Language Ideologies of Pre-service English Teachers in Korea

The present study investigates language ideologies of pre service English teachers in Korea. Considering the fact that most of them were taught English by non native Korean English teachers in their elementary and secondary schools, this study is aimed at shedding light on how they, from a perspective of language ideologies, have been influenced by the 2009 Revised National Curriculum. Pre service English teachers often internalize and practice dominant language ideologies unconsciously or uncritically as t hey themselves are also the product of the language policies, national level or meso level, which continuously generate dominant discourse. Employing both qualitative and quantitative data based on the research questionnaire from the first year pre service English teachers, this study finds that they are also reproducing the dominant language ideologies predisposed to the language policies in which they were embedded as students in general and English learners in particular. Finally, it further provides implications for how teacher preparation programs could be improved to promote critical awareness, critical self reflection, and critical pedagogical relations so that future English teachers in Korea are able to situate and re conceptualize English education both in national and global contexts.