• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.1-24
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• 2017

This article explores the developmental history of TOPIK over the last 20 years and its recent trends. Over the last two decades, TOPIK underwent two major systematic reforms, achieving both quantitative and qualitative growth over the course of its 52 testing sessions. TOPIK has utilized a six-level evaluation system from its inception to the present. The evaluation system was amended from the earlier six-test set - whereby each level corresponded with a separate test (1997~2005: the $1^{st}{\sim}9^{th}$) - to the three-test set (2006~2014: the $10^{th}{\sim}34^{th}$), and finally to the two-test set (2014~present: the $35^{th}{\sim}42^{nd}$). In the earlier exams, abilities in Vocabulary Grammar, Writing, Listening, and Reading were assessed. However, beginning with the $35^{th}$ TOPIK, abilities in Listening, Reading, and Writing (only in TOPIK II) were assessed and the evaluation of the writing section was changed to a task-based process, improving TOPIK into a more qualified analysis of proficiency. Over the last 20 years, the number of countries TOPIK is administered in has greatly increased from 4 to 73 countries, and the annual number of test-takers has also significantly increased from 2,692 to 250,141. The distribution of proficiency levels of the test-takers has shifted over time - initially "Beginner>Intermediate>Advanced" in the earlier exams, to "Intermediate>Advanced>Beginner" after the mid 2000s - as the number of those studying the Korean language for specific purposes and continuing education increased. Test-takers have indicated a shift in their purpose for taking the exam, initially citing "to assess proficiency" and more recently selecting "to study abroad," and this could also correlate with changes in the proportion of test-takers' proficiency level. In general, 85~95% of beginner, 50~65% of intermediate, and 45~60% of advanced test applicants passed the respective proficiency level. To date, no practices have yet been implemented to standardize the difficulty level longitudinally across test sets.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.123-159
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• 2012

This study investigates relationships between TOPIK ratings and measures of grammaticality judgement competence in the acquisition of Korean as a second language. Data were collected on the linguistic abilities of learners' at 3 to 6 on the TOPIK scale, focusing on perception in grammar-mostly morphology and syntax, some lexis, and a few of collocation. The results show that (i) proficiency and grammaticality judgement competence show high correlation, (ii) individual accuracy scores correlate strongly with levels on the TOPIK proficiency scale on most linguistic features in the test, and (iii) Japanese speakers outperform Chinese speakers at the same levels of proficiency on most linguistic features. The findings indicate that global proficiency scales like the TOPIK can be deconstructed using grammaticality judgement test that provides detailed measures of learners' control of linguistic features.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.37
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• pp.335-360
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• 2014

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether high-level(level 6) essay-writing questions in Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) have been presented appropriately so as to enable foreign test-takers to display their Korean writing ability properly, and to provide some suggestions on how those questions need to be changed. To accomplish this purpose, all the essay-writing questions were collected from the 33 TOPIK tests, from the 2nd in 1998 to the 35thin 2014, and analyzed from the perspectives of their topics and formats. The results are that high-level TOPIK essay-writing questions showed a strong tendency to take as their topics Korean sociocultural structures and phenomena, or current issues in Korea, and that they frequently employed guided writing formats by providing preset ideas or/and contexts for test-takers to write in a guided way; such tendencies were analyzed to shed a negative influence on test-takers displaying their writing ability and creativity, because those topics and preset ideas or contexts provided do not allow them to express their own opinions or positions freely. It is suggested that TOPIK essay-writing questions should be changed to deal with objective and general topics which enable test-takers to write freely and logically in Korean based on their experience, because TOPIK is not a test to check whether they have enough background knowledge about the Korean society and culture, but a test to assess their Korean proficiency.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.169-201
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• 2014

The purpose of this research is to analyze the problems of the way of the 32th TOPIK(advanced)'s management for the disabled examinee and to prescribe the management of the TOPIK for them. Since the TOPIK started in 1997, the number of examinee who take it as a qualifying exam for the university entrance have gradually increased. The first disabled examinee who wants to use the result of the TOPIK for entrance into the post graduated university took the 32th TOPIK(advanced level). However, there was no examination regulations and detailed management method for the disabled. The biggest problem was the examinee could not have braille test and answer. The exam supervisor read all that is printed on the test sheet. It caused two big problems. 1) The essay question in writing test became an oral test. 2) The strategies of answering to multiple choice questions could not be used in vocabulary/grammar, writing, listening, and specially reading section. The first problem is occurred because writing and speaking have different cognitive process. The second one can be strongly related to the result in reading section. Above all, these disrupt accurate assessment of the examinee's writing and reading achievement. Therefore, this research insists the TOPIK needs to have the regulation and prescribe the management for the disabled. This research suggests 5 regulations for the blind examinee which covers the test time, supervisor, place and request of the examinee. These refer to the regulation for the disable in the other tests, such as the college scholarship ability test, TOEFL, TEPS, and a civil service exam.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.31
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• pp.395-414
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• 2013

EPS-TOPIK is a test of Korean proficiency which is enforced at the level of Korean government for the selection of competent foreign workers. Therefore, it must ensure validity and reliability, and practicability as a language assessment tool. For seeking a way of developing EPS-TOPIK, in this paper, the current state of EPS-TOPIK was investigated based upon the materials published by the Korean government, and the questions of EPS-TOPIK were analysed. Together with this, newspaper articles both in Korea and in foreign countries were also analyzed, and the directors of the EPS center abroad were interviewed. According to the survey results, as expected, the local environment of Korean education is poor in a number of ways to improve the Korean communication skills of foreign workers, as well as to prepare the EPS-TOPIK. To improve the efficiency of the EPS-TOPIK and to enhance the Korean communication skills of foreign workers, the Korean language institutions including the King Sejong Institute, which are in charge of the Korean language education should closely cooperate with the Human Resources Development Service of Korea, which is responsible for all of the influx of foreign workers.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.30
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• pp.187-222
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• 2013

In this study, From 1,560 entry-level of TOPIK standard vocabularies are 702 Sino-Korean words selected which account for 45% of the whole vocabularies in TOPIK. In addition, the same form and morpheme words in Sino-Korean are sorted out by comparing them with 5,000 words of the NEW HSK vocabularies in Sino-Korean morpheme, array position of morpheme, meaning, and usage. Those are categorized into three parts : type of completely the same form-morpheme and same meaning, use, class(189 pairs), type of completely the same form-morpheme and partly same meaning, use, class(28 pairs), and type of completely the same form-morpheme and different meaning, use, class(10 pairs). The first type of words that account for 83.26% of them are used in exactly the same way in both Chinese and Korean. Through an accurate understanding of these vocabularies could either Chinese-speaking Korean learners or Korean-speaking Chinese learners apply those words in their mother tongue to the acquisition of the target language and get more effective means of learning methods for language proficiency test.

• Journal of the International Relations & Interdisciplinary Education
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.57-83
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• 2024

This study aimed to investigate the impact of scores on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) among foreign exchange students on academic adaptation. Recruited students, approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB), totaled seven, and their interview contents were analyzed using a comprehensive analysis procedure based on pragmatic eclecticism (Lee, Kim, 2014), utilizing six stages. As a result, factors influencing academic adaptation of Korean language learners for academic purposes were categorized into three dimensions: academic, daily life, and psychological-emotional aspects. On the academic front, interviewees pointed out difficulties in adapting to specialized terminology and studying in their majors, as well as experiencing significant challenges with Chinese characters and Sino-Korean words. Next, from a daily life perspective, even participants holding advanced TOPIK scores faced difficulties in adapting to university life, emphasizing the necessity of practical expressions and extensive vocabulary for proper adjustment to Korean life. Lastly, within the psychological-emotional dimension, despite being advanced TOPIK holders, they were found to experience considerable stress in conversations or presentations with Koreans. Their lack of knowledge in social-cultural and everyday life culture also led to linguistic errors and contributed to psychological-emotional difficulties, despite proficiency in Korean. Based on these narratives, the conclusion was reached that in order to promote the academic adaptation of Korean language learners, it is essential to provide opportunities for Korean language learning. With this goal in mind, efforts should be directed towards enhancing learners' academic proficiency in their majors, improving Korean language fluency, and fostering interpersonal relationships within the academic community. Furthermore, the researchers suggested as a solution to implement various extracurricular activities tailored for foreign learners.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.187-200
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• 2019

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of motivation of the employment in Korea with gender, nationality, motivation of studying in Korea, major satisfaction and Korean proficiency level of foreign students who are studying in Korea. The second purpose is to analyze the current factors, to leverage educational management and to make and support some policy of Minister of Education for international students in order to promote utilization of employment of the students in Korea during 4 years of studying. This paper is used by IBM SPSS Statistics 24 Version for data analysis. As a result of the analysis, the average of students in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and South and North America Africa was higher than Japan and China in terms of motivation of employment in Korea. First, the external motivation to study in Korea has affected TOPIK with positive influence. Second, in the relationship between motivation to study in Korea and the majors satisfaction, the higher the internal motivation of study, the higher the majors' satisfaction level. Third, in the relationship between motivation to study in Korea and motivation of the employment in Korea, internal motivation to study has a positive effect on motivation of the employment. As internal motivation increases, grade of the motivation of the employment increases. Fourth, the relationship between major satisfaction and employment showed positive (+) effect. In other words, the higher the major satisfaction, the higher the motivation of the employment. Fifth, TOPIK has a negative effect on motivation of the employment. It means that external motivation was the main factor that positively influenced TOPIK and internal motivation was also main factors that positively influenced both major satisfaction and motivation of the employment in Korea. Sixth, when the internal motivation has an effect on motivation of Korea employment, the higher the major satisfaction as the parameter, the higher the motivation of Korea employment. Therefore, it will be helpful to understand the meaning of studying motivation and major satisfaction of international students, and to be used as basic data on education policies of universities and governments supporting the career and employment for international students.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.117-124
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• 2021

Korean education in China began at Peking University in the 1950s. At present, The Korean language education in China has made remarkable progress in many aspects such as scale, scope, level and achievement. In addition, with the increasingly frequent economic and cultural exchanges or cooperation between China and South Korea and the increasing trend of internationalization, the prosperity of Korean wave culture and the sound development of China-South Korea relations, the country's demand for Korean language talents is increasing day by day. However, with the rise of Korean education in China in recent years, some hidden problems also surfaced. In this paper, the Korean language proficiency test(TOPIK) is used to evaluate the Korean language proficiency of Korean learners, and Chinese juniors are used to evaluate the Korean language proficiency. In addition, a questionnaire survey was conducted to analyze the learning media of Chinese Korean learners at the present stage, and the relationship between learning media and learning outcomes was concluded. At the same time, deficiencies and problems existed in Korean education in colleges and universities were proposed and their own ideas were put forward.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.523-542
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to figure out the procedure of learning Korean for international students. A research question was set up as follows: What is the procedure of leaning Korean for international students in Korean universities? To achieve the research purpose, this study implemented a method of semi-constructed interviews. Nineteen international students participated in the interview. The collected data for this study included transcripts from each interview. The transcripts of 60 minutes of interviews with all the participants was audio-taped recorded. This study investigated the research question based on the grounded theory. The analysis of open coding, axial-coding, and selective coding was used in the study. Results indicated that international students learned Korean in a daily basis, and then they adapted to academic Korean in their majored fields. Both personality and mother tongue influenced Korean language learning positively and negatively. International students' improvement of Korean was related in studying with Korean mass media such as TV soap dramas, talk shows, and songs. International students think that TOPIK(Test Of Proficiency In Korean) is not much related with their Korean language fluency. In conclusion, the researchers suggested to give more emphasis on academic training courses for Korean language and to improve the TOPIK in general academic Korean.