Learning English and Identity Construction of Korean Early Study Abroad Students

Learning English and Identity Construction of Korean Early Study Abroad Students

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between learning English and constructing identities by Korean early study abroad (ESA) students in US university contexts. Drawing on the poststructuralist notion of identity, the study attempts to depict ESA students learning English and their identity construction. Data were collected from interviews with six ESA students enrolled in US universities and analyzed to examine investment in learning English, communities of practice (CoP, Wenger, 1998), and conflicts between imagined and actual identities. The findings show that the participants had conflicts between their imagined identity of a perfect bilingual speaker and the current identity of an ambivalent speaker. Their sense of obligation to use more English was in conflict with peer pressure among Korean students. The results show that ESA students’ investment to learn English is facilitated or constrained by sociocultural contexts and their identity is constructed through negotiating the conflicts between English-speaking and Korean-speaking communities. The findings suggest that learners should be aware of sociocultural constraints or opportunities in their learning context, and should be encouraged to set a reasonable goal, specific to their needs.