earticle

영어

Due to the increasing global presence of South Korea, the interest in Korean language and culture has increased exponentially in Hungary as well. Culture is recognized as an inseparable part of foreign language learning, and to nurture successful intercultural communicators, appropriate cultural instruction is necessary in language classrooms. Recognizing the central role of textbooks in language education, as they provide guidance and framework, while they also act as “vessels” for cultural content, this research focuses on the cultural content and the potential intercultural competence development in Korean language textbooks. This study analyzes beginner Korean language textbooks published in Hungary by Hungarian authors on the basis of their cultural content to assess the extent of potential culture learning through textbooks. Qualitative content analysis was carried out based on a set of evaluative questions focusing on weighing the “cultural load”. The findings reveal that the two examined textbooks (“헝가리 학생을 위한 한국어 교재” and “흰학 1”), which are aimed for the Hungarian audience, are primarily focused on the correct use of grammars by frequently making comparisons with Hungarian grammatical structures. The textbooks are quite limited in their inclusion of cultural content, especially when compared to other widely used publications by Korean authors. The Hungarian textbooks offer little supplementary information necessary for the understanding of cultural implications, thus leaving students to decipher these implications by themselves or leaving the task to the teacher. The textbooks omit exercises where students have to make meaningful comparisons between their own Hungarian culture and Korean culture, which is an essential step in developing intercultural competence. The results imply that these textbooks – although they contain grammatical explanations in Hungarian, which is helpful for the Hungarian learners – might be less effective from the perspective of cultural education. As of yet, the current situation of Korean language education in Hungary remains academically quite unexplored, which prompts further research and dialogue.