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Growing interest in international teaching programs has produced a surge of research on international language teaching (Menard-Warwick, 2008). However, there are relatively few studies on the international teaching experiences of native English-speaking teachers of color regarding their racial identity. To fill this gap, this longitudinal multi-case study explores how three non-White novice native English-speaking teachers understood their racial and teacher identities during their international teaching in Korea. With a specific focus on their racial identity, how they make sense of their teaching and living experiences is examined in diverse contexts of their social interactions. The participants' reflective and evaluative narratives from interviews were analyzed. The findings show that although their racial identity has a negative impact on their linguistic and professional identity that is denied by Korean society, the teachers utilized their own strategies for constructing a sense of belonging to the local and professional community. This study calls for a holistic, situated understanding of racial identity construction of non-White native English teachers by urging further discussion of racism in the global ELT profession. This discussion encompasses the varying, pressing needs of expatriate English teachers from diverse backgrounds.

This ethnographic case study has focused on language use in texting out of institutional contexts between voluntary language partners. Within the translanguaging and digital literacies framework, we explored how two pairs of Korean-English language partners practice translanguaging in texting in order to construct their multilingual identities. Their text messages were collected over one year and analyzed using discourse analysis to investigate their co-construction of multilingual repertoires in texting influenced by shared discourses, experiences, and interactional histories in digital spaces and in-person interactions. Our findings present that texting creates a translanguaging space where the learners collaboratively construct their linguistic and cultural repertoires and engage with the broader semiotic options and diverse social discourses. They adopted various strategies of translanguaging to negotiate culturally appropriate language use. This study urges an in-depth understanding of the complex interplay of language use, identities, and social interactions in digital spaces and a reconsideration of multilingual competence and metalinguistic knowledge among language learners in diverse contexts.

In response to becoming a more multicultural society, the South Korean Ministry of Education has implemented a multicultural education policy since 2006 by promoting English as key for young learners' communicative competence in a global world. Despite numerous previous studies on government-led curriculum and textbooks for English as a foreign language (EFL) across many countries, little attention has been given to the cultural and linguistic aspects of primary-level EFL textbooks. Within the framework of intercultural communicative competence (ICC), this study investigated multicultural understandings, social values, and beliefs embedded in the reading passages of five Korean Grade 6 EFL textbooks. By employing multimodal content analysis, it also scrutinized what messages and meanings are constructed with semiotic devices and the extent of the textbooks to foster EFL students' ICC. Findings revealed that the textbooks (re)produce national pride and otherness and promote the idea of English for a White global world. The lack of interactive communication events in diverse settings was also found problematic in developing students' new identities as global citizens. The study argues for critical approaches to multicultural education and intercultural development in EFL education by reconceptualizing English as a mediator for developing intercultural contact with diverse others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This ethnographic case study has focused on language use in texting out of institutional contexts between voluntary language partners. Within the translanguaging and digital literacies framework, we explored how two pairs of Korean-English language partners practice translanguaging in texting in order to construct their multilingual identities. Their text messages were collected over one year and analyzed using discourse analysis to investigate their co-construction of multilingual repertoires in texting influenced by shared discourses, experiences, and interactional histories in digital spaces and in-person interactions. Our findings present that texting creates a translanguaging space where the learners collaboratively construct their linguistic and cultural repertoires and engage with the broader semiotic options and diverse social discourses. They adopted various strategies of translanguaging to negotiate culturally appropriate language use. This study urges an in-depth understanding of the complex interplay of language use, identities, and social interactions in digital spaces and a reconsideration of multilingual competence and metalinguistic knowledge among language learners in diverse contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]