Book: Korean-American learners of Korean

[Scott McGinnis]

With thanks to Donna Christian of CAL for the tip....

from Language Culture & Curriuculum Volume 14 No 1

'Heritage' Language Learning and Ethnic Identity: Korean Americans'
Struggle with Language Authorities
Hye-young Jo, The Academy of Korean Studies, Kyonggi-Do, Korea

This study investigates how second-generation Korean-American students
form and transform their senses of ethnicity through their participation
in Korean language classes. I did a one-year ethnographic study of the
Korean language classes (basic and intermediate levels) at the
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which were largely populated
by second- and 1.5-generation Korean Americans. From these
Korean-American college students, who have 'successfully' negotiated
through the American educational system, I learned that becoming an
English speaker does not necessarily mean the loss of ethnic identity,
and that learning Korean (a 'heritage' language) does not necessarily
lead to homogeneous ethnic identity formation. Although the classroom is
certainly a place in which language knowledge is imparted, much
classroom activity utilises words and grammatical points as semantic
mediators of culture, history, and even politics; in short, the stakes
are high. My ethnography focuses on the micro-practices of language
teaching and learning in order to explore these interactions, and
thereby take up identity formation and transformation. Participants'
personal language repertoire and use reflect diverse social worlds and
locations (including time of immigration, place of residence, and
relationship to the homeland) through which their transnational lived
histories have been constituted.

http://www.catchword.com/rpsv/catchword/mm/07908318/v14n1/s3/p26