Multilingual Identity in Digital Storytelling: A Case of Migrant Youth at a Korean Alternative School

Multilingual Identity in Digital Storytelling: A Case of Migrant Youth at a Korean Alternative School

This qualitative case study explores multilingual learners’ linguistic practices and how they are interrelated with their identities in the context of a Korean alternative school. The learners are two Chosunjok, and one North Korean refugee child. The data were derived from the learners’ digital storytelling videos, semi-structured interviews, stimulated-recall interviews, and observation field notes. The data were thematically analyzed and organized using Rose’s (2007) sites of visual meaning-making structure. The findings revealed that the learners had different amounts of access to information regarding second language learning, and that they depended on the resources available within the communities they belonged to. Moreover, the participants’ levels of investment in language learning were constructed around their communities and identities. Their attitudes in language learning were also interrelated with the broader English language ideologies in South Korea. By sharing the stories of three multilingual learners, the study provides pedagogical implications on the influence of resources on multilingual learners’ language learning. We emphasize the importance of providing a space for multilingual learners to critically reflect on current and future resources, utilize their full communicative repertoire, and identify ways to increase their affordances of learning.