A Comparative Study On Chinese Language Textbooks For Elementary School Students Used In Korea

With rapid increase in exchanges of information and knowledge between China and Korea, the desire for Chinese education in Korea is growing also. While the effectiveness of early education of foreign languages is already proven, the Chinese language has not been adopted as a formal subject to be taught in Korean elementary school and instead is being taught only as after-school education activities through voluntary election by the schools, with textbooks subject to self-selection as well.In this paper, the Chinese language textbooks used in elementary schools that comprehensively cover pronunciation and conversations were selected for analysis. As for the analysis criteria, the analysis models presented in this paper were utilized. The analysis model can be broadly divided into composition structure, language components, and communication functions.Chinese language textbooks for elementary school students will need to stimulate their interests and make them excited, while sufficiently reflecting the unique characteristics and development level of elementary school students. Unfortunately, currently in Korea, there is no official textbook. Further, there is a lack of materials that can be utilized in lessons and also no appropriate standard for efficient textbooks had been established.Going forward, more diverse and systematic forms of research and development will need to take place over the Chinese language textbooks. We hope that the analysis model as presented in this paper will be helpful in further development and design of Chinese language textbooks.