The nature of the learners
At this level, students bring existing knowledge of Korean language and culture and a range of learning strategies to their learning. They are increasingly aware of the world beyond their own and are engaging with youth-related and social and environmental issues. They need continued guidance and mentoring, but are increasingly independent in terms of analysis, reflection and monitoring of their language learning and intercultural experiences. They are considering future pathways and options, including how Korean could be part of these.
Korean language learning and use
Learners engage with more complex language with greater control of language. They use a range of forms and structures, and richer and more sophisticated vocabulary to perform tasks individually and collaboratively, to access and exchange information on broader topics and abstract concepts, and to create, interpret and analyse a wider range of texts. They express feelings, emotions and opinions more precisely using a variety of expressive and descriptive language in imaginative and creative experiences. They are more confident in communicating in Korean in familiar and some unfamiliar contexts with a greater understanding of the variability of language use, making appropriate language choices and adjustments. With an increasing command of Hangeul, learners interact with members of the virtual community of Korean speakers and learners worldwide, sharing their understanding of Korean culture and language as well as of their own. They understand that language varies and changes, and engage in and reflect on intercultural experiences.
Contexts of interaction
Learners interact with the teacher and peers, and may have access to members of Korean-speaking communities via online technologies including some computer-mediated communication tools. They may also encounter Korean in the wider community, such as in the media, film or cultural festivals, community events, guest speakers, exchange teachers/assistants or in-country travel.
Texts and resources
Learners use an extensive range of texts designed for Korean language learning such as textbooks, teacher-generated materials and online resources. Learning is enriched by exposure to authentic materials designed for or generated by young Korean speakers, such as video clips, songs, stories, articles, magazine features, television programs or advertisements. Authentic Korean community resources provide opportunities to extend learners’ experience of learning the language and culture. Texts may include additional materials that students have sourced on their own to support their learning or to pursue personal interests in Korean language and culture.
Features of Korean language use
Learners extend their grammatical knowledge to a range of particles, conjunctive suffixes (clausal connectives) and complex phrasal and sentential structures. Their vocabulary range expands to abstract words and some specialised vocabulary drawn from other learning areas or areas of interest in the wider context. With an increasing knowledge and control of language structures and features and vocabulary, including those with honorific elements, students recognise, analyse and construct different types of texts for different audiences and purposes. They interpret, create, evaluate and perform in individual and collaborative tasks that involve planning, problem-solving, decision-making, or informing or entertaining others. They make inferences from their knowledge of the Korean language and culture to understand unfamiliar content and consolidate their awareness of language variation and its connection with identity. They move between Korean and English, translating, discussing, analysing and comparing the languages using a metalanguage, applying metalinguistic knowledge and taking intercultural perspectives as a user of two (or more) languages. Learners have an increasing understanding of language learning as a cultural, social and linguistic process. They examine their own and others’ communicative practices and understand the concept of mutual responsibility for intercultural exchanges.
Level of support
While learners are increasingly less reliant on the teacher for support during communicative interactions, continued support and provision of rich language input from the teacher is needed for their sustained learning of Korean. The teacher provides implicit and sometimes explicit modelling and scaffolding in meaningful contexts. Learners need explicit instruction and explanation to understand highly complex structures and functions of grammatical items and meanings of highly abstract and/or culture-specific vocabulary. Provision of opportunities to discuss, clarify, practise and apply their knowledge is critical in consolidating their acquired knowledge and skills and in enhancing learner autonomy. Students may self-monitor their learning by keeping record of critical and constructive teacher feedback, peer support and self-review (for example, through portfolios, peer reviews, e–journaling, online discussion forums). They continue to access word lists, graphic organisers and modelled texts, and the teacher gives precise guidance for using dictionaries, particularly with dictionary forms of verbs.
The role of English
Learners and teachers use Korean as the primary medium of interaction in language-oriented and most content-oriented tasks. English is used for substantive discussion, explanation and analysis requiring students to deal with a conceptual demand which is too far beyond their level of competence in Korean, for example, analysing highly abstract and complex concepts embedded in linguistic structures/cultural practices.
By the end of Year 10, students use written and spoken Korean to communicate with teachers, peers and others in a range of settings and for a range of purposes. They use Korean to access and exchange information on a broad range of social, cultural and environmental issues of interest to young people. They initiate, sustain and extend spoken and written exchanges in interactions and transactions by asking and responding to open-ended questions, eliciting opinions (for example, 어떻게 생각해요?; 어디에서 …–(으)면 좋을까요?), requesting elaboration (for example, 왜 …을/를 좋아해요?; 어떻게 그렇게 되었어요?) and providing their own opinions (for example, 저는 민수가 맞다고 생각해요; 저는 4번이라고 생각했어요) and information when requested. They use non-verbal communication strategies such as facial expressions, gestures, pausing or pitching, and give verbal feedback expressing empathy, down-toning, acknowledging or expressing indirect disagreement using reflective language (such as 그렇지요?; 좋았겠어요; 아마; 글쎄요; 아, 그렇군요; 아닌 것 같은데요; 정말 그럴까요?). They make suggestions in relation to topics of conversation (for example, 여러분도 한번 한국에 가 보세요) and consider options, using a range of suffixes and complex/idiomatic structures indicating the future in verb phrases (such as –겠–, –(으)ㄹ래요, –(으)ㄹ 계획이에요, –(으)ㄹ 거예요, –(으)면 좋을까요?). They make decisions comparing options using ...보다 더 ... and providing reasons for decisions (for example, 기차가 버스보다 더 편리하니까 기차로 가요). Students locate and evaluate information from a range of sources, and analyse, interpret and integrate information from diverse perspectives. They create informative and imaginative texts, using a range of case markers, including honorific forms, particles and verb phrases in complex structures (such as –지 않다/못하다, –(으)ㄹ 뻔하다, –(으)ㄴ/는/(으)ㄹ것 같다, –러 가다), and describing two related ideas or events in different relationships by connecting two clauses in a sentence (for example, 비가 올 것 같으니까 우산을 가져 가세요; 저기에서 노래하는 사람이 누구예요?). They use a range of abstract words, selecting vocabulary suitable for the target audience, purpose and context. They maintain the cohesiveness of the text by keeping consistency in terms of speech level and style and honorific elements, and by using cohesive devices such as conjunctors (such as –(으)니까, –다가, –(으)ㄴ/는데, –(으)면서), conjunctive adverbs (such as 하지만, 그러므로, 그러니까) and ellipsis. Students translate and create bilingual texts across Korean and English, providing and comparing alternative versions, identifying ways to interpret and convey embedded meanings in culture-specific terms or expressions that are language-specific. They compare their intercultural experiences, referencing their current and past senses of identity, views and attitudes in relation to their ways of using language.
Students describe how spoken and written Korean vary and are modified according to contexts, audiences and purposes. They exemplify such adjustments (for example, changes to pitch or speed of speech, use of contractions or 반말, choice of vocabulary, and level of politeness and formality), explaining possible reasons for particular adjustments. They describe how languages change and borrow from, build on and blend with each other, giving examples in relation to Korean and languages such as English, Chinese and Japanese that share social, cultural and historical relationships. They explain how language influences ways of thinking, views of the world and human relationships. Students use metalanguage to explain aspects of the Korean language such as tense, suffix, honorification, adverb, modification, speech level (for example, 반말, 높임말), and politeness. They assess their own language use and cultural practices from multicultural perspectives and the meaning and impact of multiculturalism from various perspectives.