Rethinking Hanmun Training in Korean Studies through Learner-Centered Interactive Exercises and Multilingual Instructional Strategies

Although Hanmun formed the backbone of Korean literary culture until the early twentieth century, its position within contemporary Korean Studies in Europe remains precarious. Limited curricular space, funding constraints, and a shortage of trained specialists have often relegated Hanmun to the status of a “luxury” rather than a core component of the field. While existing debates on Hanmun instruction have focused primarily on questions of textual selection, the underlying pedagogy has received comparatively little attention. This article addresses this gap by rethinking Hanmun training through learner-centered, interactive, and multilingual instructional strategies. Drawing on Bloom’s taxonomy as a heuristic framework, the article critiques the teacher-centered transmission model and the monolingual principle that continue to shape language instruction. It examines a corpus of eleven Hanmun textbooks and digital resources published in Korea, North America and Europe, focusing on the extent to which they enable interactivity and multilingual engagement. Building on these analyses, the article develops a set of experimental teaching practices presented in a concluding Hanmun Sandbox. These exercises emphasize chunking, translanguaging, and productive struggle, demonstrating how learners mobilize diverse linguistic and cognitive resources to construct meaning. The article argues that effective Hanmun instruction benefits from treating uncertainty not as an obstacle, but as a productive space for learning and meaning-making.