The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of acculturation stress and learning Korean language skills. The students in this study participate in a Korean Government Scholarship Program which provides financial support for foreign students studying in Korea. Thus, all of the students are highly motivated to complete their Korean language courses successfully. This study specifically considered the relationship between the students’ acculturation stress and language learning. Previous studies defined “acculturation stress” as psychological confusion, future anxiety and maladjusted behavior associated with the process of adapting to a new culture. Like other studies, we considered only the stress caused by the process of acculturation. Based on previous studies, we expected students exhibiting high levels of acculturation stress to do poorly in their Korean studies. However, our investigation shows that students suffering from high levels of acculturation stress were, nevertheless, successful in acquiring Korean language skills. We conclude that the intervening variable in this study was the students’ high level of motivation to succeed. (Ewha Womans University)