As enthusiasm of Chinese characters and literature learning has prevailed in our country since the 1988 Olympic games, private lessons for Chinese characters and authorization test markets has been expanding. In particular, this year, there is a prediction that applicants for the test amount to one million. Therefore, there is a need to present problems of authorization tests and their improvement plan.
In 2001, the Ministry of Educational and Human Resources designated the Korean Language Association as a national certification organization which governs Chinese Characters Fluency Test. In January 2004, three different organizations including the Association were designated to privately manage national authorization. The management styles of the four organizations are similar, but there is a difference in ways to use the results of the test.
Japanese test organizations reflect its educational policy as a public foundation while Korean organizations has a distinct leaning towards private interest. For Japan, 70% of the applicants are middle school students or so, and the results of the test are admitted as credits of high schools and universities. However, in our country, as 70% of the applicants are elementary school students and the grades of the test are not properly used, the system needs to be improved.
Objective and reasonable classification of the grades of the authorization should be achieved through an agreement of the four organizations. And, educational contents of Chinese Language and Literature Department and fluency of Chinese characters used in text books should be investigated and the results can be used as a base of tests. Our distinct system of the authorization test should be developed, and in particular, for sino-Korean (Chinese literature) tests, question items should be equally collected from Chinese classics of Korea, China and Japan.