The purpose of this study is to investigate the cultural authenticity of video clips presented in the CD-ROM titles used for elementary school English classes in Korea. The criteria for authenticity was whether the depicted verbal/nonverbal communication and living customs were authentic from the view of English-speaking North Americans. The scenes found unauthentic were classified into six categories (stress & intonation, expressions, conversation flow, nonverbal language, customs, and other), and the examples of each category were discussed. Some of the unauthentic scenes were those in which depicted verbal/nonverbal communication or living customs were Korean. However, the majority of the unauthentic scenes seemed to be due to the creation of dialogues or the directing of actors/actresses without sufficient consideration of cultural authenticity. Such findings implicate that more attention needs to be given to cultural authenticity when creating dialogues or directing actors and actresses to make video clips. This study also raises an issue regarding how cultural authenticity is to be viewed in this time of a multicultural world. |