This ethnographic study examines how students learn English through classroom experiences that challenge their current confucian cultural practices. In particular, I examine how learning language through activities affects students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in a Korean university. It is based on the assumption, that learners have knowledge and use what they know to learn when presented with conflicting cultural models of learning. Because of globalization of English instruction, traditional Confucian values now co-exist in many Asian university EFL classrooms. My theoretical framework to explore these issues in Korea includes an examination of English language education policies through effect of globalization in Korean education, Confucianism and Vygotskian theories on language learners.