Suggestions for the romanization education of personal names in primary schools

초등 학교의 로마자 인명 표기 교육에 대한 제언

This paper compares the four official romanization systems (1948, 1959, 1984 and 2000) and analyzes the third- and fourth-year primary school English textbooks and teacher's guides in terms of romanization of personal names. This study is conducted with the assumption that the inconsistent use of romanization is due to two major causes, i.e., the frequent changes of the formal romanization systems and the exclusion of the romanization system from the school curriculum. The current third- and fourth-year primary school English text books (Ministry of Education, 2001) are chosen for the analysis because they are the first primary school English textbooks to be implemented based on the 7th National Curriculum. The study found that the textbooks and teacher's guides did not state which romanization system they were following and were not consistent in romanizing personal names. This study suggests including the current official romanization system in the current primary school curriculum and outlines a strategy for teaching the romanization system which suits the curriculum.