• (The)Korea Educational Review
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.57-81
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to summarise the educational meanings of Official Foreign Language Schools(hereafter, OFLS) in Korea, 1895-1906. Especially, I try to find out the foreign language policy of the Joseon Dynasty and the comparative superiority between six foreign language schools - Japanese School, English School, French School, Russian School, Chinese School, and German School - through the traits of teachers and the change of students numbers at the Regulation Period. As a part of Kabo Reforms, the government had abolished the of Civil Service Examination System and status system, and foreign languages worked as a cultural capital to acquire modern civilization and to escalate one's social status. The results were as follows: Firstly, the OFLS have to be regarded as one of the highest educational institute during the Regulation Period. The eligibility of the OFLS was over 15 years old, but most of the incoming students were over 20 years old. Secondly, many of the OFLS's teachers were specialists of military, diplomat and mechanics. Especially, Martel, the teacher of French school played an important role for the neutral diplomacy policy of the Great Korean(Dae-Han) Empire during the Regulation Period. Thirdly, the recruit of new members of the OFLS was affected by the political and social circumstances at that time. Fourthly, the statistics of incoming students during the Regulation Period was concentrated on Chinese school, French school, and English school in due order. Thus, it differed from the commonly accepted ideas of students' statistics which was concentrated on English School and Japanese School. Fifthly, the OFLS were not only for the training of official interpreters(譯官通事), but also the cultivation of civil servants who could become statesman.