The purpose of this study is to propose plans to increase the learning effects of the extracurricular e-Tandem system, whose researches have been poor, for students learning Korean. For this purpose, the study explored e-Tandem learning plans fit for the characteristics of learners trying to implement e-Tandem freely outside the classroom.
Following the recent globalization of the Korean society, people with various goals to study Korean show more and more interest in the language as well as those who study the language for academic goals. When people try to acquire Korean, it is important to study the language in the classroom. It is also essential for them to have conversations in the language with actual Korean people and have first-hand experiences with the Korean culture. It is, however, difficult to have enough time for direct interactions with Korean teachers in the classroom lessons both for those who study the language overseas and those who come to Korea to study it intensively in a Korean-speaking environment.
"e-Tandem" offers effective methods applicable to such situations. e-Tandem learning is an economic and efficient approach to the study of Korean, allowing students to reduce time, costs, and physical strength to travel for the study of Korean. They can benefit from ongoing learning without being limited by their learning environments.
The e-Tandem learning approach is under the huge influence of advanced communication technologies, changing learning instruments, and learners' needs. In the approach, students use a mobile device and computer. They can make free choices with the duration of a session, frequency of study, and partners. The present study aimed to propose learning plans that anyone could follow through in a long term by identifying elements to have positive impacts on learning satisfaction among the characteristics of the approach, reinforcing the ones to have positive impacts, and improving the ones to have negative ones.
The investigator set a hypothesis: "Intimacy with a learning partner" and "the partner's linguistic knowledge and mutual trust" will have effects on a learner's determination to keep learning. A survey was then conducted to test the hypothesis. After conducting a survey with 101 students using the e-Tandem system, the study tested the hypothesis through correlation and regression analysis. The findings were as follows: first, "intimacy with a partner" had no statistically significant effects on a learner's determination to keep studying with the e-Tandem system; and secondly, "the partner's linguistic knowledge and mutual trust" had positive effects on it. That is, higher intimacy with a partner would not lead to greater determination to keep studying, but the partner's higher linguistic knowledge and mutual trust would lead to greater determination to keep studying as well as greater sense of achievement.
The principle of e-Tandem learning is to let the students set a goal, make a learning plan, and implement it. The survey and analysis results, however, raise a need for e-Tandem learners with a lack of self-initiative abilities to search for proper learning methods for themselves while learning the ones to build linguistic knowledge and trust with their partners. The present study thus proposed a practice course for those who lacked in self-initiative abilities despite their wish to implement e-Tandem learning and gave specific examples for its utilization method.
Everyone can have easy access to the e-Tandem learning system. Its future development is even more promising as it meets the needs of modern people in pursuit of speed and convenience in addition to the advancement of communication technologies. The present study identified the learning characteristics and needs of students that belonged to no regular educational institutions and studied Korean freely and proposed plans to promote their consistent and efficient learning, thus holding its significance.