Exploring the Direction of Selecting Material Texts for elementary Korean textbooks to Unification Perception in Future Generations

Objectives The purpose of this study is to focus on sanctions in textbooks as the interface between unification education and curriculum education, and to propose a direction for the development of elementary Korean language textbooks to foster unification consciousness in future generations, centering on sanctions in elementary Korean language textbooks. Methods To fulfill the purpose of this study, we examined the current status of sanctions related to unification and North Korea in the 2015 revised elementary Korean textbooks from the seventh edition. Through content analysis, we sought to identify trends in the inclusion of sanctions in elementary Korean textbooks. Results The most common textbook sanctions included learning materials related to North Korean vocabulary, and some fairy tales. The theme of the fairy tales was ethnic hardship and suffering due to the violence of the division, and the stories were based on the lives of separated families and refugees. The analysis showed that the number of fairy tales with reunification or North Korea themes was too small, the fairy tales themselves were somewhat disconnected from learners' lives, and most of the sanctions in the textbooks were concentrated in the text. To improve these problems, we suggested increasing the frequency of reunification and North Korea-related sanctions in textbooks, avoiding sanctions that imply a negative view of North Korea, and including sanctions that take into account the experiential characteristics of children and adolescents. Conclusions This study focuses on sanctions in elementary Korean language textbooks as an interface between unification education and Korean language education. Unification and North Korea-related sanctions in textbooks are an effective way of teaching learners to develop unification awareness. We hope that efforts will continue to be made to identify and include unification and North Korea-related sanctions in elementary Korean textbooks.