Contemporary Korean Language and Culture I

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course is designed for students who are trying to elevate their Korean language proficiency level, from Intermediate to Advanced level, by challenging themselves to understand Korean authentic/ modified media materials such as Korean TV dramas, TV shows, TV news, or documentaries. It is also designed to introduce students to contemporary Korean popular culture and the Korean culture wave. An understanding of the oral and visual authenticity of Korean media materials not only gives students a rich and varied context in which they learn the target language, but also provides an exposure to the vocabulary and grammatical structures which are beyond the students' current proficiency level. Through the contextually very-rich texts of media materials and through frequent discussions and feedback sessions, this course will also offer students an opportunity to increase their awareness about Korean culture, a crucial element in advancing their proficiency to the Advanced level. Adapting interactive and elaborated task-based and content-based instructional designs, including four modes of language learning (speaking, listening, reading and writing), this course assists and motivates students to obtain the two main objectives; increasing Korean language proficiency and gaining valuable cultural awareness. The purpose of this course is not to suggest a normative way of Korean living or generalize Korean culture, but to study diverse ways of living and to critically examine personal and social implications of the various modes of culture.