, reading, and writing from levels one to four and classes each of which deals in-depth with speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In addition, there are separate courses on business Korean, English-Korean translation, Chinese-Korean translation, Korean news, Korean through the media, and introduction to teaching Korean as a foreign language. This allows students to take classes according to the level of their Korean proficiency and their own needs. In addition, the university is encouraging students to get Korean language immersion education as it offers "Korean Language Training" course, which requires students to take more than 60 hours of classes in the summer semester at a Korean institution where student exchange program is available.
3.2. Korean Studies Minor at the City University of Hong Kong
The Korean studies minor course at the City University of Hong Kong is in the Department of Asian and International Studies of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. The Department of Asian and International Studies offers five minor courses focused on regional studies: "Asia and International Studies Major" and "Asian Studies Minor," "International Studies Minor," "Development Studies Minor," "Japanese Studies Minor," and "Korean Studies Minor." Since all the faculty members majored in regional studies, the department offers only culture-related courses and Korean language courses are offered by the Language Center, which belongs to the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and which specializes in English and foreign language courses. This shows that the university's curriculum for Korean studies minors have different operators for Korean culture and Korean language (including Korean language studies) courses. This can be said to be a clear difference between the City University of Hong Kong's curriculum for Korean studies minor course and those of the other three universities.
The Korean studies minor curriculum at the City University of Hong Kong offers a total of 13 courses, with students required to take six courses for 18 credits. There are six Korean language courses and seven Korean culture courses. Two Korean language courses – "Elementary Korean 1" and "Elementary Korean 2" -- and two cultural courses – "Introduction to Korean Society" and "Korean Culture" -- are designated as mandatory courses. This indicates that the university's curriculum for Korean studies minors puts the same weight on the Korean language and Korean culture courses. Compared to the Korean studies/Korean language minor courses of the University Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which emphasized development of Korean language skills by having students take more Korean language courses, the City University of Hong Kong's curriculum put a relatively higher emphasis on Korean culture. The reason seems to be that the Korean studies minor course belongs to a department focused on regional studies and that Korean language courses are offered outside the department.
Students working to get all the required credits must take the remaining two courses out of elective courses. There are four Korean language courses – two intermediate-level Korean courses, "Practical Korean Speaking" and "Practical Korean Writing," in which students learn advanced speaking and writing. There are five cultural courses: Korean language studies, comparison of Korean business management with China and Japan, understanding Korea through movies, Korean modern popular culture, and one course that offers a school trip to Korea.
3.3. Korean Language Minor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Unlike the other three universities, Hong Kong Polytechnic University uses 'Korean language,' not 'Korean studies,' as the name of its minor course. This is closely related to the characteristics of university and department to which the Korean minor course belongs. A polytechnic university basically aims for practical and applied education and research, and accordingly, the 'Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies' to which the Korean language minor course belongs also focuses on applied linguistics. In line with such a propensity for pragmatism and emphasis on applied linguistics of the department, the Korean language minor course focuses more on the Korean language than Korean culture. Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Korean language minor course offers 15 courses, 3 credits for each of them.
Of the 15 courses in the Korean language minor program offered by the polytechnic university, nine are language courses and six are cultural courses. Language courses include a Korean language course that teaches the four language areas of speaking, listening, reading, and writing, at the elementary, intermediate and advanced levels, 'Media Korean' in which students learn Korean through various media such as Korean dramas, movies, webtoons, and K-pop, and 'Korean-Chinese Interpretation and Translation.' What's noteworthy in the university's Korean language courses is that it offers courses in which students can learn Korean through media and culture, instead of focusing on one of the language skills such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
There are three Korean culture courses: 'Koreans' Life and Art,' which outlines Korean tradition and modern culture, 'Koreans' Cultural Identity,' which explores Koreans' cultural identity through the Korean history and the characteristics of modern society, and a liberal arts course in which first-year students learn about Korea by comparing societies, cultures, histories and movies in East Asia. Comparative cultural studies courses in which students understand Korea in the context of East Asia that includes Korea, China, and Japan accounted for half of the six Korean culture courses. In addition, even cultural courses on Korean society and culture offer ways to grasp Korean culture by comparing it with that of China, Hong Kong, and other foreign countries.
In order to complete the Korean language minor program at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, students must take 6 courses (18 credits). There are four mandatory courses: three elementary- and intermediate-level Korean language courses and a Korean culture course named 'Koreans' Life and Art." Three (75%) of the four mandatory courses are Korean language courses, and one (25%) is a cultural course. One can see that like the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University puts more weight on the Korean language in its curriculum for Korean language minors. Students can choose two elective courses out of six language courses and five cultural courses.
3.4. Korean Studies Minor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Korean studies minor course at the Chinese University of Hong Kong is offered by the 'Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages,' which focuses on teaching of linguistics and foreign languages such as Arabic, French, German, Hong Kong sign language, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Thai. As can be seen in Table 5, 11 of the 13 courses offered in the Korean studies minor program at the university are language courses and the other two are cultural courses. Considering the number of courses offered in the curriculums for minors, the Chinese University of Hong Kong puts the biggest weight on Korean language courses. And all the four mandatory courses (12 credits) required to complete the minor program are Korean language courses – 'Korean 2' to 'Korean 5,' and no Korean culture course was designated as a mandatory course. It is the only university that has not set a Korean culture course as a requirement of the minor course. Students can take two elective courses out of five Korean language courses and two cultural courses. Since the Korean studies minor program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong belongs to a department that focuses on linguistics and foreign languages, it focuses more on the Korean language than Korean culture.
What is noteworthy is that the Chinese University of Hong Kong opened a basic Korean course, 'Korean 1,' in its minor course, but its credit is not counted as the credits students are required to earn to complete the minor program. It seems that the university aims to improve students' Korean language skills by encouraging them to take more Korean language courses at the intermediate and advanced levels. It is considered a good strategy other universities could take into account.
This paper looked at the state of the Korean language and culture education which had rapidly expanded in Hong Kong around 2010 through the curriculums of Korean studies and Korean language majors/minors opened in four major universities. Their characteristics can be summarized as follows. First, Korean studies and Korean language and culture education at universities in Hong Kong has been taking root over the 20 years. But even the University of Hong Kong, which is the only university that offers a Korean studies major program, does not have an independent department of Korean studies, with the Korean studies major program belonging to the 'School of Modern Languages and Cultures.' Only four of Hong Kong's eight major universities have opened a Korean studies/Korean language major/minor course. Second, the proportions of Korean language courses and Korean culture courses designated as mandatory courses in the Korean studies/Korean language minor courses were slightly different from school to school, depending on the research and education directions of the departments that offer the minor courses. Third, except for the City University of Hong Kong, the other three universities operated a curriculum that focused more on the Korean language than Korean culture whether they be major or minor programs. This seems to be a natural choice to cultivate Korean skills, which is essential to majors or minors in Korean studies.
In order to promote development of Korean studies and Korean language and culture education in Hong Kong, the following needs to draw attention. First, since most students in Hong Kong get interest and motivation in learning Korean language and culture from Korean pop culture, there should be more Korean language and culture classes using popular culture and relevant textbooks should be developed in order to secure development of effective and sustainable Korean culture education in Hong Kong. Second, most Korean language learners in Hong Kong are native speakers of Cantonese, but the phonological structure of Cantonese is completely different from that of the Putonghua, which is the standard language of mainland China. So there are differences between native speakers of Cantonese and Putonghua even when they make mistakes and have difficulties with pronouncing Korean. Therefore, it is necessary to further develop the Korean pronunciation teaching method for native speakers of Cantonese who learn Korean (Sim Sin-ae·Kim Seon-a, 2016). Lastly, considering the development of Japanese studies in Hong Kong, efforts should be made so that the Korean language be included as a test subject of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) as soon as possible. Hong Kong has had a close economic relationship with Japan for a long time, and the history of Japanese language and culture education in Hong Kong extends over 50 years and Japanese draws the largest number of foreign language students in Hong Kong (Oh Seon-yeong, 2014). Major universities in Hong Kong offer Japanese studies major and minor courses, with the Chinese University of Hong Kong having an independent department of Japanese studies and offering a master's degree program. This is related to the fact that Japanese is included in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE), the equivalent of Scholastic Aptitude Test for college admission. it is very important from a long-term perspective that Korean is included in the HKDSE as a test subject in order for Korean studies and Korean language and culture education to continue to develop in Hong Kong. To this end, Korean government agencies, including the Korean Consulate General in Hong Kong, are advised to make active efforts.
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1. Introduction
As hallyu (Korean wave) boosts interest in Korean culture around the world, a growing number of people in an increasing number of overseas regions are studying Korean culture. Overseas universities are one of the leading institutions providing education on Korean culture, and there has been active introduction to Korean studies and Korean language and culture education at overseas universities. Gwak Su-min (2012) summarized the overall state of overseas Korean studies, and the following reports have been made on western Europe, including France and Spain, as well as Asia: China (Park Kyeong-u, Min Yeong-ran, 2013; Son Jeong-il, 2003; Song Hyeon-ho, 2012; Lee Hae-yeong et al., 2007; Jo Hang-rok, 2005), Taiwan (Gwak Chu-mun, 2008, 2014; Park Byeong-seon, 2014; Wang qing dong, 2015; Zeng tian fu, 2003), Mongolia (Lee An-na, 2007), France (Jo Tae-rin, 2013) and Spain (Min Won-jeong, 2008).Compared to other regions, little is known about education on Korean studies and Korean language and culture at universities in Hong Kong. The number of reports on the state of universities in Hong Kong is very small compared to other Chinese-speaking regions such as China or Taiwan. This may be due to its short history compared with that of China and Taiwan. There is a greater need to introduce it all the more because its recent situation is not well known either.
The state of Korean studies and Korean language and culture education in Hong Kong is much different from that of the neighboring mainland China. It is because, before it was returned to China in 1997, Hong Kong had been under the influence of Britain as the empire's colony for more than 150 years after the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. It is against this unique historical background that Hong Kong's development has been different from that of China, and Hong Kong's language, society, politics, economy, culture, and education are still distinguished from that of China. As a result, the motivation of Hong Kong people to study Korean language and culture and the goals of educational institutions (especially undergraduate courses at universities) in Hong Kong are different from those of China as well. While Korean studies and Korean language and culture education at Chinese universities has developed rapidly as Korean companies advancing into China have hired locals who can speak Korean (Park Kyeong-u, Min Yeong-ran, 2013), Hong Kong people's interest in Korean language and culture education was based on their affection for Korean popular culture led by hallyu (Kim Kang, 2010; Oh Seon-yeong, 2014; Lee Soo-kyung, 2011). Since the social conditions and motivations of the learners in China and Hong Kong are different, the curriculums of universities in China and Hong Kong differ in their focus and content.
The state of education on Korean language and culture was mentioned in the reports by Kang Kim (2010), Lee Su-kyeong (2011), and Oh Seon-yeong (2014), but those previous studies did not focus on Korean language and culture education or curriculums of undergraduate courses at universities in Hong Kong. Kang Kim (2010) summarized the state for the first decade of Korean language education in Hong Kong from 1998 to 2009, when the language institute affiliated with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ran Korean language courses. The report focused on Korean language education offered to adults by lifelong education institutions. The report by Lee Su-kyeong (2011) focused on the results of a survey of students taking Korean language courses like the bachelor's program of the Department of Korean Language and Culture at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The report did not deal with Korean culture and language education offered in the undergraduate courses of universities in Hong Kong. The paper by Oh Seon-yeong (2014) introduced in detail and summarized the state of Korean studies offered by universities in Hong Kong, but it did not deal with detailed Korean studies curriculums.
2. Hong Kong's Regional Characteristics and Korean Language and Culture Education at Major Universities
2.1. Hong Kong's Regional CharacteristicsIt is well-known that since it was returned by the U.K. to China on July 1, 1997, Hong Kong has been greatly influenced by the Chinese government and it is being Sinicized. However, as its official name "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China" which was adopted under the principle of one country, two systems, suggests, Hong Kong has a distinctly different system from mainland China, including administration, judiciary, legislation, education, and language.
The difference between Hong Kong and mainland China comes up clearly in the language life in Hong Kong. After it was returned to China in 1997, Hong Kong adopted the "Biliterate and Trilingual' Language Policy, under which Cantonese which is the Hong Kong dialect, English which had been the official language during the British colonial era, and Putonghua (Mandarin) which is the standard language of mainland China are official spoken languages and the Chinese and English are the official written languages. In everyday life, however, Cantonese is the most commonly used language, followed by English.
The situation is the same in school education. Most of elementary, middle and high schools in Hong Kong have Cantonese as their medium of instruction, and English is the official teaching language at universities. This represents a big difference from mainland China, where local dialects and English are not included as official languages and not used in school education. Hong Kong also shows big difference from China in the background of the establishment of Korean studies/Korean language courses at universities. If the direct cause of the growth of Korean language education in China was students' pragmatic goal of getting a job at Korean companies that entered China or Chinese companies interacting with South Korea after the normalization of relations between the two countries in 1992 (Gwak Su-min, 2012; Park Kyeong-u, Min Yeong-ran, 2013), interest in Korean culture of people in Hong Kong resulted in studies of Korean culture (Kang Kim, 2010). Also, the history of Korean language and culture education in Hong Kong is very short compared with that of China. Whereas the first Korean studies-related department at a Chinese university was opened around the 1950s (Song Hyeon-ho, 2012), the first Korean-related undergraduate course whose credit was recognized in Hong Kong did not come until 2003 (Kang Kim, 2010; Oh Seon-yeong, 2014).
2.2. Korean Language and Culture Education at Major Universities in Hong Kong
There are 22 higher learning institutions in Hong Kong, of which eight public universities supported by the Hong Kong University Grant Committee (UGC) are rated as major universities. Hong Kong's UGC, modeled after the UGC in the U.K., was established in 1965, and the Hong Kong government entrusted UGC with an independent authority to set subsidies for universities (Tang, 2010). The following eight universities are supported by the UGC in Hong Kong: Lingnan University (LU), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), University of Hong Kong (HKU), City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU).
Currently, only the University of Hong Kong offers a Korean studies major course and a minor course, while three other universities offers a minor course. At these universities, departments and colleges of regional studies (University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong) or linguistics (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Chinese University of Hong Kong) offer major and minor courses related to Korean language and culture. The University of Hong Kong, which offers a separate major course in Korean studies, does not have an independent department of Korean studies. The course is being offered as part of the diverse regional studies of the "School of Modern Languages and Cultures." Except for the "Korean Language" minor course at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, three other universities use a larger category of "Korean Studies" as the name of their major or minor courses.
The University of Hong Kong offer the most number of courses at 49, followed by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University with 15 and the City University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong with 13 each. The University of Hong Kong, being the only university in Hong Kong which has a Korean studies major, was also different from other universities in that each course of the Korean studies major/minor programs had six credits. Students majoring in Korean studies at the University of Hong Kong are required to take 12 courses (72 credits) and students minoring in Korean studies six courses (36 credits) under the curriculum. Students minoring in Korean studies or Korean language at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, City University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong are required to take six courses, but each of the courses has three credits, which means the total number of required credits is 18, half of the 36 required by the Korean studies minors at the University of Hong Kong. This shows that the University Hong Kong, which runs a Korean studies major course, is providing reinforced minor education compared to other universities.
When classifying the courses into language and culture, the proportion of Korean culture and Korean language courses varied from university to university. Korean culture courses accounted for more than 50% (55% at the University of Hong Kong and 54% at the City University of Hong Kong) of the curriculums, while Korean language courses accounted for more than 60% (60% at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 85% at the Chinese University of Hong Kong). This seems to be linked to the fact that those who opened Korean studies major and minor programs at the University of Hong Kong and the City University of Hong Kong have strong regional studies traditions, while the departments that opened Korean language/Korean studies major course at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong are based on linguistics. Now, let's take a closer look at the curriculums of the Korean language and culture major/minor courses at the four universities.
3. Curriculums of Korean Language and Culture Major/Minor at Major Universities in Hong Kong
3.1. Korean Studies Major and Minor at the University of Hong KongThe Korean studies major course which opened at the University Hong Kong in 2012 is the only major program in the regular undergraduate courses at a Hong Kong-based university. However, the Korean studies major course is not offered by an independent department of Korean studies, but by the "School of Modern Languages and Cultures" of the Faculty of Arts. This seems to be an important factor in determining the direction and characteristics of the Korean studies major course at the University of Hong Kong. The "School of Modern Languages and Cultures" is divided into regional studies and foreign languages. Regional studies have seven categories: Japan, Europe, America, International Creative Industry, Korea, Africa, and China, and there are 11 foreign language courses: French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Swedish, and Thai. The school focuses more on regional studies research and education through an interdisciplinary approach than foreign languages, so Korean studies majors also offer many subjects that take an interdisciplinary approach and follow the trends in regional studies.
A total of 49 courses are offered in the Korean studies major/minor programs of the University of Hong Kong. What's noteworthy is all the courses have six credits, twice as many as the three credits in the Korean studies courses offered at other universities in Hong Kong. With more class hours, students at the University of Hong Kong are supposed to learn more from each course compared to other universities, which is desirable considering that language studies requires a lot of practice on the part of students.
Those who major in Korean studies at the University of Hong Kong must take a total of 72 credits (12 courses). Seven out of the 12 courses (42 credits) are mandatory. Five Korean language courses ('Korean I.1', 'Korean I.2', 'Korean II.1', 'Korean II.2', 'Korean III.1'), and one cultural course ('Introduction to Korean Culture and Society') are mandatory major courses, and there is one project requirement (language or cultural course) in which students select a topic about Korea, conducts research, and writes a thesis before graduation. In addition, students must take at least 5 courses (30 credits) in "interdisciplinary elective courses," and they must select at least two Korean language courses and two cultural courses out of the 5 elective courses. Under the curriculum designed for the Korean studies majors at the University of Hong Kong, students take at least seven Korean language courses (42 credits, 58%) and three Korean culture courses (18 credits, 25%).
In order to graduate from the University of Hong Kong as a Korean minor, students must take six courses (36 credits). Its four mandatory courses ('Korean I.1', 'Korean I.2', 'Korean II.1', and 'Korean II.2') are all about the Korean language. Students are free to take the other two courses, of which one is a cultural course. It is easy to understand that the curriculum for Korean studies minors at the University of Hong Kong was designed to have students take at least 4 courses (67%) or up to 5 courses (83%). The proportion of Korean language courses is high for both majors and minors, and the proportion of Korean language courses is higher for minors who are required to take relatively small credits than that for majors. The university is supposed to have increased the proportion of Korean language courses in its curriculum because Korean language proficiency is essential for Korean studies.
Of the 49 courses offered in the Korean studies major/minor courses at the University of Hong Kong, 27 were related with culture and 22 were related with the Korean language. As there are many cultural courses, the subjects were specific, each dealing with Korean culture, society, popular culture, modernity, literature, thought, politics, gender, Korean War, and North Korea. Most of the subjects are focused on modern times, but there are some that concentrate on pre-modern times. Above all, one major characteristic of the cultural courses offered by the University of Hong Kong is that they have many interdisciplinary courses.
The curriculum has a total of five courses, including two art history courses, "Korean Art" and "History of Korean Painting"; one Japanese studies course, "Japan and the World: 1550-1850"; two social science courses, "International Relations in East Asia" and "Miracles of Asian Economic Development and Thereafter."
Korean language courses offer classes that integrate speaking, listening, reading, and writing from levels one to four and classes each of which deals in-depth with speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In addition, there are separate courses on business Korean, English-Korean translation, Chinese-Korean translation, Korean news, Korean through the media, and introduction to teaching Korean as a foreign language. This allows students to take classes according to the level of their Korean proficiency and their own needs. In addition, the university is encouraging students to get Korean language immersion education as it offers "Korean Language Training" course, which requires students to take more than 60 hours of classes in the summer semester at a Korean institution where student exchange program is available.
3.2. Korean Studies Minor at the City University of Hong Kong
The Korean studies minor course at the City University of Hong Kong is in the Department of Asian and International Studies of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. The Department of Asian and International Studies offers five minor courses focused on regional studies: "Asia and International Studies Major" and "Asian Studies Minor," "International Studies Minor," "Development Studies Minor," "Japanese Studies Minor," and "Korean Studies Minor." Since all the faculty members majored in regional studies, the department offers only culture-related courses and Korean language courses are offered by the Language Center, which belongs to the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and which specializes in English and foreign language courses. This shows that the university's curriculum for Korean studies minors have different operators for Korean culture and Korean language (including Korean language studies) courses. This can be said to be a clear difference between the City University of Hong Kong's curriculum for Korean studies minor course and those of the other three universities.
The Korean studies minor curriculum at the City University of Hong Kong offers a total of 13 courses, with students required to take six courses for 18 credits. There are six Korean language courses and seven Korean culture courses. Two Korean language courses – "Elementary Korean 1" and "Elementary Korean 2" -- and two cultural courses – "Introduction to Korean Society" and "Korean Culture" -- are designated as mandatory courses. This indicates that the university's curriculum for Korean studies minors puts the same weight on the Korean language and Korean culture courses. Compared to the Korean studies/Korean language minor courses of the University Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which emphasized development of Korean language skills by having students take more Korean language courses, the City University of Hong Kong's curriculum put a relatively higher emphasis on Korean culture. The reason seems to be that the Korean studies minor course belongs to a department focused on regional studies and that Korean language courses are offered outside the department.
Students working to get all the required credits must take the remaining two courses out of elective courses. There are four Korean language courses – two intermediate-level Korean courses, "Practical Korean Speaking" and "Practical Korean Writing," in which students learn advanced speaking and writing. There are five cultural courses: Korean language studies, comparison of Korean business management with China and Japan, understanding Korea through movies, Korean modern popular culture, and one course that offers a school trip to Korea.
3.3. Korean Language Minor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Unlike the other three universities, Hong Kong Polytechnic University uses 'Korean language,' not 'Korean studies,' as the name of its minor course. This is closely related to the characteristics of university and department to which the Korean minor course belongs. A polytechnic university basically aims for practical and applied education and research, and accordingly, the 'Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies' to which the Korean language minor course belongs also focuses on applied linguistics. In line with such a propensity for pragmatism and emphasis on applied linguistics of the department, the Korean language minor course focuses more on the Korean language than Korean culture. Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Korean language minor course offers 15 courses, 3 credits for each of them.
Of the 15 courses in the Korean language minor program offered by the polytechnic university, nine are language courses and six are cultural courses. Language courses include a Korean language course that teaches the four language areas of speaking, listening, reading, and writing, at the elementary, intermediate and advanced levels, 'Media Korean' in which students learn Korean through various media such as Korean dramas, movies, webtoons, and K-pop, and 'Korean-Chinese Interpretation and Translation.' What's noteworthy in the university's Korean language courses is that it offers courses in which students can learn Korean through media and culture, instead of focusing on one of the language skills such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
There are three Korean culture courses: 'Koreans' Life and Art,' which outlines Korean tradition and modern culture, 'Koreans' Cultural Identity,' which explores Koreans' cultural identity through the Korean history and the characteristics of modern society, and a liberal arts course in which first-year students learn about Korea by comparing societies, cultures, histories and movies in East Asia. Comparative cultural studies courses in which students understand Korea in the context of East Asia that includes Korea, China, and Japan accounted for half of the six Korean culture courses. In addition, even cultural courses on Korean society and culture offer ways to grasp Korean culture by comparing it with that of China, Hong Kong, and other foreign countries.
In order to complete the Korean language minor program at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, students must take 6 courses (18 credits). There are four mandatory courses: three elementary- and intermediate-level Korean language courses and a Korean culture course named 'Koreans' Life and Art." Three (75%) of the four mandatory courses are Korean language courses, and one (25%) is a cultural course. One can see that like the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University puts more weight on the Korean language in its curriculum for Korean language minors. Students can choose two elective courses out of six language courses and five cultural courses.
3.4. Korean Studies Minor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Korean studies minor course at the Chinese University of Hong Kong is offered by the 'Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages,' which focuses on teaching of linguistics and foreign languages such as Arabic, French, German, Hong Kong sign language, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Thai. As can be seen in Table 5, 11 of the 13 courses offered in the Korean studies minor program at the university are language courses and the other two are cultural courses. Considering the number of courses offered in the curriculums for minors, the Chinese University of Hong Kong puts the biggest weight on Korean language courses. And all the four mandatory courses (12 credits) required to complete the minor program are Korean language courses – 'Korean 2' to 'Korean 5,' and no Korean culture course was designated as a mandatory course. It is the only university that has not set a Korean culture course as a requirement of the minor course. Students can take two elective courses out of five Korean language courses and two cultural courses. Since the Korean studies minor program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong belongs to a department that focuses on linguistics and foreign languages, it focuses more on the Korean language than Korean culture.
What is noteworthy is that the Chinese University of Hong Kong opened a basic Korean course, 'Korean 1,' in its minor course, but its credit is not counted as the credits students are required to earn to complete the minor program. It seems that the university aims to improve students' Korean language skills by encouraging them to take more Korean language courses at the intermediate and advanced levels. It is considered a good strategy other universities could take into account.
4. Conclusion
It was around 2010 that the number of universities offering Korean studies or Korean language major/minor programs in Hong Kong increased remarkably. Except for the City University of Hong Kong, which opened a minor course in 2003, all the Korean studies/Korean language major/minor courses at the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong were established at that time. It is closely related to the change of Hong Kong's university system from the three-year British system to the four-year North American system, which started with the class of 2012/2013. The change strengthened general education centered on humanities and social sciences in undergraduate education (Oh Seon-yeong, 2014). Major universities could promote establishment of Korean studies/Korean language minor courses quickly because Hong Kong's interest in the Korean language and Korean culture was growing at a time when universities were preparing an overhaul of the undergraduate curriculums.This paper looked at the state of the Korean language and culture education which had rapidly expanded in Hong Kong around 2010 through the curriculums of Korean studies and Korean language majors/minors opened in four major universities. Their characteristics can be summarized as follows. First, Korean studies and Korean language and culture education at universities in Hong Kong has been taking root over the 20 years. But even the University of Hong Kong, which is the only university that offers a Korean studies major program, does not have an independent department of Korean studies, with the Korean studies major program belonging to the 'School of Modern Languages and Cultures.' Only four of Hong Kong's eight major universities have opened a Korean studies/Korean language major/minor course. Second, the proportions of Korean language courses and Korean culture courses designated as mandatory courses in the Korean studies/Korean language minor courses were slightly different from school to school, depending on the research and education directions of the departments that offer the minor courses. Third, except for the City University of Hong Kong, the other three universities operated a curriculum that focused more on the Korean language than Korean culture whether they be major or minor programs. This seems to be a natural choice to cultivate Korean skills, which is essential to majors or minors in Korean studies.
In order to promote development of Korean studies and Korean language and culture education in Hong Kong, the following needs to draw attention. First, since most students in Hong Kong get interest and motivation in learning Korean language and culture from Korean pop culture, there should be more Korean language and culture classes using popular culture and relevant textbooks should be developed in order to secure development of effective and sustainable Korean culture education in Hong Kong. Second, most Korean language learners in Hong Kong are native speakers of Cantonese, but the phonological structure of Cantonese is completely different from that of the Putonghua, which is the standard language of mainland China. So there are differences between native speakers of Cantonese and Putonghua even when they make mistakes and have difficulties with pronouncing Korean. Therefore, it is necessary to further develop the Korean pronunciation teaching method for native speakers of Cantonese who learn Korean (Sim Sin-ae·Kim Seon-a, 2016). Lastly, considering the development of Japanese studies in Hong Kong, efforts should be made so that the Korean language be included as a test subject of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) as soon as possible. Hong Kong has had a close economic relationship with Japan for a long time, and the history of Japanese language and culture education in Hong Kong extends over 50 years and Japanese draws the largest number of foreign language students in Hong Kong (Oh Seon-yeong, 2014). Major universities in Hong Kong offer Japanese studies major and minor courses, with the Chinese University of Hong Kong having an independent department of Japanese studies and offering a master's degree program. This is related to the fact that Japanese is included in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE), the equivalent of Scholastic Aptitude Test for college admission. it is very important from a long-term perspective that Korean is included in the HKDSE as a test subject in order for Korean studies and Korean language and culture education to continue to develop in Hong Kong. To this end, Korean government agencies, including the Korean Consulate General in Hong Kong, are advised to make active efforts.
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