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The aim of this study is to explore how the creation of spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) influences students' creativity and curiosity in project-based language learning (PBLL). Technology is widely used in various instructional contexts, and due to increasing interest in VR technologies, the current study investigated how SVVR technology in PBLL might influence students' self-assessment of creativity and curiosity. Twenty-seven students participated in an SVVR-enhanced PBL course and were asked to complete two questionnaires on creativity and curiosity. Data from students' reflective journals and teacher notes were also analyzed to investigate implementations for using SVVR in language learning. The findings showed that students' self-assessment of their levels of creativity and curiosity demonstrated statistically significant development. The findings from qualitative data analysis identified English language competence as a factor that could have influenced students' performance during the course. The findings support the potential for SVVR in PBLL for motivating students to embrace new ideas and perspectives while participating in authentic problem-solving activities.

As the pandemic has brought in a paradigm shift in the way we educate and interact with our students, it has also had profound impacts on the practicum of pre-service teacher education. Focusing on the case of 14 South Korean student teachers who completed their teaching practicum in Spring 2020, this paper explores how the new form of teaching practicum, triggered by the current outbreak, affected student teachers' professional development and their views on teaching practice and profession. In particular, it examines the ways by which teaching practicums conducted under unpredictable circumstances negatively or positively affect student teachers' professional identities as teaching practitioners and their motivation to become a teacher. The findings of this study show that the teaching practicum conducted in times of crisis enabled pre-service English language teachers to develop a positive image toward teachers and teaching profession, and realize their potential as innovative and inspiring teachers in the post COVID-19 era.

This narrative study focuses on how Gina, a Korean learner with a Korean immigrant mother and a European-descent New Zealander father, constructed her identities and engaged with Korean as a heritage language (HL) before, during, and after studying abroad in Korea. Gina's transformative experiences illustrate the links between HL learning and learners' understanding of themselves in racial/ethnic/cultural terms. The study highlights raciolinguistic ideologies' complex influence on the HL development and identity (re)construction of learners who consider themselves to have multiple racial/ethnic/cultural heritages. Although Gina's HL learner identity hampered her classroom education during study abroad, her family background provided her opportunities outside the classroom that strengthened her sense of belonging and encouraged her (re)construction of her identities. The study provides practical implications for study-abroad program developers and educators concerning the raciolinguistic ideologies that HL learners who identify as having multiple heritages might bring to their HL learning and participation in study-abroad programs. Being aware of raciolinguistic ideologies, preparing students for how their own and others' ideologies might impact their experiences during study abroad, and providing the means for multiheritage HL learners to share their experiences could all contribute positively to these learners' continued identity (re)construction, HL development, and study-abroad experiences.

In the process of neoliberal globalization, the number of pre-college-aged educational migrants from English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) countries, often referred to as an early study abroad (ESA) student, has dramatically increased over recent decades in many English-speaking countries. Much of previous research on these educational migrants has primarily focused on parents' perspectives and involvement, and ignoring the engagement of and investment made by ESA students themselves. By analyzing transcripts of qualitative interviews with fifteen former early study-abroad students from Korea, this paper investigates how these ESA students narrate their experiences of early study abroad and how they understand their roles and experiences in the process. Findings of this paper show that ESA students' ways of thinking and approaches to their educational trajectory and language learning strongly resonate with a practice of neoliberal responsibilization, by which each student is made responsible for her own choices and their consequences.

While quality English language education is not equally accessible in many EFL countries, neoliberalism and its ideology of language as a neutral skill that everyone can acquire has obscured inequalities caused by the heavy emphasis on English as a dominant world language. Using South Korea as an example, I examine how individuals, especially young adults, living in the neoliberal market economy perceive and recognize the overwhelming emphasis on English as a dominant world language and its underlying mechanisms that contribute to social reproduction in EFL countries. In analyzing the popular Korean discourse Theory of Spoon Class (sujeogyegeublon), I examine how English is beginning to be recognized as an active tool to maintain and solidify social class reproduction, and how the construction of English as a purchasable good then results in feelings of despair, hopelessness and resentment among individuals, especially young adults who need to survive in the precarious job market with rising unemployment rates and prolonged economic stagnation.

As the public health threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is still evolving globally, many linguistic minorities are struggling to obtain accurate and timely health information about the disease and its prevention and treatment in their native language. This study argues that existing ethnic online communities can play an important role in dealing with such health information disparities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing the activities and postings on an online community of Chinese international students in South Korea, this paper illustrates that the community functions as a virtual hub that produces and disseminates up-to-date and essential information about COVID-19 and provides a platform for users to share experiences and emotions accompanying the unprecedented situation. This study points out that the participation of Chinese international students in the online community is voluntary and based on established infrastructure because of the presence of a greater number of Chinese students in South Korea. Thus, it urges the government and local authorities to be more aware of the importance of providing adequate support and guidance to linguistic minorities in such uncertain and frightening times.

The increasing number of international students enrolled in higher education in English-speaking countries has presented the growing need to support their academic writing development. It, however, has often led to the hasty assumption that English language learner (ELL) writers need to quickly adopt the dominant academic writing conventions in order to succeed in an English-speaking academic community. Even though the growing number of scholars have started to pay attention to ELL writers’ diverse writing styles and multiple identities, little research and discussion have taken place on how language practitioners could engage ELL writers in developing their voices as multilingual and multicultural writers. By analyzing a qualitative interview with ten experienced writing consultants and instructors, this paper explores major challenges that ELL writers experience and different strategies that could effectively help them develop their voices as writers in the academic context where English is dominantly used as the medium of instruction. Findings show that while many colleges and universities in English-speaking countries still adopt a monolithic view and label ELL writers as ‘a troubled non-native writer’, it is crucial for writing consultants and instructors to acknowledge ELL writers’ multilingual background and help them to develop their unique voices and achieve sustainable development and progress.

This study explores Vietnamese marriage-migrant mothers' changing attitudes toward heritage language (HL) education in South Korea through narratives collected in an interview setting over a period of four years. The findings show that while the mothers placed some value on HL education, they initially prioritized Korean at home because they viewed it as key to their children's academic success in Korea. However, the mothers' perceptions of the value of their native language changed over time, influenced by their increasing awareness of the benefits of bilingualism, their imagined bilingual communities, Korea's increasingly competitive job market, and their children's social and academic experiences in school. Over time, the mothers came to view their minority language as an asset rather than a deficit and thus chose to invest in developing their children's HL skills to position them as potentially valuable bilingual workers in both Korean and transnational contexts. The participants' narratives reflect their view of the minority HL as primarily a socioeconomic resource rather than an identity resource, while the longitudinal study highlights the dynamism and changing nature of language ideologies in relation to HL maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: With an increasing emphasis on the reading development of L2 learners of English and a growing body of literature on L2 reading, it is now time to examine what the current research on L2 reading says about L2 learners' reading development and to discuss what would be a desirable future for L2 reading studies. Focusing on the L2 reading of upper elementary, middle and high school students in L1 settings, this study aims to carefully, but critically, explore the major research studies published in the past three decades. In particular, it uses sociocultural and critical frameworks that view language as a social phenomenon and literacy as a constellation of socially contextualized practices to explore the issue of L2 reading. Design/methodology/approach: To identify key findings about L2 reading, a systematic literature review of studies examining L2 reading in L1 settings was conducted. A critical examination and analysis of 91 studies on L2 reading for upper elementary students (Grades 4-12) are presented here. Based on the literature review, the major issues addressed in the previous section are revisited, and the requirements of future research on L2 reading are discussed. Findings: Three major changes have taken place in L2 reading studies--from monolingual/L1-based research to multilingual/L2-based research; developing the socially situated model of literacy (literacies); and adopting a sociocultural and critical lens: L2 reading and L2 reading assessment. Based on the critical review of the major research studies published in the past three decades, this paper identifies the research and approach required to advance the field of L2 reading: the continua of L1 and L2 reading, macro-micro analysis of L2 reading context and diversification of L2 reading research. Originality/value: Based on a systematic literature review, it demonstrates the current trends in L2 reading research, to examine the key findings and implications, and to identify what additional research or paradigms are required to advance the field. The literature review presented in this paper helps language educators, policy-makers and school administers at all levels in both first-and second-language contexts to better understand the rapidly increasing number of L2 English learners in L1 classroom settings.

The process of globalization, along with the advent of Internet technology, has resulted in the increasing presence of written mixed-language discourses produced and used by multilinguals in online spaces (e. g. online chat, instant messaging, and online discussion boards). Despite the fact that multilingual texts have become more visible and accessible, little research has empirically examined written mixed-language discourses and their sociopragmatic values (Sebba 2012). Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on computer-mediated interaction among English-Korean bilinguals, this study explores how a certain multilingual practice became iconized as an ideological representation of authentic bilinguals and how such ideological constructs influenced their linguistic practices in written interaction. In particular, this study investigates how these bilinguals strategically create and use a non-standard variety of novel respelling forms in order to position themselves as "authentic" bilinguals and differentiate themselves from other potentially "inauthentic" and "failed" bilinguals. Findings suggest that multilingual texts and written mixed-language discourses need to be understood as an ideological site where different language ideologies and historical discourses are articulated, and where multilinguals try to authenticate themselves as legitimate bilinguals in a given discourse community.

This qualitative study of English Korean bilinguals explores the ways in which they legitimize themselves as "good" bilinguals in relation to the discourse of native-speakerism. I first survey the essentialist discourse of native speakerism still prevalent in the field of English language teaching and learning despite the growing criticism; the implication is that the acquisition of "native-like" English competence is the prioritized marker of proficiency for English language learners in both English-as-a-second language (ESL) and English-as-a-foreign language countries. I then analyze ethnographic and qualitative interview data from 20 South Korean bilinguals of English and Korean to examine how they evaluate this problematic preference for native speakerism as well as how they redefine what constitutes "good" bilingual competence in contemporary South Korean society. In opposition to major assumptions in the scholarly literature, the findings suggest that English language learners themselves might not consider the acquisition of "native-like" language competence an ideal goal to achieve. Rather, these bilinguals make a concerted investment in acquiring and displaying socially expected sociolinguistic, metasociolingusitic and discursive competences that are closely associated with "good" and "ideal" bilinguals in a given language community. The article concludes with recommendations for revisiting the issue of native speakerism and ideological presuppositions of "native-like" competence.

This paper, using the case of South Korea, empirically examines how university students in EFL countries understand the neoliberal emphasis of English and EMI, and interpret and respond to different language ideologies. The findings demonstrate that many South Korean English language learners are caught up in a nexus of conflicting language ideologies influenced by the neoliberal promotion of English and the increasing socioeconomic polarization within South Korea. On the one hand, their investment in English language learning is largely driven by the belief that English is essential for their socioeconomic advancement. On the other hand, many perceive that the role of English as an important resource and a major criterion to measure one's academic and professional abilities is not objective or fair. Finding calls for a more critical approach to understanding the adoption and implementation of EMI in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing number of international students in higher education, few studies have examined these students' struggles or ideological development process as they enter new communities of practice. This study uses longitudinal ethnographic and autoethnographic methods to examine the experiences of three South Korean international graduate students at a U.S. university. Data included recorded conversations, reflective journals, personal journals, and computer-mediated communication collected during participants' second and third semesters in the graduate program. The data were analyzed to determine how participants construct, negotiate, and develop their ideologies and positions in the process of entering a new academic discourse community, relating and responding to various ideological discourses and power-laden labels imposed on them. Study findings highlight the dynamic nature of international students' academic literacy acquisition, and the complex process of their ideological becoming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because global migration and mobility have increasingly blurred boundaries, questions of authenticity have become more complex than ever, and the issue of what constitutes "real" versus "fake" language practices and language users has become increasingly important. The newly emerging images of imposters associated with bilingualism and transnationalism have put bilingual and multilingual language users in a fragile position, where bilingual displays can summon the damaging image of inauthentic bilingualism and frame them as imposters who try to articulate their alleged modernity by mimicking other "reals." Focusing on the issue of authenticity, this ethnographic study explores how Korean-English bilinguals navigate and respond to the newly emerging images of imposters associated with bilingualism and transnationalism. In particular, I examine the case of 20 South Korean graduate students in the USA who have both advanced English language proficiency and native Korean language proficiency. Because they are in a relatively advantageous position in being able to flexibly use both the Korean and English languages and to employ a variety of linguistic resources, their bilingual practices and performance provide an excellent example of the ways in which bilingual language users locate their social positioning through the selective production of ideological representations or language registers associated with images of inauthentic bilingualism. The findings highlight the agentive role of bilingual and multilingual language users in participating in the reconfiguration of what counts as legitimate bilingual competence and performance, and in making a very calculative investment in distancing themselves from particular types of language registers, language competences, and models of personhoods associated with inauthentic Korean-English bilinguals. These findings present a challenge to traditional research in the fields of second language studies, and applied linguistics, and urges researchers to look at the actual language practice of bilingual users who actively participate in the process of developing sense-making discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how listening subjects (Inoue 2006) mediate understandings of mobility in South Korea. Focusing on a cybercampaign to discredit the hip-hop star Tablo, it traces the ways that a listening public regimented signs relating to educational credentials, language, citizenship, and demeanor into forms of institutionalized, embodied, or objectified capital (Bourdieu 1986). Through the crafting of certain signs as icons that pointed to Tablo's ‘true’ character, and others as fronts, they were able to cast aspersions upon his command of English grammar, spelling, and interaction, and his character and educational credentials. By tracing how Tablo skeptics deployed metasemiotic discourses about emblems and figures of failed mobility, this article contributes to theories of semiosis that decenter the agentive speaking subject. (Capital, mobility, listening subject, English, South Korea)* [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]