본 논문은 초등학교 한자교육의 중심을 어휘 교육으로 파악하고 초등학교 어휘 교육 과정에 필요한 字數(즉 字量)와 字種(즉 한자의 종류)을 제안하는 것을 중심 목표로 삼는다. 필자의 기존 연구 ｢초등학교 한자교육에 필요한 적정 한자 수 및 한자 선정에 대한 검토｣에서는 김한샘(2009)과 ㈜낱말 어휘 정보처리 연구소의 데이터 등을 추가적으로 활용하여 ‘초등학교용 교육용 한자’의 선정안을 제시하였다. 구체 논의 과정에서는 초등학교 교과서라는 말뭉치, 등급별 어휘라는 어휘 평정, 조어력, 전문가의 판단 등을 고려해 초등학교 한자교육에 필요한 적정 한자 수 및 한자 선정에 대한 논의를 펼쳤다. 이 중 ‘초등학교 교과서’라는 말뭉치는 그동안 단순 빈도의 측면에서만 이용되었던 것이고, 등급별 어휘와 조어력은 초등학교 교육용 적정 한자 수 선정 시 학계에 처음으로 고려된 것이다. 기존 연구가 이상의 성과가 있었지만 여전히 한계가 있었다. 그것은 바로 초등학교 한자 교과서를 연구 범위에 포함하지 않음으로써 실제 교육 현장을 중시하지 못했다는 점이다. 이번 연구는 현행 초등학교 한자 교과서 중 6권으로 구성된, 8종을 대상으로 연구를 진행함으로써 기존의 연구를 보완, 확대하고자 하였다. 그 결과 초등학교 한자교육에 기본적으로 필요한 548자를 선정하여 그 목록을 제시하였고 아울러 어휘 교육에서 요긴하게 활용될 수 있는 조어력이 높은 한자 75자를 추가하였다. 이상의 623자가 향후 초등학교 한자 교육에 있어 일정한 참고가 되기를 바라며, 추후 학계의 보완 연구가 진행되기를 기대한다.

This study examines the difficulty of reading text in elementary school English textbooks. Four elementary school English textbook series published by three publishers were evaluated by Word Critical Factor (WCF). WCF considers cognitive demands for word recognition; it assesses the match of linguistic content in the text with the phonetically regular and high-frequency words that are associated with particular stages of reading development. For the analysis, all of the words that appeared in the reading and writing sections from four elementary school English textbooks were analyzed by two criteria, that is, the ratio of high frequency words and phonetically regular words among 100 running words, and the number of unique words in each textbook. The results showed that all four textbooks’ difficulty levels were very high considering the learner’s reading ability. This was due to the textbooks having a low repetition of words and also the complicated vowel patterns that were above the reading abilities of students. All of these factors combined are what have caused the difficulties presented in English textbooks. In conclusion, although the reading text introduces a variety of genres and activities for the development of reading skills, most reading text could not assist the reader’s cognitive processing.

The present study aims to examine whether the Korean elementary school texts rightly and impartially describe the history of Protestant Christianity. In Korea the contents of the elementary school texts change as the education curricula are revised by the Department of Education. This study analyzes the description of Protestant Christianity in the elementary school texts published in each education curriculum (education curricula have been revised seven times during from 1955 to 1997. This study first examines the space which the current elementary school text alloted to the description of Protestant Christianity in comparison with the space alloted to the description of other religions, in particular Chyeonjugyo, Chyeondogyo, Daejonggyo, and Wonbulgyo. Next it turns to the concept of Protestant Christianity as it is understood in the elementary school texts. Thereafter it examines what the elementary school texts describe about the contribution of Protestant Christianity to the modernization of Korea. And it also investigates what these elementary school texts talk about the contribution of Protestant Christianity to the recovery of national sovereignty in Japan’s colonial period. From this study is resulted this. First, the current elementary school text alloted more space to the description of Chyeonjugyo, Chyeondogyo, Daejonggyo, and Wonbulgyo than to that of Protestant Christianity. Secondly the elementary school texts mentioned the teaching of Protestant Christianity and its contributions to Korean society but did not explain the introduction-process and the main activities of Protestant Christianity. Thirdly the elementary school texts mentioned the introduction of new belief, and Western medicine, education plus culture, as the contributions of Protestant Christianity but often omitted the propagation of the idea of equality, abolition of superstition, and development of national self-supporting spirit. To conclude, this study proposes some suggestions to improve the description of Protestant Christianity in the elementary school text to be produced in accordance with the 2007 revised education curriculum. 1) The text to be produced in accordance with the 2007 revised education curriculum should mention the influences which the reception in Korea of Protestant Christianity exerted on Korean society and daily life; 2) this text should explain Protestant Christianity’s contributions in the March First Independence Movement and the following economic, social, and cultural movements in Japan’s colonial period; 3) this text should describe Protestant Christianity’s participation in the movement for democratization in 1970-1980s.