This study aims to reconceptualize the role of culture in Korean language education from a sociolinguistic perspective, focusing on Korean popular culture as a dynamic and participatory site for meaning making. Drawing on Kim’s (2021) concept of hegemonic mimicry, this study examines how Korean popular culture operates through imitation, transformation, and recontextualization within global cultural flows. It explores how these characteristics can be applied pedagogically to the design of Korean language programs. This study argues that culture should not be treated as static knowledge but as a socially embedded process developed through discourse, interaction, and identity. Accordingly, this paper proposes a five-stage pedagogical model —Exposure, Noticing, Analysis, Production, and Reflection—to operationalize the integration of Korean popular culture into language instruction. This proposed model emphasizes learners’ active participation in multimodal meaning making and digital discourse. This study contributes to the development of sociolinguistically informed approaches to Korean language education by explicitly linking Kim’s (2021) theoretical framework with pedagogical applications.

Abstract
1. INTRODUCTION
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
    2.1. Hegemonic Mimicry and Cultural Production
    2.2. Multimodality and Participatory Culture
    2.3. Affect and Cultural Meaning
    2.4. Implications for Language Learning and Pedagogy
3. PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR KOREANLANGUAGE EDUCATION
    3.1. From Cultural Knowledge to Cultural Practice
    3.2. Designing Multimodal Learning Environments
    3.3. Integrating Affect into Language Learning
    3.4. Mimicry as a Learning Mechanism
4. A PEDAGOGICAL MODEL FOR CULTURALINSTRUCTION
    4.1 Stage 1: Exposure — Culture as Multimodal Experience
    4.2 Stage 2: Noticing — Attention to Linguistic and CulturalFeatures
    4.3 Stage 3: Analysis — Culture as Discourse and Ideology
    4.4 Stage 4: Production — Participation and DigitalMeaning-Making
    4.5 Stage 5: Reflection and Digital Publication — TowardMultimodal Writing
    4.6. Learning Outcomes: From Language Practice to DigitalCultural Literacy
    4.7. Example
5. DISCUSSION
6. CONCLUSION
REFERENCES

• Hyeonah Kang(Visiting Professor, English Education Department, Kyungpook National University; 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu, Korea)