The impact of cultural instruction and cultural contact upon the attitudes toward target language in Korean secondary schools through the EPIK program

This study aimed to report the results from the analysis of data from a questionnaire designed to identify the impact of cultural instructions on students’ attitudes toward target language learning. Out of 281 participants in middle and high schools in Korea, 151 students were in EPIK classrooms in which a native English speaking teacher and a nonnative Korean teacher taught English as a team. The rest of the participants, 131 students, learned English in schools only from a nonnative Korean teacher. It was found that participants had positive attitudes toward learning about the target culture whether they had native English speaking teachers or not. However, students perceived they did not learn much about culture. Still, the students in EPIK classrooms perceived that they had many more chances to study culture than the other group of students. Regarding whether or not cultural instruction has impact on the attitudes toward target language learning, the results were ambiguous. Students did acknowledge that learning culture helped them gain more interest in learning English. Also, more students in EPIK classrooms found the target culture interesting, and reported better attitudes toward the subject of English. Nevertheless, the students in EPIK classrooms had lower instrumental and integrative motivations than those students who were not in EPIK classrooms. The nationality of native English speaking teachers affected students’ attitudes toward the target people. Also, there were age differences in attitudes toward the target people. Participants appreciated learning more culture with native English teachers and recognized the different roles played by Korean teachers and native English speaking teachers. Native English speaking teachers who can speak Korean, and who know and are interested in Korean culture along with being able to teach the target culture, were favored by the students who were not in EPIK classrooms