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영어

The purpose of this study is to suggest the roles of Korean language teachers based on intercultural communication perspectives and context-cultural factors because second language classes involve intercultural communication between a teacher and students or between students from diverse cultural backgrounds. For this purpose, this study examines concepts of intercultural communication based on high/low-context culture approaches. Korean culture has been classified as a high-context culture in that communication participants depend much heavily on contexts, environments or nonverbal communication as well as explicit verbal communication. Considering the high-context cultural characteristics of Korean language, this paper analyzes the structure of intercultural communication in Korean language classrooms. It suggests that the teachers should be able to develop intercultural sensitivity and flexibility and acquire abilities to move from the high-context culture to the low-context culture towards individual students. The teachers’ efforts can create better communication flow in language classrooms and eventually contribute to more effective teaching and learning by reducing opportunities that messages might be misinterpreted. Finally, this paper compares classroom cultures between Asian and western countries, and provides four teaching techniques for Korean language teachers who have intercultural awareness as second language teachers.