The primary objective of this research is to explore the portrayal of Korean culture in Korean language textbooks developed in Thailand for use in Thai universities, and to assess Thai students' responses to these textbooks. The research utilises Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Visual Image Analysis (VIA), and interviews as methodological…

As people across the globe see the United States as a country that provides top quality education, international students from all around the world come to the United States to learn new languages, cultures, and experiences. However, international students experience various barriers during their academic journeys in the United States, and…

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether parents' utility value perceptions predicted their children's utility value perceptions, demonstrating social contagion effects. We also examined whether utility value would predict achievement. This is a cross-sectional study that utilized data from a subsample of adolescent students from…

By illustrating how eight Korean English language learners came to understand embedded assumptions from traditional fairy tales and retell the tales through a critical literacy framed English literacy workshop, this qualitative study argues that fairy tales as English reading texts can effectively cultivate English learners' critical stance and…

Objectives: International students face increased vulnerability for mental health challenges, but underutilize counseling compared to their domestic peers. We examined beliefs regarding the causes of mental illness, known as attributions, which may impact treatment-seeking and stigma. Participants: Surveys were collected from 680 international…

There is a lack of research on girls' physical activity (PA) in secondary schools in East Asian contexts, and in South Korea in particular, where the PA rates of adolescents are considerably low, especially for females. The purpose of this study was to investigate South Korean physical education (PE) teachers' and female secondary school students'…

This paper explores the lives of Indonesian migrant workers undertaking study through the Indonesia Open University in South Korea. Drawing on interviews, participant observation, and social media, the paper explores the rationales, experiences, and identity performances of these worker-students, placing emphasis on how these individuals challenge…

The purpose of the study was to examine Japanese and Korean kindergarteners' perspectives by asking them to photograph play and explain why their photos represent play (photo elicitation interviews). The participants consisted of 50 kindergarteners on Japan's main island and 50 kindergarteners in South Korea. Japanese and Korean kindergartners…

This study investigated the adversity and coping experiences of 198 South Korean university students and takes a cultural lens in understanding how social and individual factors shape their happiness. Hierarchical linear regression analyses suggest that Korean students' perceptions of social support significantly predicted their happiness,…

The current study examined how a North Korean defector attending a college in South Korea transformed her identity while learning English. This study was grounded in the notion of second language learning as a struggle of a socially constituted being in which the language learner constantly structures and restructures his or her social identity.…

While learners of a second language (L2) are increasingly interacting in small groups as part of a communicative methodological paradigm, very few studies have investigated the social dynamics that occur in such groups. The aim of this study is to introduce a group work dynamic measuring instrument and to investigate the relationship between group…

Drawing from Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, this research analyzed the structural contradictions existing in the variety of educational activities and resistance among a group of alienated adult students in Korea National Open University (KNOU). Despite KNOU's quantitative development in student number, the students' resistance shed light on…

The authors tested whether multiple components of a performance goal were differentiated by a group of Korean middle school students ("N" = 239). Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the normative and outcome components as well as the approach and avoidance components correlated too highly to be considered independent. A 2-factor…

This study examines the extent to which the communicative language teaching (CLT)-based English curriculum reform in South Korea is being experienced at the local level after a decade long effort of Ministry of Education. The study specifically focuses on the extent to which teachers understand the curriculum and implement it in their own…

The author examined predictive relations among South Korean high school students' (N = 753) perceptions of their social-psychological environments, personal motivational beliefs, and academic behavior in math. Students' perceptions of their both classroom mastery and performance goal structures predicted their personal mastery goals. Perceptions…