Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science (한국비블리아학회지)

Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science (한국비블리아학회)
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An Exploratory Study of Information Search Behaviors of International Students in Korea

국내 거주 외국인 유학생의 정보검색행위에 관한 탐색적 연구

  • 윤정원 (전북대학교 문헌정보학과)
  • Received : 2022.02.22
  • Accepted : 2022.03.12
  • Published : 2022.03.30
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Abstract

This study aims to understand international students' web search behaviors. During the experiment, fifteen international students were asked to conduct three search tasks which includes six search questions. Depending on the characteristics of search task, there were differences in search performance and search behavior. It was commonly found that participants with higher Korean fluency showed higher search performance; however, prior knowledge about the search topic did not always affect the search performance. In the search tasks that required navigation through menus and links within one web domain, participants often overlooked the correct answers, even if they were at the webpages containing the correct answer. Also, some participants did not realized that they found wrong answers. For enhancing information seeking behaviors among foreigners in Korea, the followings were suggested: 1) to design websites which are easy for non-native speakers to navigate, and 2) to use social media as a means of interactive communication.

본 연구는 외국인 유학생들의 웹 검색엔진을 사용한 정보검색행위를 분석하였다. 실험에 참가한 15명의 외국인 유학생들은 3가지 검색 태스크에 포함된 6개의 검색질문에 대한 답을 찾도록 하였으며, 각 태스크 별로 사전 설문지 작성, 검색 수행, 사후 설문지 작성으로 실험이 진행되었다. 검색 태스크의 특성에 따라 검색성과와 검색행동에는 차이가 있었으나 공통적으로 한국어의 유창성이 높은 참가자들의 검색 성과가 높은 것으로 나타났다. 그러나 검색주제에 관한 사전지식이 검색성과에 항상 영향을 미치는 것은 아닌 것으로 나타났다. 메뉴와 링크를 통하여 웹사이트를 탐색해서 답을 찾는 태스크의 경우, 정답이 포함된 웹페이지 앞에서도 정답을 간과하는 경우가 발견되었다. 또한 오답을 찾고 그것을 인지하지 못하는 경우도 있었다. 국내의 외국인 거주자들에게 정보를 제공하기 위해서는 비원어민들이 탐색하기에 용이한 웹사이트를 디자인하고 양방향 소통 수단이 소셜미디어를 사용하는 것이 필요하다고 제안되었다.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

이 논문은 2022년도 전북대학교 연구기반 조성비 지원에 의하여 연구되었음.

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