Lessons for Understanding Across Difference: Korean Jeong to Build Global Relationship Practices

Lessons for Understanding Across Difference: Korean Jeong to Build Global Relationship Practices

Maria Lisak
Chosun University, South Korea

Abstract

This study explores the significance of 정 (Jeong), a Korean cultural concept encompassing empathy, love, and hospitality, in shaping global relationship practices. By nurturing these hospitable sensibilities, English language learners enhance their interactions with others and deepen self-understanding throughout their learning journey. Through a practitioner inquiry of student work from global issue discussions and reflective writing, this research examines how learners extend care and hospitality toward both peers and imagined, distant others.

Grounded in a sociocultural framework, the study positions Jeong as a cosmopolitan cultural asset that bridges emotional connections across difference. Jeong’s relational nature fosters reciprocity and humane engagement, enabling students to navigate global relationships with authenticity and openness. Rooted in Confucian ideals of obligation and care, Jeong also embraces vulnerability, transforming hierarchical relationships into more inclusive forms of empathy and support. This perspective highlights how Korean cultural resources can localize the global language of English while cultivating more ethical and connected modes of learning.

Keywords: Jeong, critical cosmopolitanism, English language learning, sociocultural theory, empathy, hospitality, Korean education

Slide deck given at JALT Global Englishes 2023

Introduction

The South Korean educational landscape presents a compelling paradox that shapes language learning experiences. On one hand, Korean culture emphasizes collectivist values—collaboration, cooperation, and the philosophy of "we all are one," rooted in national pride, ethnic connection, and teamwork. On the other hand, the competitive nature of Korean education, influenced by Confucian hierarchical structures, creates a high-stakes environment characterized by test-taking culture, perfectionist performances, and English as a gatekeeper to opportunity and status.

This paradox raises a critical question: How do we cultivate hospitable reciprocity in competitive and unequal language spaces? The answer may lie within Korean cultural assets themselves, particularly the concept of Jeong—a multifaceted emotional connection that encompasses empathy, love, and hospitality. This study explores how Jeong can serve as a bridge between local cultural practices and global relationship building within English language learning contexts.

Context and Researcher Positionality

The research was conducted in South Korea, where families invest heavily in English education—spending approximately 6% of household income on language learning, with expenditures increasing by 33% between 2007 and 2017. Students typically undergo 13 years of English study, yet English remains a significant divider in terms of access to opportunities, administration, and welfare.

As a female, middle-aged American researcher with 24 years of experience living and working in South Korea, I occupy a unique position that allows me to observe and analyze the intersection of Korean cultural practices and English language pedagogy. This extended immersion has provided deep insights into how Korean cultural concepts can be leveraged to enhance language learning while promoting more humane and equitable educational practices.

Literature Review and Conceptual Framework

This study draws upon multiple interconnected theoretical frameworks to examine how Korean cultural concepts can inform global relationship practices in English language learning. The literature review is organized around four key areas: sociocultural approaches to literacy and identity, critical cosmopolitanism, funds of knowledge, and pedagogies of accompaniment.

Sociocultural Theory: Identity, Agency, and Power

Building on Vygotskian principles, sociocultural theory examines how language learning is embedded in social and cultural contexts. Lewis, Enciso, and Moje (2020) provide a comprehensive framework for understanding literacy as inseparable from identity construction, agency, and power relations. This perspective moves beyond viewing language acquisition as merely a cognitive process, instead recognizing it as a deeply social practice through which learners negotiate their positioning in the world.

This study extends sociocultural theory by examining how Korean students navigate English language acquisition while maintaining and leveraging connections to their cultural heritage. Rather than treating Korean cultural concepts as obstacles to overcome, this research positions them as resources—what Hawkins (2014) terms "creative meaning making" that enables critical cosmopolitan education. Hawkins argues that ontologies of place provide learners with grounded perspectives from which to engage global issues, a framework particularly relevant to understanding how Jeong operates as both locally situated and globally expansive.

Critical Cosmopolitanism and Proper Distance

Traditional cosmopolitanism has often been critiqued for its universalist assumptions that erase cultural specificity in favor of abstract global citizenship. This study instead draws on critical cosmopolitanism, which recognizes the situated nature of global engagement. Delanty (2006, 2009) articulates the "cosmopolitan imagination" as a framework that acknowledges multiple modernities and cultural perspectives rather than imposing Western notions of universal humanity. His work emphasizes that cosmopolitanism must be renewed through critical social theory that attends to power relations and cultural difference.

Hansen (2010) extends this critique by cautioning against "chasing butterflies without a net"—pursuing cosmopolitan ideals without concrete grounding in lived experience and cultural context. He argues for interpretations of cosmopolitanism that honor particular cultural practices while fostering openness to difference. This tension between the particular and universal is precisely what Korean cultural concepts like Jeong can help navigate.

Hull and Stornaiuolo (2014) introduce the concept of "proper distance" as crucial to cosmopolitan literacies. Drawing on their work with youth using social networks to connect across global divides, they argue that effective cosmopolitan engagement requires neither complete identification with others (which erases difference) nor detached objectivity (which precludes genuine understanding). Instead, proper distance involves "striving to understand" through sustained engagement that maintains both connection and respect for otherness. This concept resonates deeply with Korean relational practices that balance proximity and appropriate boundaries.

Chen's (2010) "Asia as Method" provides another critical lens for this work, challenging researchers to use Asian experiences and epistemologies as analytical frameworks rather than merely objects of study. This methodological orientation undergirds the present study's approach of centering Jeong as a theoretical resource rather than simply describing it as a cultural curiosity. Chen's work insists that Asian contexts offer valuable alternatives to Western-centric theoretical frameworks—a position that validates examining how Korean cultural assets can inform global pedagogical practices.

Funds of Knowledge and Cultural Assets

The funds of knowledge framework, originally developed by Moll and colleagues to recognize the rich cultural and practical knowledge that working-class families possess, has been extensively elaborated in recent scholarship. Moll (2019) emphasizes the importance of community-oriented practices in international contexts, arguing that educators must move beyond deficit perspectives to recognize students' cultural resources as pedagogical assets.

Hogg (2011) provides a comprehensive investigation of coherence within the funds of knowledge literature, identifying both the framework's strengths and areas requiring further development. His analysis highlights the need for more nuanced understandings of how cultural knowledge functions differently across contexts—a concern directly relevant to this study's examination of how Jeong operates in competitive educational spaces.

Hedges (2015) offers theoretical and pedagogical insights into how funds of knowledge can be identified and leveraged, while also acknowledging dilemmas educators face in this work. Her attention to both possibilities and challenges provides a realistic framework for understanding how Korean cultural concepts might be activated in classroom settings without romanticizing or essentializing them.

Zipin (2009) extends the funds of knowledge framework by introducing the concept of "dark funds of knowledge"—aspects of students' lived experiences that may be painful, marginal, or at odds with dominant cultural narratives. His notion of "deep funds of pedagogy" emphasizes exploring boundaries between lifeworlds and schools, creating spaces where students can bring their full selves, including difficult experiences, into educational settings. This framework is particularly relevant for understanding how Korean students navigate the tensions between collectivist cultural values and competitive educational structures.

Pedagogies of Accompaniment and Empathetic Fusion

Sepúlveda (2011) introduces the concept of "acompañamiento"—accompaniment—as a pedagogical approach rooted in liberation theology and Latin American social movements. Drawing on theologian Roberto Goizueta's work, Sepúlveda articulates a vision of education that begins with authentic relationships and community formation. Central to this approach is the concept of empathetic fusion, which Goizueta describes as relating to another as a whole human being. As Sepúlveda explains, "To relate to another as a person, I must 'fuse' with him or her . . . as whole human beings. Thus, the only way we can 'fuse' with each other is affectively, through empathetic love" (p. 558).

This pedagogical vision insists that social justice work cannot be done to those on the margins but must emerge from genuine relationship. Perspectives and analyses of those experiencing marginalization become critical starting points for individual and social transformation. This approach resonates strongly with Korean relational concepts like Jeong while also extending them, suggesting how culturally grounded empathy might inform pedagogical practices that bridge local and global concerns.

Campano, Ghiso, and Welch (2016) demonstrate what such pedagogy looks like in practice through their work partnering with immigrant communities around literacy. Their approach emphasizes literacy through action, positioning community members as knowledge holders whose experiences and insights drive educational priorities. This model of reciprocal relationship challenges traditional power dynamics in education, creating space for genuine exchange rather than one-directional transmission of knowledge.

Vulnerability, Precarity, and Hospitality

Butler's (2004) work on precarious life provides philosophical grounding for understanding vulnerability as a shared human condition that can ground ethical relationships. She argues that recognition of our mutual precariousness—our shared exposure to loss, violence, and mortality—can become the basis for more ethical modes of relating across difference. This framework helps articulate why extending Jeong to distant others matters: our interconnection means that injustices anywhere threaten human dignity everywhere.

Derrida (2003) extends this thinking through his exploration of cosmopolitanism and forgiveness, particularly his notion of unconditional hospitality. While Derrida acknowledges the impossibility of absolute hospitality (which would dissolve all boundaries and conditions), he argues that approaching this impossible ideal can transform how we relate to strangers and others. This tension between conditional and unconditional hospitality illuminates the Korean context, where Confucian relational obligations create clear boundaries around who deserves care, yet Jeong as an affective practice can potentially extend beyond these prescribed limits.

Critical Alternative Epistemologies

Nygreen's (2006, 2013) framework for activist research in urban education provides methodological grounding for this study. She challenges positivist assumptions that "true knowledge exists 'out there'" as an objective reality waiting to be discovered. Instead, following critical alternative epistemologies, Nygreen asserts that all knowledge is partial, situated, constructed in practice, and tied to relations of power. Her work asks researchers to examine how the questions we ask and methods we use either reproduce or challenge existing power structures.

This epistemological stance is crucial for understanding how Korean cultural concepts like Jeong can inform transformative pedagogical practices. Rather than treating Western theoretical frameworks as universal truths and Korean concepts as local particularities requiring translation, Nygreen's approach allows for centering Korean epistemologies as equally valid analytical frameworks. Her later ethnographic work (2013) demonstrates how attention to youth identity, agency, and social justice can reveal the complex ways students navigate educational systems not designed with their flourishing in mind.

Disrupting Deficit Narratives

Several scholars have examined how marginalized communities possess cosmopolitan capacities often overlooked by dominant narratives. Reid and Al Khalil (2013) introduce the concept of "refugee cosmopolitans," arguing that refugees demonstrate sophisticated forms of global engagement and cultural navigation, disrupting narratives that position them solely as dependent or lacking. Similarly, Romero-Ivanova (2018) examines how women resist being silenced, demonstrating agency and resilience in contexts that attempt to constrain their voices.

Recent work on multilingual education further challenges deficit perspectives. Shi and Rolstad (2023) document how monolingual English teachers successfully constructed translanguaging classrooms in China, demonstrating that linguistic diversity can be leveraged as a resource rather than remediated as a problem. Wunseh and Charamba (2023) show how language brokering and code-switching function as teaching and learning tools in multilingual settings, with immigrant children demonstrating sophisticated metalinguistic awareness. These studies collectively argue for asset-based approaches that recognize the capabilities marginalized students bring to educational settings.

Synthesizing the Framework

This study synthesizes these diverse theoretical threads by examining how Jeong—a Korean cultural concept encompassing empathy, love, and hospitality—can function as both a local cultural asset and a bridge to global relationship practices. The research positions Korean students not as lacking cosmopolitan capacity but as possessing culturally specific resources for engaging across difference. By integrating sociocultural theory's attention to identity and power, critical cosmopolitanism's insistence on situated engagement, funds of knowledge approaches that honor cultural assets, and pedagogies of accompaniment that emphasize empathetic fusion, this study articulates a framework for cultivating hospitable reciprocity even within competitive educational spaces.

The concept of proper distance (Hull & Stornaiuolo, 2014) proves particularly valuable for understanding how Jeong can extend from immediate relationships to distant others. While Korean cultural practices traditionally operate within clearly defined relational boundaries, the affective dimension of Jeong—its capacity to generate emotional connection—offers possibilities for extending care beyond prescribed obligations. This extension requires what might be termed "radical hospitality": moving beyond conditional hospitality rooted in established relationships to approach the unconditional hospitality Derrida describes, while remaining grounded in the particular cultural practices that give Korean hospitality its meaning and power.

Understanding Jeong: Korean Cultural Foundations

Jeong (정) represents a complex emotional bond that is central to Korean interpersonal relationships. Often described as a feeling of sympatico, Jeong encompasses empathy, love, and hospitality within Korean cultural contexts. It is a multifaceted feeling that develops through sustained interaction and shared experiences, creating deep emotional connections between people. As explored in my previous work on Korean cosmopolitan concepts (Lisak, 2023a, 2023b), Jeong operates as a cultural resource rooted in Confucian relational practices while also possessing potential to extend beyond traditional boundaries.

Confucian-Grounded Korean Hospitality

Korean hospitality, influenced by Confucian philosophy, operates within a framework of socially prescribed obligations and hierarchical relationships. These relationships are characterized by:

• Obligations towards others based on social position and connection

• Relationships of circulation involving reciprocal exchanges

• Hierarchical structures that define appropriate interactions

However, this traditional framework also contains limitations. In Korean society, the concept of "non-persons"—individuals to whom one has no introduction or formal connection—can create boundaries around obligation. Without established relationships, individuals may feel no responsibility toward strangers, as evidenced by the absence of Good Samaritan laws. Affiliations such as alumni relationships, group membership, and patriotism become critically important in determining social obligations.

Transforming Through Radical Hospitality

This study explores how Jeong, which traditionally operates within prescribed Confucian relationships, can be transformative and extended through what I term "radical hospitality." My previous research on radical hospitality (Lisak, 2023a) examined how Korean students might extend care across multiple dimensions:

• Towards known people: The deep emotional bonds formed through shared experiences and sustained interaction

• Towards self: The cultivation of self-understanding and self-compassion

• Towards strangers: The extension of warmth and care to those outside immediate social circles

• Towards distant global others: The imaginative capacity to feel connected to people across geographical and cultural boundaries

The concept of radical hospitality represents a transformation of traditional Confucian norms through:

• Humane exchange: Moving beyond hierarchical obligation to genuine care

• Embracing vulnerability: Acknowledging one's own limitations and needs

• Extending support to imagined others: Developing the capacity to feel connected to distant, unknown individuals

• Practicing global exchange: Engaging with worldwide issues through a lens of care and responsibility

This pedagogical framework asks whether and how Korean students can leverage their cultural capacity for Jeong to build relationships beyond traditional boundaries, extending care to those with whom they have no formal connection or prescribed obligation.

Methodology: Practitioner Inquiry

This research employed a practitioner inquiry approach, combining elements of action research and ethnography to examine how Korean university students engaged with global topics in an English language classroom. As a practitioner inquiry grounded in relational, situated knowing, this methodology privileges meaning-making and reflexive engagement over measurement or generalizability.

Research Design

The study utilized qualitative research methods within an action research framework. As the teacher-researcher, I engaged in recursive cycles of teaching, observation, reflection, and interpretation. Throughout this process, I returned to student work repeatedly, allowing new understandings of empathy, proper distance, and radical hospitality to emerge through sustained engagement with what students produced.

Thematic analysis guided my interpretive work, drawing on Saldana's (2015) approach to move from initial classroom observations into deeper inquiry about how hospitality manifests in student discourse. This analytical process helped articulate what actions and expressions constitute "hospitality" (Hansen, 2010)—a concept of generosity towards strangers—within a framework of critical cosmopolitanism (Kurasawa, 2011) that examines how we make global issues locally relevant. The concept of radical hospitality emerged through this analysis, pointing toward wider political and social boundaries that enable more inclusive ways of relating (Campano et al, 2016).

The research focused on:

• Lesson plan development and iterative refinement based on student responses

• Close reading of student work and artifacts

• Examination of language, visuals, and transformation in student responses

• Ongoing cycles of teaching, reflection, and pedagogical adjustment

Participants and Setting

Participants were second-year university students at a South Korean university enrolled in a mandatory English content class. The research was conducted across four sections of a mandatory, sophomore level course in their (double) major of public administration and social welfare at a large, private Korean university in a large southwestern city in South Korea.

The diversity of language and content proficiency reflected typical Korean university classrooms, offering a rich site for examining how students engage difference within everyday educational realities. While most participants were sophomores (second year students), some juniors (3rd year) and seniors (4th year) were also enrolled, creating varied perspectives based on different stages of university experience. No freshmen participated.

Teacher-Researcher Positionality

As the teacher practitioner, I am a middle-aged, American female professor teaching at this university for seven years, in South Korea for twenty-three years, and in South Korean higher education for fifteen years. As a non-Korean teaching Koreans English, I feel an obligation to be reflexive about my position of privilege as an outsider/guest and an insider/professor. I approach this research conscious of the political narrative surrounding my position and the gatekeeper role of English that I occupy in my students' professional futures (Nygreen, 2006).

I approached my class as a chance to 'construct meaning' together with my students. Because this course is required, I was particularly concerned about creating a supportive atmosphere for learners to express their personal agency and self-identity in English, a gatekeeping language to success in both academics and work environments in South Korea. I organized lessons to help learners adopt critical epistemologies that position knowledge as "constructed, partial and power-differentiated rather than universal, positivistic, value-free, 'right' answers" (Nygreen, 2006).

Pedagogical Approach

Course Content

The course centered on public administration and social welfare content while providing methodological scaffolding to support English as an additional language. Initial weeks functioned as a needs analysis, allowing students to demonstrate their capabilities in English while building key artifacts for a portfolio. The objective of these projects was for learners to develop confidence, practice a variety of English language skills, demonstrate critical thinking practices, and to encourage 정 (Jeong)—a Korean concept of "feeling" or empathetic fusion for people, ideas, and cultures beyond their immediate experience.

Early posters and videos were stored on students' blogs and revisited at semester's end, creating opportunities for students to witness their own growth. Students participated in varied activities and projects both in class and in the community. Written work was used to prepare for and deepen spoken work.

A blog served as our learning management system, with the syllabus, schedule, and hyperlinked posts for each class session. Posts followed a typical format: welcome, classwork, homework. The "Welcome" section provided attendance, reminders and homework feedback. "Classwork" varied but usually followed a flipped learning method where homework became the foundation for class discussion, though some sessions included direct instruction and extended feedback for assignments. "Homework" was usually written and submitted via Google Form. Learners also created multimodal artifacts like posters, infographics, and videos, which they saved to personal learning blogs with links collected via Google Forms.

Student performances, spoken and written, varied by ability, though all had been studying English since at least middle school. Some students reported thirteen years of English study, beginning in elementary school. Because English ability varied within sections, I began with a needs analysis to see what students produced without extensive guidelines. After observing their initial work, I developed customized goals for individual learners. Students initially writing only fragments were encouraged to develop two to three complete sentences. For students producing longer texts, I used readability tools for quick analysis, then offered one to three specific suggestions to strengthen their writing throughout the semester. Some assignments provided paragraph writing formulas; others gave word count guidelines to support structure.

Spoken work was not formally assessed beyond participation. During class, I offered feedback through modeling, extending student contributions, and facilitating peer support—all while encouraging students to remain in the target language to build their English capacity. Kinesthetic activities at semester's end prompted reflective writing on blog posts and review of all group discussions, allowing students to identify their most meaningful learning experiences.

Cosmopolitan Expressions

The course emphasized three interconnected, cosmopolitan expressions:

1. Empathy: Developing the capacity to understand and connect with others' experiences

2. Negotiation with others (Proper Distance): Learning to engage with peers and topics in ways that respect both connection and autonomy

3. Action (Radical Hospitality): Cultivating attitudes and actions that extend care beyond immediate social circles

Students engaged with global topics through:

• Assigned research topics (e.g., sweatshops, prison reform, honor killings, firefighter labor issues)

• Value Shield posters and videos exploring personal values

• SuperHero Power posters and impromptu presentations

• Group discussions with peers

• Blog portfolios and written reflections

Group Discussion Protocol

As learners were reluctant to speak in English, several scaffolds supported their participation in group discussion. Four to five weeks of the semester focused on weekly group discussions about administration and welfare topics, including issues in South Korea as well as policy, social issues and welfare around the world.

Students received a topic, researched it, created a video presenting their research, and shared findings with classmates. Discussion questions were first modeled, then elicited from students themselves. All students submitted written answers to discussion questions before class. During the following session, students gathered in small groups to share their prepared answers. While some initially read their written responses, most gradually moved toward more interactive discussion through reminders, models, non-examples, and rubrics. Learners completed self-evaluations after each discussion. Various activities stimulated ongoing reflection on the group discussions.

Data Collection

Data were collected throughout a full semester and included:

• Student surveys on favorite group discussion topics

• Group discussion reflections (written artifacts)

• Value Shield posters and videos

• SuperHero Power posters and presentations

• Blog portfolios and written reflections

• Visual and linguistic analysis of student work

Open-ended questions like "What was your favorite topic this week and why?" and "Did any topic make you uncomfortable? Which one and why?" prompted reflection. These questions were asked after four weeks of discussion to elicit reflective insights on the topics. Participants chose a favorite topic from each discussion week and shared opinions confidentially. A separate question invited learners to share any discomfort with specific topics discussed.

Coding and Analysis

As a practitioner inquiry centered on relational knowing, my analytical approach involved returning to student written work repeatedly to interpret how students demonstrated empathy, proper distance, and radical hospitality. Rather than applying predetermined codes mechanically, I engaged in what might be called "dwelling with" the data—reading student reflections multiple times to understand the nuanced ways Korean students extended care, negotiated connection, and imagined relationships with distant others.

Recursive Analytical Process

Across three cycles of interpretive analysis, I returned to the same student work multiple times, allowing new understandings to emerge. This recursive process involved:

Cycle I: Empathy (Eight interpretive passes)
Initial readings attended to words and phrases students used to express empathy, noticing patterns in how they articulated emotional connection. Early passes looked broadly at empathetic language; subsequent readings deepened interpretation by examining the intensity and quality of empathy expressed. As I worked to understand the range of empathetic engagement—from profound identification to surface acknowledgment—I noticed additional patterns emerging: students sometimes went off-topic, revealed personal experiences, expressed self-motivation, or responded in unexpected ways.

Through this interpretive work, I developed categories to describe degrees of empathetic fusion: profound empathetic fusion, moderate empathetic connection, neutral expressions of empathy, tentative empathetic gestures, and absence of empathetic engagement. Some responses were better characterized as off-task or unusual rather than fitting empathy categories. This process moved toward a conceptual framework while remaining open to the two additional cosmopolitan literacies—proper distance and radical hospitality—that I continued to explore in the same data.

Cycle II: Proper Distance (Two interpretive passes)
Proper distance required rethinking my initial analytical lens. My first interpretation focused too heavily on cognitive processes rather than relational stances. Returning to Hull & Stornaiuolo's framework within cosmopolitan literacies helped me recognize three relational stances: proximal, symbolic, and reciprocal. Through this second interpretive pass, I noticed that data initially marked as showing reciprocal stance aligned with what I had begun identifying as radical hospitality, deepening my understanding of connections between these cosmopolitan expressions.

Cycle III: Radical Hospitality (Two interpretive passes)
In the third analytical cycle, I focused on radical hospitality, interpreted as extending care toward wider political and social boundaries to foster inclusiveness (Campano et al., 2016).

Students demonstrated radical hospitality when discussing both past and future experiences. Past experiences of extending care—sometimes from volunteer work, other times from life or work experiences—prompted learners to bring prior knowledge into class discussions. Students spoke about remaining in group discussions even when topics triggered difficult memories from previous negative or traumatic experiences. Learners also demonstrated trust that moved beyond typical Korean cultural norms by discussing, in English, topics they would not address in Korean in public spaces such as classrooms with mixed-gender groups of relative strangers. Topics including sex education, prostitution, and drug use (marijuana) made some students uncomfortable, yet they chose to stay and engage in group discussion.

These two interpretive passes examining radical hospitality explored how learners connected prior experiences to present learning, and how they articulated transformation—changes in understanding or commitment emerging from experiences or new knowledge encountered through class presentations and discussions. I paid particular attention to expressions of future or planned action—whether realistic small steps individuals might take or larger systemic approaches through policy advocacy or awareness campaigns in public spaces.

Radical Hospitality: Interpretive Themes

Through sustained engagement with student reflections, I identified five primary expressions of radical hospitality:

Future personal action: Students articulated realistic, small steps they personally planned to take. For example: "I think positive for organ donation. Organ donation is good influence to others. I hope the publicity a lot of organ donation. A life can save many lives. At later days, I am ever organ donation. So will save many lives."

Policy advocacy: Students described larger systemic approaches to address issues through policy changes or awareness campaigns. For example: "I think sweat shop is related in problems regarding foreign laborers' human rights (illegal alien). They are not paid on time mostly. So I want to keep informed sweat shop's problem and make a bill."

Past personal experiences: Students drew on prior experiences of extending care—from volunteer work, life experiences, or work—to inform their engagement with discussion topics. For example: "I have seen the look on disability issues, when the Society activities in the last year. I have found that a problem with the Braille blocks for the visually impaired. So I want to inform the problem with this discussion."

Staying with a topic trigger: Students acknowledged remaining in discussion even when topics triggered difficult personal memories. For example: "Before l listen the presentation, I know a little about trauma. Because l have had a trauma like a something Yuri said. so l can listen with attention, l already know post traumatic stress disorder and l had Consulted. so l can think about many time How can organization do for people but l dont understand what they do to this time i can umder stand what they do"

Liberating Taboo Talk: Students demonstrated trust and maturity by discussing in English—in mixed-gender classroom spaces—topics they would not typically address in Korean public settings. For example: "Because it is very interesting topic. I have not taken enough the sex education. I was first time to know about sex in English. Also, Iwas first time to make question about thst. It is very worthful."

Historical obligation: Students expressed consciousness of collective, historical experiences requiring reciprocity in the present. For example: "I was sick mind with the discussion. I thought because Korea has received assistance from many countries at the time of the Korean War Putting do not return much love for refugees in other countries. Rather than draw a line that people in other countries think that we have a country that can give hope chest hurts like one nation."

Through this recursive analytical process, patterns of empathy, proper distance, and radical hospitality began to surface—revealing how Jeong manifested in classroom discourse and reflective writing. What follows traces these patterns across student work, illuminating the complex ways Korean university students extended care and understanding across differences while navigating the tensions between local cultural practices and global relationship building.

Findings

The analysis revealed several significant patterns in how Korean students engaged with global topics through the cultural lens of Jeong. These patterns emerged through careful examination of student reflections, written responses, and classroom interactions, painting a complex picture of how cultural assets facilitate cosmopolitan engagement.

These patterns emerged through sustained interpretive engagement with student work, understood as partial and situated knowledge constructed through the relational space of our classroom. Following Nygreen's (2006) critical alternative epistemologies, I recognize these findings not as objective truths but as meaningful insights emerging from particular cultural, institutional, and relational contexts.

Preference for Own Culture

One of the most striking findings was learners' strong preference for discussing Korean culture rather than international topics. Rather than viewing this as resistance to global engagement, this finding aligns with the concept of cosmopolitanism-on-the-ground, where authentic global engagement necessarily begins with deep understanding of one's own cultural context. Students demonstrated more nuanced analysis, deeper emotional investment, and more sophisticated critical thinking when discussing issues rooted in Korean society. This preference suggests that effective cosmopolitan education must be grounded in local experiences rather than imposed through abstract universal frameworks.

Research Creates Empathy

Students developed genuine empathy for topics and people through the research process, transforming their understanding of distant others and unfamiliar issues. This transformation was particularly evident when students personally invested in their research topics. Four examples illustrate this developmental arc from initial encounter to empathetic understanding.

One student researching sweatshops reflected on a profound shift in consciousness: "Sweat shops was my pecha kucha topic. I really like clothes and I am interested in fashion, design and shopping. However, I never wandered about who makes the clothes, shoes and bags I have. So I was really shocked when I received my topic and started the research. I felt sorry for the people who makes these product in an unhealthy environment experiencing sweat shops when I was just thinking how pretty they are. While doing research about this topic, I learned about how many brands do sweat shops and because I learned that some of the brands I like does sweat shop as a person who likes clothes it was a meaningful time for me to know about this." This student's journey from consumer to conscious citizen demonstrates how research can facilitate the extension of Jeong from immediate relationships to distant, previously unconsidered others.

Another student wrestling with prison reform articulated the complexity that emerges from sustained engagement with difficult topics: "My favorite Topic for week 6 was 'Prison Reform'. It was my pecha Kucha topic and I liked it not only because it was my topic and I worked hard to prepare for my presentation but also because as I search more and more about this topic, the topic is too controversial that I can't easily choose which way is right and I can't fight with the opposite side since regarding human rights everyone's opinion is right and valid." This response demonstrates proper distance—the student neither dismissed the topic as irrelevant nor over-identified with a single perspective, instead maintaining engagement with complexity and ambiguity.

A student researching honor killings explicitly connected local Korean identity to global responsibility: "This is my subject. I do not think it is a matter of our country. However, we need to be of interest to the world issue. We do not intervene directly. But we are interested in the issues of the world. And we think about how we could to help honor killings." This reflection shows the student navigating between acknowledging cultural distance while asserting connection and responsibility—a key feature of radical hospitality.

Finally, a student discussing firefighter labor issues revealed how personal investment in research topics facilitated deeper emotional connection: "Because.. It is my topic.. at this time, I learned fire fighter's problem and it is very serious. So i was one again moved by the labor of the fire fighters. The other polices are urgently settled and have to solve the problems." These examples collectively demonstrate that personal investment in research topics facilitated deeper emotional connection and understanding, reflecting the development of Jeong toward distant others.

Layered Negotiation

Learners practiced what can be termed "layered negotiation," operating simultaneously at three interconnected levels. At the proximal level, students negotiated with peers in small group discussions, learning to navigate difference within their immediate classroom community. This face-to-face negotiation required students to practice listening, responding, and building upon others' ideas in English—a vulnerable process given varying language abilities and the competitive educational culture.

At the reflexive level, students engaged with topics through personal reflection and meaning-making, examining their own assumptions, biases, and emotional responses. This internal negotiation often appeared in written reflections where students processed their learning and articulated changing perspectives on themselves and others.

At the reciprocal level, students connected with distant others through imaginative empathy, extending care and concern beyond those physically present. This multi-layered engagement reflects the expansion of Jeong from immediate relationships to global concerns, demonstrating that cosmopolitan capacity develops through practice across multiple relational distances simultaneously.

Cosmopolitan Imagination

Perhaps most encouraging, some learners employed their cosmopolitan imagination to engage distant others even when coursework did not explicitly assign this "reciprocal proper distance." Students spontaneously made connections between classroom discussions and global communities, imagined themselves in others' circumstances, and articulated visions of transnational solidarity. This finding suggests that Korean cultural capacities for connection, when activated through appropriate pedagogical approaches, can be directed toward global relationship building without explicit instruction. Students drew upon existing cultural resources—particularly the capacity for Jeong—to extend care beyond prescribed boundaries.

Stronger Empathy for Korean Topics

Consistent with the preference for discussing Korean culture, students expressed more empathy regarding themes about Korea rather than international topics. When discussing Korean social issues, students wrote longer reflections, made more personal connections, referenced specific examples from their communities, and proposed more concrete actions. This pattern reinforces that effective global education must be grounded in local concerns and cultural assets, allowing students to extend their existing capacity for Jeong outward to more distant others. Beginning with familiar contexts provides an emotional and epistemological foundation from which students can then reach toward unfamiliar peoples and places.

Discussion

Cultivating Hospitable Reciprocity in Competitive Spaces

The findings illuminate how Korean cultural concepts like Jeong can be leveraged to create more humane language learning environments despite competitive pressures that dominate Korean education. The paradox of South Korean education—collectivist cultural values operating within fiercely competitive structures—need not result in purely instrumentalist approaches to language learning that sacrifice human connection for individual advancement. By grounding global education in local cultural assets, educators can help students navigate this tension productively.

Building from existing strengths represents a crucial pedagogical move. Rather than viewing Korean cultural practices as obstacles to cosmopolitan thinking—a deficit perspective that implicitly privileges Western models of global citizenship—this study demonstrates that concepts like Jeong provide foundations for authentic global engagement. Students already possess sophisticated relational capacities rooted in Confucian traditions; the pedagogical task is to help them recognize and extend these capacities across new boundaries.

This extension requires transforming hierarchical obligations into genuine care. Traditional Confucian hospitality operates within clearly defined relational boundaries, with obligations determined by social position and established connections. The concept of "non-persons"—individuals to whom one has no introduction or formal connection—can create rigid boundaries around who deserves care. However, Jeong's affective dimension—its capacity to generate deep emotional connection through sustained interaction—offers possibilities for moving beyond these prescribed limits. When students research global topics and engage in sustained discussion, they begin developing Jeong for distant others, transforming abstract knowledge into emotional connection.

Creating classroom spaces where students can embrace vulnerability proves essential to this transformation. The competitive educational culture often discourages students from acknowledging limitations or expressing uncertainty. Yet authentic relationship building—whether with classmates or distant others—requires vulnerability. When students shared discomfort with topics, acknowledged triggers from past experiences, or admitted confusion about complex issues, they practiced the vulnerability necessary for genuine hospitality. These moments of openness created possibilities for deeper connection and more authentic learning.

Finally, this pedagogical approach cultivates empathetic fusion—the capacity to relate to others as whole human beings across cultural boundaries. This goes beyond abstract acknowledgment of shared humanity to involve emotional engagement with others' lived experiences. When students researched sweatshops and connected their consumption choices to workers' suffering, or when they grappled with the complexity of prison reform while maintaining respect for multiple perspectives, they practiced empathetic fusion that bridges local experience and global concern.

Cosmopolitan Literacies as Local Expressions

The concept of cosmopolitan literacies—local expressions of the global world—proved particularly valuable in this study, challenging assumptions about what global citizenship looks like in practice. Students demonstrated that engagement with global issues need not require abandoning cultural identity or adopting Western frameworks for understanding difference. Instead, Korean concepts like Jeong provided culturally grounded pathways to understanding and connecting with distant others.

This approach challenges persistent deficit perspectives that view non-Western cultural practices as barriers to global citizenship. Such perspectives implicitly position Western individualism, abstract universalism, and particular forms of critical thinking as prerequisites for cosmopolitan engagement. By contrast, this study recognizes that students bring rich cultural resources that can inform more authentic and sustainable forms of global engagement. Korean students' capacity for Jeong—for developing deep emotional bonds through sustained interaction—represents a powerful asset for building global relationships, not a limitation to overcome.

The stronger empathy students expressed for Korean topics does not reflect parochialism or failure to think globally. Rather, it demonstrates an epistemological truth: we understand the world through our particular cultural lenses and lived experiences. Effective pedagogy honors this reality rather than demanding that students adopt deracinated perspectives that pretend to transcend culture. When students deeply engage their own cultural contexts, they develop richer frameworks for understanding how culture shapes experience—frameworks they can then apply to understanding others' cultural contexts.

From Confucian Hierarchy to Radical Hospitality

The transformation from traditional Confucian hospitality to what this study terms "radical hospitality" represents a crucial pedagogical move with theoretical and practical implications. Traditional Korean hospitality, while generous and sophisticated, operates within hierarchical relationships and prescribed obligations. Who deserves care, what form that care should take, and what reciprocal obligations it creates are all determined by social position and relational distance.

Radical hospitality, while respecting these cultural foundations, extends care beyond traditional boundaries in several ways. First, it involves recognizing "non-persons" as worthy of concern. Students who developed empathy for sweatshop workers in distant countries, or who expressed solidarity with refugees despite having no personal connection, practiced this extension of care beyond prescribed relationships. Second, radical hospitality requires developing empathy for people with whom one has no formal connection. The research and discussion process helped students build emotional connections to distant others through sustained engagement with their stories and circumstances.

Third, radical hospitality embraces the vulnerability required for authentic relationship building. This proves particularly radical in Korean educational contexts where competition and hierarchy often discourage vulnerability. Students who acknowledged discomfort, shared personal struggles, or admitted uncertainty demonstrated courage that disrupted typical classroom dynamics. Finally, radical hospitality involves extending Jeong to imagined global communities. When students spontaneously connected classroom discussions to global issues, or imagined themselves taking action on behalf of distant others, they practiced a form of care that transcends physical proximity and established relationships.

This transformation does not reject Confucian values but rather extends them in new directions. The emphasis on reciprocity, obligation, and relationship remains central, but the boundaries of moral community expand. Students learn to see their interconnection with distant others not as abstract principle but as felt reality—an extension of the same capacity for deep relational connection that operates in their immediate communities.

Fighting Positivism Through Situated Knowledge

Following Nygreen's critique of positivism, this study demonstrates the importance of recognizing knowledge as partial, situated, and constructed in practice rather than universal and objective. Korean students' stronger empathy for local topics reflects not a failure to think globally but rather an epistemological truth about how we know and understand the world. We cannot step outside our particular cultural locations to achieve some neutral, universal perspective; instead, all knowing occurs from particular standpoints shaped by culture, history, and lived experience.

Effective global education must therefore begin with students' own cultural contexts, allowing them to develop what might be called "grounded cosmopolitanism"—a way of engaging global issues that is rooted in local cultural assets and lived realities rather than abstract universal principles. This approach rejects the positivist assumption that valid knowledge exists independently of knowers and their contexts. Instead, it embraces critical alternative epistemologies that understand knowledge as always partial, always situated, always tied to relations of power.

This epistemological stance has profound pedagogical implications. Rather than presenting global issues as objective facts to be learned, educators can position them as complex situations to be understood from multiple situated perspectives. Rather than asking students to transcend their cultural locations, educators can help them leverage cultural resources to build bridges across difference. Rather than privileging Western theoretical frameworks as universal truths, educators can center concepts like Jeong as equally valid analytical tools for understanding global relationships.

The students' preference for discussing Korean topics thus reveals not limitation but epistemological sophistication. They recognize, perhaps intuitively, that they understand Korean issues more deeply because they have lived experience and cultural resources to draw upon. The pedagogical task is not to overcome this situatedness but to help students extend their capacity for deep understanding to other contexts by building connections between local and global, familiar and unfamiliar.

Implications for Practice

Pedagogical Recommendations

Based on this research, English language educators working with Korean students—and potentially students from other collectivist, relationship-oriented cultures—should consider several pedagogical approaches that leverage cultural assets while fostering global engagement.

First, educators should choose global topics strategically, allowing learners to discover information through research rather than presenting pre-packaged content. This personal investment facilitates empathy development in ways that passive reception of information cannot. When students select topics based on personal interest, or when they invest time and effort in researching assigned topics, they develop emotional connections to the people and issues involved. This process transforms abstract knowledge into felt understanding—a crucial step in extending Jeong to distant others.

Second, pedagogical design should begin with local concerns before expanding to international topics. This approach leverages students' existing capacity for Jeong, allowing them to develop cosmopolitan engagement from a position of strength rather than deficit. When students first explore issues within their own cultural context, they develop frameworks for understanding how social problems emerge, how people experience them, and how communities might address them. These frameworks then provide scaffolding for understanding similar issues in different cultural contexts. The progression from local to global honors epistemological reality while building authentic cosmopolitan capacity.

Third, educators should make empathy explicit by sharing models and non-examples of empathetic fusion to help students understand how to move toward care-focused learning. Many students lack clear understanding of what empathy entails or how it differs from sympathy, pity, or abstract acknowledgment of others' experiences. By explicitly teaching empathy as a practice involving both cognitive perspective-taking and emotional engagement, educators can help students develop this capacity intentionally. Models drawn from student work, literature, or other sources can illustrate what empathetic engagement looks like across different contexts and relationships.

Fourth, pedagogical activities should create layered engagement opportunities, designing activities that allow students to practice negotiation at proximal (peer), reflexive (self), and reciprocal (distant other) levels. This layered approach recognizes that cosmopolitan capacity develops through practice across multiple relational distances simultaneously. Students need opportunities to negotiate with immediate peers in classroom discussions, to engage in reflective self-examination through writing and other activities, and to imagine connection with distant others through research and discussion. Each layer of engagement develops different aspects of cosmopolitan literacy while also reinforcing the others.

Fifth, educators should value cultural assets by explicitly naming and celebrating Korean cultural concepts like Jeong as resources for global engagement rather than obstacles to overcome. This validation serves multiple purposes: it honors students' cultural heritage, challenges deficit perspectives that privilege Western frameworks, and provides vocabulary for discussing relational capacities that students already possess. When educators frame Jeong as an asset—a sophisticated relational capacity that can facilitate global engagement—they help students recognize their existing strengths while also seeing possibilities for extending these capacities in new directions.

Finally, pedagogical approaches should embrace situated knowledge, recognizing that students' preference for discussing their own culture reflects epistemological depth rather than parochialism. This recognition requires educators to question assumptions about what cosmopolitan engagement should look like. Rather than measuring global citizenship by students' comfort with unfamiliar cultures or facility with abstract universal principles, educators can recognize that deep engagement with one's own cultural context provides essential groundwork for understanding others' contexts. Students who understand how culture shapes their own experiences develop frameworks for recognizing culture's role in shaping others' experiences—a crucial cosmopolitan capacity.

Institutional Considerations

Educational institutions in Korea should consider how the competitive, gatekeeping functions of English education might be tempered by pedagogical approaches that leverage cultural assets like Jeong. Currently, English functions primarily as a sorting mechanism—determining who accesses elite universities, prestigious careers, and social mobility. This instrumental framing positions English learning as individualistic competition where others' failure becomes one's advantage.

Alternative framings become possible when institutions recognize English as a tool for building relationships across differences—a framing that aligns with Korean cultural values while expanding students' global capacities. Rather than positioning English education solely as preparation for individual advancement, institutions might emphasize English as a means of participating in global conversations, building transnational solidarity, and extending Korean cultural values of hospitality and reciprocity across linguistic boundaries.

This reframing requires institutional commitment to pedagogical approaches that prioritize relationship building alongside language skill development. It requires assessment practices that value empathetic engagement and cosmopolitan literacy alongside grammatical accuracy and vocabulary knowledge. It requires professional development that helps English teachers understand how cultural assets like Jeong can inform pedagogy rather than viewing culture as separate from language instruction.

Institutions might also consider how to reduce competitive pressures that undermine hospitable reciprocity. While comprehensive reform of Korean education's competitive structures exceeds individual institutions' capacity, universities can create pockets of alternative practice. English classes that emphasize collaboration over competition, that value vulnerability and mutual support, that assess growth rather than relative standing—such classes demonstrate possibilities for more humane education even within larger competitive systems.

Conclusion

This study demonstrates that Korean cultural concepts, particularly Jeong, provide powerful resources for developing global relationship practices within English language education. Rather than viewing Korean culture as a barrier to cosmopolitan thinking, educators should recognize concepts like Jeong as bridges that can connect local experiences to global concerns. The findings reveal how cultural assets, when leveraged through thoughtful pedagogy, enable students to extend care and understanding across differences while maintaining connection to their cultural heritage.

The paradox of South Korean education—collectivist culture operating within competitive structures—need not result in instrumentalist approaches to language learning that sacrifice human connection for individual advancement. By grounding pedagogy in Korean cultural assets and fostering what has been termed "empathetic fusion," educators can help students develop authentic capacities for understanding across difference. This approach positions Korean students not as lacking cosmopolitan capacity but as possessing culturally specific resources for engaging across difference—resources that deserve recognition and cultivation rather than remediation.

The research findings suggest that effective global education begins with deep engagement with one's own culture. Korean students' preference for discussing local issues reflects not parochialism but rather the epistemological truth that we understand the world through our particular cultural lenses. By expanding Jeong from known others to self, to strangers, and finally to distant global others, students can develop grounded forms of cosmopolitanism that honor their cultural heritage while building bridges across differences.

The concept of radical hospitality—extending care beyond prescribed Confucian obligations to embrace vulnerability and connect with distant others—offers a framework for this transformation. This extension does not reject traditional values but rather builds upon them, maintaining emphasis on reciprocity and relationship while expanding the boundaries of moral community. Students who develop radical hospitality learn to see their interconnection with distant others not as abstract principle but as felt reality, an extension of the same capacity for deep relational connection that operates in their immediate communities.

As English continues to function as a global language, educators must resist the temptation to treat it as a culturally neutral tool. Instead, we should recognize that learners' sociocultural resources make the global language of English local to their language learning goals. In the Korean context, this means leveraging cultural concepts like Jeong to transform English language education from a competitive gatekeeper to a means of building reciprocal, humane connections across the intricate landscape of global relationships.

The call to action is clear: educators must fight positivism by recognizing that all knowledge is partial, situated, and tied to relations of power. By embracing critical alternative epistemologies and centering students' cultural assets, we can create language learning environments that cultivate hospitable reciprocity even within competitive and unequal spaces. In doing so, we honor both the depth of Korean cultural wisdom and the transformative potential of authentic global engagement. This work positions English language education not as cultural erasure or universal standardization but as an opportunity to extend culturally grounded capacities for connection across linguistic and cultural boundaries, building a more hospitable and interconnected world.

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