The Living Museums Project: Integrating Contemporary Korean Art into Korean Language Education Through Global Virtual Exchange

This study presents a case analysis of the Living Museums project, examining the impact of integrating contemporary Korean art with Global Virtual Exchange (GVE) on linguistic development, intercultural sensitivity, and cultural belonging of intermediate-level Korean learners. Conducted collaboratively between the University of Texas at Austin (UT) and Ajou University’s Dasan College in Korea, the course model combined Art-Integrated Language Learning (AILL) using the works of four Korean contemporary artists (Ahn Sangsoo, Do Ho Suh, Kim Whanki, and Nam June Paik) with museum-based activities at the Blanton Museum of Art and international student language-exchange sessions. These components were implemented within an expanded framework of Community-Based Language Learning (CBLL). Data were drawn from surveys, coursework, and language-exchange transcripts involving 23 nonheritage learners at UT and 11 students at Ajou University. Findings revealed that participants reported increased motivation to study Korean, greater linguistic confidence, and enhanced intercultural awareness. Furthermore, art-centered tasks such as visual analysis, storytelling, and museum-mediated inquiry helped learners experience Korean not only as a communicative system but also as an aesthetic and cultural medium. This study demonstrates that coupling AILL and GVE offers a sustainable model grounded in CBLL and advances a global-local interdisciplinary synergy linking language learning, art, and collaboration.