The Effect of K-Pop and the Interaction within the K-Pop Community on EFL Learners

Abstract

Korean-Pop (K-Pop) has become a global phenomenon, reaching parts of the world that no one could have imagined before. The recent surge in popularity has brought about an enormous number of fans from all over the world, all wishing to engage in the content and discourse present online. Due to this widespread reach of the fandom, English has started to be used as an informal lingua franca on the internet. English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students who have an interest in Korean Pop music can potentially benefit from this use of English online. Using a qualitative approach, this research focuses on the effect participating in the K-Pop online community has on EFL students. The participants –six young adult females, all studying the same university major, all fans of K-Pop who frequently interact in the online community– were interviewed about their experience participating in the K-Pop online community and how it affected their learning of EFL. Based on this study’s findings, though there was not a direct association between interaction in the K-Pop online community and motivation, interaction with this community showed to have a positive impact on vocabulary, receptive macro skills development and confidence on the participants EFL learning.

Keywords

• internet aided learning
• idle
• efl