The Current Status of Korean Language Education in the United States: Class Offerings in K–16 Schools and Korean Community Schools

Abstract

ABSTRACT Access to learning resources and opportunities shapes the landscape of education, and thus, it is critical to regularly monitor the changes and trends in foreign language course offerings for educational research and planning. This article investigates the current course offering situation in Korean as a Foreign Language in American K–16 schools within the larger landscape of foreign language education in the United States. The analysis additionally reveals pronounced institutional and regional variations in educational opportunities for the Korean language in public schools, with course offerings concentrated in the Pacific Coast and Northeast regions. However, rapid increases in the number of schools and classes teaching Korean in recent years have led to a change in the landscape. That is, the disparity of learning availability between regions and grade levels has decreased. The analysis extends to the class offerings in Korean community schools to discover their supplementary role in providing more and sustained learning opportunities in place of K–16 education. Suggestions are discussed for collaboration between the local community and the public school systems and for standardized and consistent reporting on enrollments and course offerings of Korean across all levels and across public and community schools.