International Journal of Education

With the expansion of Korean language programs in higher education, curricular reform in Korean literature has garnered attention. However, research specifically addressing the integration of Chinese classics into university-level Korean literature appreciation courses remains scarce and empirical outcomes are limited. Major obstacles to reform include the intrinsic difficulty of Korean literature courses, students’ limited language proficiency, and inadequacies in curricular resources and faculty capacity. In addition, the lack of systematic incorporation of Sinological perspectives and curriculum-based ideological and political education, together with limited adoption of advanced pedagogical approaches, further constrains reform and has contributed to declining student engagement. Given that Chinese classics have long been promoted within higher education as foundational texts to be transmitted through sustained and implicit pedagogical influence, investigating practical strategies for their integration into Korean literature appreciation courses constitutes an urgent and significant task for contemporary pedagogy in Korean literature. As an example, the teaching of "The Legend of Master White Cloud" demonstrates how to achieve deep integration through innovative methods such as AI tool assistance and cross-cultural comparison. Practical experience has shown that this model can significantly enhance students' cultural understanding depth and cross-cultural comparison skills.

Chinese classics; Korean literature pedagogy; Korean literature appreciation; Korean language education; Curriculum ideological and political education