This paper looks at South Korea as an example of a collectivist society having a rather large power distance dimension value. In a traditional Korean classroom the teacher is at the top of the classroom hierarchy, while the students are the passive participants. Gender and age play a role in the hierarchy between students themselves. Teaching methods and methodologies need to be carefully weighed and examined before applying them to the Korean classroom setting as there are many determining factors that need to be taken into consideration before they can be used effectively in the second language classroom. Examples of these determinants are student motivation, cultural background and the intended use of the L2 (Second Language). Effective and ineffective teaching methods and methodologies for the Korean L2 classroom are both examined. The Korean classroom setting will be used as an example, as it is set in a collectivist environment with a history of Confucian influence, facilitating a large power distance teacher-student and student-student relationship. (Contains 1 figure.)