영어 원서강독과 읽기교육의 문제점

Abstract

외국어를 공부하고 또 가르치다가 보면， 외국어 습득에 있어서 읽기가 얼마나 중요한가 하는 것을 절감하게 된다. 대학에서 영어를 가르쳐온 지난 15년동안 필자의 경험에 의하면， 말하기， 쓰기， 그리고 심지어는 듣기까지도 모두 기본적으로는 읽기에서 비롯된다. 왜냐하면 좋은 문장으로 쓰여진 좋은 글들을 많이 읽다보면， 그 표현들이 머리 속에 남아있어 말을 할 때나 글을 쓸 때 자신도 모르는 사이에 튀어나오기 때문이다. 사실 자신이 책에서 읽어 이미 알고 있는 표현은 대화 중에 한번만 들어도 금방 귀에 들어온다. 그래서 대학 영문과에서는 대부분의 교수들이 학생들로 하여금 훌륭한 작가들이 쓴 좋은 책들을 많이 읽도록 훈련을 시킨다. 그것이 곧 영어 공부의 왕도가 되기 때문이다.

Language is primarily an instrument whose purpose is to communicate between people. It is an endless dialogue with men and women, expressing a state of thinking, feeling and seeing things and people. Language unfolds itself through social situations and historical circumstances. Situation and language, which are closely linked with each other, are both perceived in their entirety, within mental structures so complex as to escape analysis. This is why we teach language as a means of expression and communication which engages all the resources and realities of human beings. And this is why we perceive language not as a fixed entity but as an essentially flexible" medium of social interaction. Language is, after all, an ever-changing means of expression of ourselves that cannot be analyzed, since analysis destroys the subtle mechanism of language by its very process. Korean students, however, tend to attempt to anaìyze English sentences, passages, and paragraphs grammatically and pin down a fixed meaning of vocabulary, often ignoring the context from which they originated. Rather than trying to comprehend the general idea and meaning of a paragraph, they are inclined to tackle grammatical details and structural problems in stead. And the result is often the frustration of slow reading and understanding. The English proficiency of Korean students-whether in speaking, listening, reading or writing-has been seriously plagued by this grammar-overdose at school. In order to alter the course of grammar-oriented English education ín Korea, the college entrance examination should focus more on oral proficiency and comprehension skills than on grammar itself.