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This study utilizes a critical phenomenological approach and adopts concepts of linguistic hegemony and linguistic capital, to explore the life course stages of former Korean college student-athletes who dropped out of athletic programs and who faced vocational challenge but obtained successful careers in their ideal career fields through improving their English proficiency. The three primary scholarly themes include: (a) typical English level and vocational challenges due to the lack of English proficiency; (b) the journey to gain English proficiency; and (c) English proficiency as a vehicle for entering desired career fields. Although this study identified the ways in which participants found avenues through gaining linguistic capital, linguistic hegemony is deeply ingrained into the Korean social structures and into their education systems, society, and culture. Therefore, this study critiques these ongoing structural problems to promote positive social change in the future.

With a growing number of people using social media such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, it has become extremely important for professional athletes to build and promote their personal brands through social media. The purpose of this study was to understand how LPGA Tour Korean golfers use social media for self-presentation. Through content analysis, the self-presentation forms of the top six Korean LPGA Tour golfers were examined. The result showed that the golfers are more likely to use the form of the front stage rather than the backstage. The number of likes and comments is higher when golfers post backstage photos and write photo stories in both Korean and English languages on Instagram. This study contributes to the field of sport social media research theoretically with new subcategorization to Goffman's self-presentation and suggests a new insight into personal brand marketing strategies via social media for both athletes and sponsors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se Ri Pak is arguably the most famous Korean name ever to play on the LPGA Tour. Ten years after Pak’s debut in 1998, 42 Korean players are now playing on the LPGA Tour. This international phenomenon over the past decade has produced a lot of Korean players and many Korean victories. Nineteen-Koreans have won 64 LPGA Tour events over the past decade. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the reasons why Korean female golfers have been successful in securing such a dominant position on the LPGA Tour. The survey used in this study was distributed to Korean players who participated in a professional golf event (State Farm Classic Tournament). The results of this study revealed that hard practice, certain goal, and family support were selected as the most important factors to be success on the LPGA Tour by Korean players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]