Korean is the seventh most commonly spoken language in the United States, and Korean heritage students―those with some proficiency in or a cultural connection to the language through family or community―make up a substantial portion of Korean learners at the college level. Many schools offer a separate heritage track for learning Korean, but until now there has been no textbook designed specifically for heritage learners as well as the increasing number of students from diverse backgrounds who are interested in pursuing intensive learning to build on their prior experience with Korean.

Integrated Korean: Accelerated 1 and 2 directly address the linguistic needs and abilities of heritage and accelerated learners in a single academic year. Volume 1 presents lessons on thematically organized subjects, starting with familiar topics such as family, friends, daily routines, schoolwork, campus activities, dining out, and shopping. Volume 2 advances to more formal subjects beyond family and friends, such as travel, transportation, housing, holidays, lifestyles, careers, and Korean history and culture. Students approach the lessons with multilevel communicative classroom activities and reading materials with standards-based exercises and projects that not only focus on the particular language requirements of heritage learners, but also encourage them to participate more fully in their own family and community life. Each volume’s textbook and workbook offer authentic conversations and texts in both informal and formal contexts, structured tasks, and a wealth of interesting and relevant cultural content.

Integrated Korean is a project of the Korean Language Education and Research Center (KLEAR) with the support of the Korea Foundation. In addition to the five-level Integrated Korean textbooks and workbooks, volumes include Korean Composition, Korean Language in Culture and Society, Korean Reader for Chinese Characters, Readings in Modern Korean Literature, A Resource for Korean Grammar Instruction, and Selected Readings in Korean.

Audio files for Accelerated Korean may be downloaded in MP3 format at https://kleartextbook.com.

Ji-Young Jung