Social and Cultural Participation and Oral Proficiency of Korean ESL Graduate Students

Social and Cultural Participation and Oral Proficiency of Korean ESL Graduate Students

  This study seeks to understand how Korean graduate students at a State University in the Southwestern US acquire the target culture and improve oral proficiency skills outside the classroom. The study examines where Korean graduate students go and whom they meet, and how these activities influence their English oral proficiency outside the classroom. Four Korean graduate students were selected as participants. Data were collected during a semester primarily through serial in-depth interviews and observations. The researcher played a role of a participant observer. The study shows that international graduate students participate only optionally in social and cultural activities, and English-speaking environments become authentic only when students actively participate in the various activities and interact with native speakers. At the same time, it is important to keep their own Korean culture and stay closely with their own group of people to help themselves sustained as powerful.