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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Multicultural Education in the Republic of Korea: How Elementary School Teachers Interpret Multicultural Education and Its Practical Use in Classrooms A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Education. by Jee Young Lee 2013 © Copyright by Jee Young Lee 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Multicultural Education in the Republic of Korea: How Elementary School Teachers Interpret Multicultural Education and Its Practical Use in Classrooms by Jee Young Lee Doctor of Philosophy in Education University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Carlos A. Torres, Co-chair Professor Edith S. Omwami, Co-chair The Republic of Korea (hereafter, Korea) has historically affirmed that the country is ethnically homogeneous and this belief is often expressed in the nation’s government compiled and issued textbooks. However, this dogmatic view does not correspond to the trends of globalization with mass global migration. International organizations also urged the Korean government to alter its emphasis on mono-ethnicity and revise this notion in the curriculum. Given both the external recommendations and the internal demographic transformation, the government eventually revised curriculum and initiated multicultural education. This study examines how Korean elementary school teachers recognize multicultural contents in textbooks and how they analyze and communicate them in class. In order to investigate this, three research questions were raised: a. What multicultural content is in elementary school textbooks? b. How do elementary school ii teachers consider the subject of multicultural education? c. How do teachers communicate multiculturalism to their students at the elementary school level? To answer these questions, I analyzed fifth grade Korean Language and sixth grade Korean Language and Social Studies textbooks utilizing Christine I. Bennett’s “Conceptual Model of a Comprehensive Multicultural Curriculum.” Interviews were also conducted with fifth and sixth grade teachers to explore how they recognize and communicate multicultural content in class. The study had two major findings. First, most interviewed teachers thought that multicultural education material should relate to multicultural family issues. These teachers perceived the term multiculturalism and multicultural education as referring to multicultural families, that is, foreign workers and marriage immigrant families. This was due to how the government initiated multicultural education and defined these families. Second, teachers interviewed had difficulties communicating multicultural materials with their students regardless of whether multicultural family students were in the class or not. If these students were in class, teachers did not want to draw special attention to them. On the contrary, if these students were not in class, teachers articulated their lack of experience with multicultural education or direct contact with multicultural families. These findings shed light on a gap between the Korean government’s intentions regarding multicultural education and teachers’ perceptions on multicultural materials and its practical use in instruction. iii The dissertation of Jee Young Lee is approved. John N. Hawkins Val D. Rust Kyeyoung Park Carlos A. Torres, Committee Chair Edith S. Omwami, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iv Dedication I would like to thank my dissertation committee members, research participants, friends, and family for their personal and professional contributions and support. I am grateful to have Edith Omwami and Carlos Torres as co-chairs and co-advisors. I will never forget their encouragement, invaluable advice, and feedback. I also appreciate committee members, Val Rust, John Hawkins, and Kyeyoung Park for their invaluable feedback and guidance. I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with such a wonderful group of scholars. I would like to express gratitude to all interviewees involved in this study for sharing their opinions, thoughts, and experiences. I am also thankful to my former teachers and professors— Hye-Won Kang, Yun-Seon Choi, Byeong-Chan Kim, Ki-Seok Kim— and my dearest friends— Melissa Goodnight, Sook Youn Lee, and Jeong-Hee Lee— for their encouragement, help, and support. I would like to say a special word of thanks to my beloved family—Seon-Ja, Seok-Geun, Byong-Hoon, Jung-Hun. They are the impetus for my life. Their dedication, kind words, support, warmth, and unconditional love sustained me through this academic journey. Thank you for having faith in me even during those times when I almost lost faith in myself. I love you all so much. v Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... IX LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... IX LIST OF ACRONYMS ..................................................................................................................... X VITA .......................................................................................................................................... XII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................. 1 2. THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY .................................................................................................. 8 3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ......................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ............................................................... 12 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD ........................................................ 25 1. OPERATIONAL RESEARCH TERMS ......................................................................................... 25 1) Multicultural Education ................................................................................................. 25 2) Multicultural Families and Multicultural Family Students ............................................ 27 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................. 28 1) The Hidden Curriculum .................................................................................................. 28 2) Cultural Reproduction Theory ........................................................................................ 29 3) Criteria of Textbook Content Analysis ........................................................................... 30 3. METHODS ............................................................................................................................. 34 1) Textbook Analysis ........................................................................................................... 35 2) Interviews ........................................................................................................................ 38 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS OF KOREAN LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL STUDIES TEXTBOOKS ............................................................................................................................. 42 vi 1. KOREAN LANGUAGE TEXTBOOK FIFTH GRADE .................................................................... 43 1) The First Semester of the Hearing·Speaking·Writing Textbook ..................................... 43 2) The First Semester of the Reading Textbook .................................................................. 45 3) The Second Semester of the Hearing·Speaking·Writing Textbook ................................. 49 4) The Second Semester of the Reading Textbook .............................................................. 50 2. KOREAN LANGUAGE TEXTBOOK SIXTH GRADE ................................................................... 56 1) The First Semester of the Hearing·Speaking·Writing Textbook ..................................... 56 2) The First Semester of the Reading Textbook .................................................................. 59 3) The Second Semester of the Hearing·Speaking·Writing Textbook ................................. 65 4) The Second Semester of the Reading Textbook .............................................................. 66 3. SOCIAL STUDIES TEXTBOOK SIXTH GRADE .......................................................................... 74 1) The First Semester of the Social Studies Textbook ......................................................... 74 2) The Second Semester of the Social Studies Textbook ..................................................... 78 CHAPTER 5: HOW KOREAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS ELUCIDATE AND IMPLEMENT MULTICULTURAL MATERIALS ...................................................... 89 1. TEACHERS’ RECOGNITION OF MULTICULTURALISM AND MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION ..... 90 1) Foreign Workers and Marriage Immigrants .................................................................. 90 2) Impact of Multiculturalism on Education ....................................................................... 98 3) Respecting Diversity via Multiculturalism and Multicultural Education .................... 100 4) Indifference to, or Irrelevance of, Multiculturalism and Multicultural