Unveiling the impact of the Iran nuclear deal on Korean learners of Persian

Abstract

The study explores how the accomplishment of the Iran nuclear deal has affected the motivation of and attitudes toward learning the Persian language (or not) among Korean undergraduate students. Fifty-two Korean students with a Persian major completed a twenty-item questionnaire that explored underlying learner beliefs about and the perceptions of Iran and the Persian language. The study reported how the accomplishment of the Iran nuclear deal has generated excitement among Korean learners of the Persian language. Among such general optimism, the students expressed a cautious attitude toward welcoming this societal event, and they further viewed the process of empowering a language and its speakers as longitudinal, which indicates a close connection among language, learners, and broader sociopolitical and sociocultural contexts