KJCKorea
Journal Central

This article examines how artificial intelligence (AI) can support the preservation and revitalization of endangered African languages and scripts through the lens of multicultural education and digital language justice. Bringing Banks's theory of multicultural education into conversation with May's analysis of linguistic minoritization, together with culturally sustaining pedagogy and community data sovereignty, it develops four analytical dimensions spanning recognition, rights, community agency, and intergenerational learning. It proposes a function-based typology of AI applications, examines Ongota, Yaakunte/Yaaku, Nǀuu, and African Ajami manuscript traditions as illustrative preservation scenarios, and treats African script technology as a cross-cutting infrastructural layer rather than an equivalent case. The article further develops a seven-phase implementation roadmap and identifies five interrelated risk domains: extractive data governance, exposure of restricted knowledge, AI error and epistemic distortion, infrastructural unsustainability, and unequal institutional power. It argues that AI-supported preservation should be evaluated not only through technical performance or data volume, but through its contributions to linguistic recognition, educational access, community authority, intergenerational learning, and cultural continuity.

This study aims to explore the competency structure and curriculum framework for K-multicultural specialists based on long-term resident married immigrant women in the Busan region. Despite their extended residency and advanced bilingual proficiency, married immigrants frequently face structural barriers such as the lack of official academic degrees and age discrimination within the labor market. To address these limitations, this research establishes a systematic educational framework structured around three core dimensions: economic-practical, learning-career, and domestic-international approaches. Utilizing a mixed-methods design that combines a two-round Delphi survey(with 35 expert panels) and Focus Group Interviews(FGI), the study identified content validity ratios(CVR) and performed qualitative open coding. The 3-pillar framework operates not as a predetermined rigid structure, but as an exploratory conceptual category inductively verified and refined through field-based narratives. The findings reveal that transforming the invisible experiential assets of married immigrants into officially certified professional competencies is crucial for fostering regional social integration. Furthermore, establishing a collaborative governance model between local universities and regional governments through the RISE initiative serves as an essential institutional catalyst. Ultimately, this study contributes to shifting multicultural policies from a paternalistic welfare approach toward sustainable community coexistence driven by empowered immigrant agents.

This study aimed to suggest directions for general education for students in undeclared-major programs by comparing their satisfaction with general education and educational needs with those of students enrolled in specific majors. The participants were 114 first-year students in undeclared-major programs, including college-level undeclared-major tracks, and 114 first-year students in specific majors at a four-year university in Seoul. The comparison group was selected through stratified random sampling based on the gender composition and college affiliation of the undeclared-major group. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to compare course-taking attitudes and satisfaction with the general education curriculum. Borich needs assessment and importance-performance analysis (IPA) were also used to identify priorities across 11 areas of general education. The results showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups in course-taking attitudes or satisfaction with the general education curriculum. This means that no group differences were identified in the levels of course-taking attitudes and curriculum satisfaction measured in this study. In contrast, students in undeclared-major programs showed the highest educational need in the interdisciplinary area, indicating a need to experience various academic fields during the process of major exploration. Based on these results, this study proposes developing and offering diverse interdisciplinary general education courses, strengthening academic advising to support major exploration, and developing general education micro-degree programs for students in undeclared-major programs.