OVERCOMING STEREOTYPES IN THE KOREAN-SLAVIC INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION (based on the Korean-Ukrainian and Korean-Polish Intercultural Communication)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of stereotypes in the Korean-Slavic intercultural communication which were revealed during a survey of Korean students, which was conducted at the Department of Ukrainian Studies and Department of Polishat Hankuk University of Foreign Studies inApril and November 2021. It deals with the causes of these stereotypes and characterizes the ways to overcome them based on M. Bennett’s model of intercultural sensitivity development and stereotype-oriented learning, which Korean students studied during lectures on the discipline “Understanding the Modern Slavic Cultural Code”. The procedure of the analysis went through several stages: 1) revealing stereotypes through anonymous surveys among students; 2) quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data obtained; 3) stereotype-oriented /non-stereotyped teaching and feedback from the students. The results of the first stage of the survey show that in Korean-Slavic intercultural communication, Korean students are mostly at the ethnocentric stage. This is due to the lack of information about Ukraine and Ukrainians and Poland and Poles in the Korean media, personal contacts, as well as “old” stereotypes inherited from the older generation. Instead, at the end of the academic year, Korean students progressed to the ethno-relativistic stage thanks to stereotype-oriented learning, which helped them understand many specific features of Slavic cultures (especially Ukrainian and Polish). Therefore, further study of the formation and overcoming of stereotypes in Korean-Slavic communication will contribute to the integration of three cultures and successful intercultural communication between Koreans and Ukrainians and Poles. Key words: Korean-Slavic intercultural communication, Korean students, Ukraine, Poland, stereotypes, developmental model of intercultural sensitivity (DMIS).