Innovation in Language Learning

Cultural motivation (Gómez & Salinas, 2023) [1], a new term in the literature, can be the spark that some students need to start learning a second language (L2). Korean as a second language students are deeply interested in culture and are normally introduced to it for the first time through media (Wang & Pyun, 2020) [2]. Therefore, we can say these students are culturally motivated. This study aims to compare the experiences and motivations of students learning English and Korean, and how these factors have influenced their language learning journey. The primary aim is to explore the role of cultural factors such as food, makeup, music, and clothing in learning the L2 (RQ1), whether culture is a decisive factor to start learning a language (RQ2), and how important culture is for language learning (RQ3). This comparative study analyses the motivations of 20 Korean as L2 students, and 50 students of English as L2. The participants answered a questionnaire, validated through a Delphi method (Dalkey & Helmer, 1963) [3] with internal validation. The findings reveal significant differences in cultural motivation among language learners, with students of Korean scoring significantly higher in both RQ1 and RQ2 compared to English students. These results show that culture is not only a tool for language learning but also an essential component of language learning motivation, that is, culture is not in the learning process, but before it even begins.

Keywords: intercultural education, language learning, motivation, culture, media 

REFERENCES

[1] Gómez-Parra, M. E., & Salinas-Ranero, M. J., “Exploring Cultural Motivation: A Case Study on the Fascination with the Korean Language”. In Conference Proceedings. Innovation in Language Learning, 2023. https://conference.pixel-online.net/library_scheda.php?id_abs=6189

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