V.

ACQUISITION PLANNING

Acquisition planning is the last stage of language planning wherein it is conducted after
the awarding of new language use and status to a certain language and modification on the
different elements inside the language because this stage primarily concern to the different
efforts to spread and promote the mastering of a language. This stage encompasses the different
strategies, steps and the different agents that will help the spread of a specific language within
the scope of the territory of a certain country through teaching and learning the concerned
language. It is typical that acquisition planning will be connected to the education sector and
curriculum of a certain country. In South Korea, the national kindergarten curriculum has been in
place since 1969 and it focuses in developing the four basic skills in Korean (i.e. speaking,
listening, reading and writing). One of the goals of the national kindergarten curriculum in
Korean is to enhance continuity between kindergarten and year 1 of primary school (i.e.
including the four basic language skills). From the very start of the early year of education in
South Korea, the government implemented that these young child must learn Korean language
because the minds of these children are very fresh and they can easily cope up to learning the
target language. John Locke’s principle “tabula rasa” is widely applied in the early years of
promoting Gugeo.

Aside from this, South Korean government further intensifies the promotion of their
language through establishing government agencies and institution that will focus on the
language planning and implementation of different policies. Through this, the government is able
to have a control and initiative to the development and spread of their national language. There
are three entities responsible for South Korea’s language planning and policy; Department of
National Language and Planning, National Institute of the Korean Language and National
Language Advisory Committee. One of which is the National Institute of Korean Language and
it is a language regulator of the Korean language. It was created on January 23, 1991, by
Presidential Decree No. 13163 (November 14, 1990). It is based in Seoul, South Korea. The
institute was originally founded at a non-governmental level as the Academy of the Korean
Language in 1984. When the institute gained status as a subsidiary of the Korean Ministry of
Culture, it was renamed to National Academy of the Korean Language from 1991. It was again
renamed to its current name in 2005.
 National Institute of Korean Language was established for the purpose of developing the
Korean language, improving the language-life of the people and administering research
activities. The Institute conducts researches for language policies, manages linguistic rules,
publishes Korean dictionary for the benefit of the language-life of the people, improves the
environment for using the Korean language for smooth communication and strives to increase
the Korean language education's quality. It is missioned to develop Korean language and to
improve Korean language-life of the people, conducting researches for Korean language policies,
increasing language-life convenience through supplementing linguistic standards, I’m proving
the environment of using the Korean language for smooth communication, building a foundation
for a qualitative improvement of the Korean language education, collecting national language
resources and reinforcing the integrated information service.
Furthermore, the Text Book Compilation Bureau of the Ministry of Culture and
Education charged with the publication and compilation of educational literature and gave
interpretations for orthography and standard language, promoted the exclusive use of Hangeul in
textbooks, and ran campaigns to refine the Korean language. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and
Tourism had a Korean Language Policy Bureau charged with formulating and implementing
linguistic policies. The “Korean Language Deliberation Council”, an advisory body directly
reporting to the Minister of Culture which consists of language experts from academic and
industrial spheres who deliberate on key issues relating to the Korean language.