“English is my only weapon”: Neoliberal language ideologies and youth metadiscourse in South Korea

Bacon, Chris K.; Kim, So Yoon

doi:10.1016/j.linged.2018.09.002

Cited by 25 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 66 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Selvi (2011) has discussed English as a threat to the Turkish language while also being a pathway to modernization in Turkey. These findings echo the neoliberal ideals associated with English as linguistic capital on the job market (Park, 2011), a language of internationalization in education (Piller & Cho, 2013), and an upward mobility (Bacon & Kim, 2018).…”

Section: Literature Reviewsupporting

confidence: 64%

Multilingualism, nation branding, and the ownership of English in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Djuraeva

2021

World Englishes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examines the ownership of English and linguistic (in)security of multilingual English learners in two post‐Soviet nation‐states. Using the chronotopic and scalar analysis of discourse, I examine students’ ideologies of English vis‐à‐vis their linguistic repertoires in the context of national imaginary and globalization. I utilize the concept of ‘nation branding’ to trace the relationship between language ideologies and broader sociopolitical factors, including neoliberalism. The analysis of 60 individual student interviews revealed that the state‐circulated nation‐branding discourse is a powerful tool for instilling the sense of linguistic ownership. The findings showed that students in Uzbekistan regard English as opportunistic and more valuable in the global market than their local languages. In contrast, students in Kazakhstan see all of their languages including English as pivotal in enacting trilingual identity at local, national, and global scales.

show abstract

Section: Literature Reviewsupporting

confidence: 64%

Multilingualism, nation branding, and the ownership of English in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Djuraeva

2021

World Englishes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Unsurprisingly, employment requirements for proficiency in both local languages (e.g. Cantonese, Putonghua, or Korean) and English increased (Bacon and Kim, 2018; Chan, 2018). Local businesses began to compete to attract and retain versatile graduate talents from local WCUs (Gao, 2019).…”

Section: Tigers and Bounds: Comparative Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

World class universities and international student mobility: Repositioning strategies in the Asian Tigers

Oleksiyenko

Chan

Kim

et al. 2021

Research in Comparative and International Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A major cluster of economic engines that have changed Asian higher education, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan have all developed high-income societies as well as world-class universities which linked local “knowledge economies” to global science and created hubs for international collaborations and mobility. However, there has been limited analysis of interdependencies between the rise of world-class universities and changes in the flows of international talent. This paper elaborates on the concept of higher education internationalization that aims at enhancing geopolitical equity in global mobility and re-positioning local students for improved access to the world-class excellence. The paper compares key themes and patterns that define the Tiger societies’ unique positions in the field of global higher education.

show abstract

“…In contemporary South Korea (hereafter “Korea”), learning English has been embraced to an unprecedented degree (Bacon and Kim, 2018). Termed “English fever” (Krashen, 2003; Park, 2009) underscores the relentless strive to learn English to satisfy the English proficiency requirement established by hiring practices of such companies, as Samsung and LG, that specifically require their applicants to report their test of English for international communication (TOEIC) or international English language test system scores (Kim, 2008).…”

Section: South Korean Globalization Context From Athletes’ Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because “English becomes progressively associated with future employability” (Bacon and Kim, 2018, p. 13), Korean students spend roughly around 100,000 hours studying English upon graduating college/university (Kim, 2008). However, statistics like these can be misleading, as not everyone gets access to the same opportunities to study English.…”

Section: South Korean Globalization Context From Athletes’ Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Only English Counts”: the impact of English hegemony on South-Korean athletes

Brown

Ward

Nam

2019

IJCED

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose While conceived to examine key factors affecting post-retirement career advancement of retired elite athletes in South Korea, the purpose of this paper is to report how English, as a de facto global lingua franca, functions as a powerful gatekeeper in the sports administration field. Design/methodology/approach Interpreted through the lens of Bourdieu’s linguistic capital and Gramsci’s hegemony of language, the present study draws on content analysis of semi-structured individual interviews, as well as focus group interviews, conducted with thirty former South Korean elite athletes. Findings Based on the data analysis, systematic bias toward athletes was uncovered, privileging English as the single determining factor for employment. Furthermore, the educational implications for adult learners of English as a Foreign or English an Additional Language reveal unrealistic expectations of top–down language policies. Originality/value Perspectives of athlete participants, an underrepresented group in educational research, within the South Korean globalization context shed critical light on the pervasive aspects of English hegemony and its unexamined dimensions.

show abstract

“English is my only weapon”: Neoliberal language ideologies and youth metadiscourse in South Korea

Cited by 25 publications

References 66 publications

Multilingualism, nation branding, and the ownership of English in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Multilingualism, nation branding, and the ownership of English in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

World class universities and international student mobility: Repositioning strategies in the Asian Tigers

“Only English Counts”: the impact of English hegemony on South-Korean athletes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About