A Study on Teaching Methods of Tensification of Korean Compound Words for Korean Learners: Focused on ‘X-gage’, ‘X-jip’ and ‘X-guk’

This study focuses on the phenomenon of tensification that occurs when pronouncing compound words with linguistic forms such as ‘X-gage’ (X store), ‘X-jip’ (X house), and ‘X-guk’ (X soup), which are introduced early in Korean language learning. The study aims to formalize this phonological change and propose effective teaching methods for Korean language learners. Tensification in compound words has often been excluded from educational content due to the difficulty of establishing clear rules. Additionally, existing teaching methods for compound word tensification, which have been developed for Korean language learners, tend to present large amounts of linguistic information alongside academic terminology, making them less applicable to general- purpose Korean learners. Therefore, this study proposes teaching the regularity of tensification in these compound words by presenting the semantic relationship between the two nouns in compounds like ‘X-gage’, ‘X-jip’, and ‘X-guk’, rather than explaining the phonological environment between the words. Furthermore, the study points out the non-standard spelling of ‘X-gage’, ‘X-jip’, and ‘X-guk’ words commonly used by Koreans in everyday life and suggests that both non-standard and standard spellings related to the ‘saisiot’ (ㅅ) insertion rule should be taught together. Additionally, it recommends visualizing the two nouns that form the compound words through illustrations to enhance learning efficiency. Finally, the study presents practical teaching plan that can be utilized in real educational settings based on the proposed teaching methods.(Ewha Womans University)