The nature of L2 input

How language learners of Korean acquire knowledge on postpositions has been a long-standing research question in Korean language pedagogy due to their polysemous nature. The present study investigates the nature of input involving the locative function of the postposition -ey, one of the representative polysemous postpositions in Korean, through the frequency of its occurrence, types of verbs co-occurring with -ey, and keyness analysis. Sejong written and spoken corpora and two types of textbooks (eight volumes for each type: two volumes for four proficiency levels) for language learners of Korean are analyzed. Results show that iss- ‘to be/exist’ predominantly occurred with locative -ey in the Sejong corpora and a few verbs occupied a large proportion of the total usage. On the other hand, the most frequent verb was ka- ‘to go’ in all proficiency levels of the textbooks, with the exception of the fourth level of the second-type textbook. This suggests that, while the Sejong usage highlights its existential role, -ey for indicating destination is widely emphasized in the textbooks. Since the purpose of language learning is to learn the structure and usage of the target language, this study’s findings can offer guidance in setting and building pedagogical goals and directions.