Seojin Park, 2021 Gruener Research Travel Awardee
Seojin Park
Ph.D. Student
Second Language Acquisition & Teaching GIDP
Research Location
South Korea
On Site Research Dates
June 1 - December 30, 2021
Title of Research Project:
"English Learner Identity and Positioning: A Case Study of North Korean Refugees in South Korea"
This qualitative case study aims to explore the North Korean refugee students’ experiences as English learners and (re)construction of their English learner identities in relation to various ideologies in South Korea, and how they can further affect their English learning. Under the global dominance of it, English is considered to be one of the most important foreign languages to acquire for material success in South Korea. However, previous studies have revealed that many North Korean refugees perceive English as one of the biggest obstacles at their universities in South Korea (Park & Kim, 2014). Recognizing the importance of English for the refugees to successfully adapt to South Korean society, there have been some studies aimed to understand their English learning experiences in South Korea (Jung, 2009; Kim, 2012; Kim, 2013; Park & Kim, 2014). While they could reveal various difficulties that refugees faced when they learn English in South Korea, little attention has been given to the relationship between English ideology and their learner identity, and how it affects the process of English learning. Given the impact that identity has on a student's second language learning, the current study aims to fill this gap by exploring positionings and identity formation of five North Korean refugees in South Korea. The present study addresses four research questions: 1) How do North Korean refugees position themselves to learn and use English in the new cultural context? 2) What interactive (other-) positions become available to North Korean refugees and are taken up by them in their narratives and classroom talk? 3) What intersectional identities are constructed in the narratives of North Korean refugees and English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom discourse? 4) How do North Korean refugees’ identity negotiation process (if any) as English learners influence their investment in English learning and membership in the classroom and the new cultural context?
Data of five North Korean refugees in South Korea will be gathered through semi- structured interviews, reflective journals, English class observations, and observation field notes. In order to collect the data listed, the researcher must travel to South Korea. First, the semi- structured interviews and reflective journals will be used to collect the narratives of the participants. Individual interviews will be conducted in August 2021. The participants will be interviewed weekly, with each interview lasting about two hours. Bi-weekly reflective journals will be bcollected from September to December 2021. The journals will focus on the participants’ language learning experiences in their English classrooms at universities. To understand the participants’ relationships with other members of their communities, observations of the participants in their English language classrooms will also be conducted from September to December 2021. Under the permission of their teachers and classmates, each participant’s English classes will be observed monthly, and the researcher will focus on the participants’ interactions with their teachers and classmates. Class artifacts, such as textbooks, notes, and any class materials that can help answer the research questions will also be collected during the observations. The entire data collection process will be completed by December 2021. Once the collection is completed, the data will be analyzed, and a paper report will be written as a dissertation by the end of Fall 2022.
This project will have multiple outcomes at different levels. First, as my dissertation project, this will lead to my professional development in the field of second language acquisition and teaching. Second, this project will contribute to the field of English education for various minoritized groups in the world. Refugee's English learner identities are crucial since their learner identities could give us a more in-depth understanding of refugees as English language learners and their relations to their societies. North Korean refugees in South Korea have been situated in relation to these two very different and antagonistic societies, one that refugees escaped from but still heavily define them and the other that refugees newly entered and have to adapt to. Moreover, refugees have been positioned as fellow Koreans but simultaneously as second-class citizens in South Korea. Examining North Korean refugees’ English learner identities will enable us to understand the ways in which language learners, whose positions are complex between sameness (Korean) and otherness (underprivileged North Korean) in the given society, learn English while dealing with the hegemony of English conveying cultural capital of globalization against the backdrop of different language ideologies of two conflicting societies. Therefore, this study can not only contribute to English education for North Korean refugees in South Korea, but also to the scholarly efforts on language learners who experience different social systems as underprivileged minorities in the given societies such as migrant workers, immigrants, and refugees. This broader goal of the project aligns with the goals of the University of Arizona since it can suggest ways to help various minoritized groups to successfully adapt to their new communities and bring inclusion into our world. Moreover, by providing alternative ways to understand different minoritized groups, this project can help English educators to embrace change and be open-minded, which are the critical skills to be developed to adapt to a rapidly changing world.
To undertake the study described and achieve the goals presented, I apply for Raphael and Jolene Gruener Research Travel Award. The entirety of funds will go towards travel expenses, which will be the cost of a round-trip airline ticket to go to South Korea in June come back to Tucson, Arizona in December 2021. Since traveling to South Korea is a necessity in order to conduct the individual interviews and class observations, I believe that the award will bea great help to proceed with the project.