본고는 ‘국어교육’은 명칭의 모호함 때문에, 그리고 다문화 시대의 한국어 학습자들을 고려했을 때 적합하지 않은 이름이기 때문에 ‘한국어교육’으로 명명되는 것이 적절하다는 전제에서 출발한다. 또한 국어교육과 한국어교육은 이론적 근거를 언어교육이론에 두고 있기에 언어연구와 교육연구 사이의 자리에 함께 자리한다. 따라서 이들 두 학문분과가 한국어교육이라는 이름하에 주력 연구 대상의 상이함에 따라 구분될 필요가 있다. 그러할 때, 한국어교육이 규명해야 할 연구대상에 대한 연구자들의 넘나듦이 활발하고, 언어학습의 비밀을 규명하고 올바른 언어교육을 지향하는 활발한 연구가 가능하리라 본다. 이러한 전제 속에서 본고는 모어로서 및 제2언어, 외국어로서 한국어 학습자를 총망라하여 이들을 의미있게 유형화할 수 있는 방법을 모색하였다. 그 결과, 그들이 처한 가정의 문식 환경, 교육기관의 문식 환경 및 사회의 문식 환경으로 구분하면 의미있게 구분할 수 있다고 보았다. 가정에서의 문식 환경을 한국어와 한국어 외의 언어(언어지위가 낮은 것과 높은 것 2가지로 구분)로 3가지로 나누고, 교육기관 및 사회의 문식 환경을 각각 한국어 환경과 그 외 환경으로 2가지로 나누어, 한국어 학습자가 처할 수 있는 문식 환경을 모두 12가지로 구분하였다. 이렇게 구분된 한국어 학습자의 유형을 기술하고 예를 살펴보았으며, 이들 문식 환경에 따른 한국어 학습자의 언어학습과 언어교육을 위해 수행할 수 있는 연구 과제를 도출하였다.

This study starts with the premise that another name for Korean language education -the ‘national language’ education- has to be labelled as the ‘Korean language education’ in this multicultural era. I also presuppose that Korean language education as a first language, as a second language, or as a foreign language, all fall under the discipline of language education. Some researchers may specialise in Korean language education as a first language and some as a foreign language. Researchers should be able to access all types of language learners regardless of their specialism for more meaningful outcomes of research. With this premise, I seek to categorise Korean language learners who face varied linguistic contexts as a useful and insightful grouping to researchers. As a result, Korean language learners in Korea or abroad face 3 different family literacy environments, 2 different institution literacy environments, and 2 different social literacy environments. Therefore Korean language learners can face 12 types of different literacy environments based on family, school, and society. I suggest that a lot of and extensive empirical research should be conducted, at times comparing different types of learners. I also generate research topics to be dealt with in accordance with learners’ literate environment.

This study starts with the premise that another name for Korean language education -the ‘national language’ education- has to be labelled as the ‘Korean language education’ in this multicultural era. I also presuppose that Korean language education as a first language, as a second language, or as a foreign language, all fall under the discipline of language education. Some researchers may specialise in Korean language education as a first language and some as a foreign language. Researchers should be able to access all types of language learners regardless of their specialism for more meaningful outcomes of research. With this premise, I seek to categorise Korean language learners who face varied linguistic contexts as a useful and insightful grouping to researchers. As a result, Korean language learners in Korea or abroad face 3 different family literacy environments, 2 different institution literacy environments, and 2 different social literacy environments. Therefore Korean language learners can face 12 types of different literacy environments based on family, school, and society. I suggest that a lot of and extensive empirical research should be conducted, at times comparing different types of learners. I also generate research topics to be dealt with in accordance with learners’ literate environment.

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Korean language learner, Literate environment, Family literacy environment, School literacy environment, Society literacy environment, Literacy education