Acquisition and Development of particles of Beginner Level Korean Language Learners

초급 한국어 학습자의 조사 습득 및 발달 연구

This research aims to analyze Korean language learners' spoken corpus to reveal their acquisition order and development patterns of particles. To this end, we collected free conversation data of beginning level Korean language learners over five months and constructed a corpus. It was confirmed that particle acquisition takes place over four stages based on the frequency of particle use and its accuracy. The stages of development were first 'ey, un/nun, i/ka(nominative), ul/lul', second 'eyse, hako(conjunction), to, hako(adverbial)', third '(u)lo, pota, man, eykey, kkaci, puthe, kkeyse, ui', and fourth 'hanthey, (i)na(conjunction), wa/kwa(conjunction), kkey, (i)lang(adverbial), eykeyse, mata, wa/kwa(adverbial), (i)na(auxiliary particle), pakkey, (i)lang(conjunction)'. Based on these findings, the characteristics shown in the particle use of beginning level learners are as the following. First, case markers start to develop foremost. Second, the accuracy of each particle use tends to decrease slightly over time. Third, the frequency of some particles was observed to suddenly increase and then decrease again at a certain period. Fourth, the order of most, but not all particles' appearance seemed to be related to the order of being introduced in textbooks. It is important that this research provides implications for grammar education when establishing Korean language education curriculum or developing grammar syllabus.