Korean EFL Students’ Intercultural Learning Through a Culture Integrated Program for Global Citizenship

This study examines how a culture integrated program affects students’ intercultural learning in a Korean EFL classroom. By integrating the concept of global citizenship into culture education, it aims to investigate the students’ intercultural learning and seek desirable ways to teach culture in the Korean EFL setting. A total of 40 high school students participated in the program lasting four weeks with eight class periods. The students’ intercultural learning was examined using the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) questionnaires, participant program evaluations, and interviews. Interviews were conducted with nine students to examine the participants’ intercultural learning in more detail. Results from the ISS questionnaires and the participant program evaluations showed that the program led to a statistically significant increase in the students’ ISS scores in the category of interaction confidence (p< .5), and the students were very satisfied with the program overall. Results of the qualitative analysis of the interview data indicated that program participants displayed various aspects of intercultural learning. Findings evealed that the culture integrated program for global citizenship has its potential for integration into the Korean EFL curriculum to develop intercultural communicative competence.