The study aimed at examining native English teachers’ and Korean EFL teachers’ understanding and teaching experience of epistemic modals. For the study, a total of 51 teachers participated in the online survey, and 11 of them had a follow-up interview. The results revealed that Korean teachers’ understanding was surprisingly low, indicating 10.94% of accuracy rate on average while native English teachers showed 94.74% of accuracy rate. The two groups’ mean score was statistically significant (p<.05). Concerning both groups of the teachers’experience of epistemic modals, while 78% of them had teaching experiences, both groups of the teachers merely focused on forms and meanings, not semantic system, which concerned a hierarchy for logical meanings. Finally, significance of understanding and using functions of epistemic modals was discussed.

1. Introduction
2. Review of Literature
    2.1. Logical Probability of Epistemic Modals
    2.3. Relevant Studies
3. Methodology
    3.1. Research Design
    3.2. Contexts and Participants
    3.3. Data and Analysis
4. Results
    4.1. Teachers’ Understanding of Epistemic Modals
    4.2. Analysis of the Two Groups’ Responses
    4.2. Teachers’ Experience of Teaching Epistemic Modals
5. Discussion and Conclusion
References

• Youn-Kyoung Lee(Kyungpook National University)