Young learners’ portrayals of ‘good English teacher’ identities in South Korea
-
So-Yeon Ahn
So-Yeon Ahn is an assistant professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, where she conducts research on language ideology and identity, language and cultural awareness, and social and cultural approaches to language learning.
und
Gordon Blaine West
Gordon West is an assistant professor of TESOL at Sookmyung Women’s University. His main work is in the young learner TESOL program. His research interests focus on practitioner research, narrative, and critical applied linguistics.
Abstract
In the climate of shifting language policies and constant influx of native English-speaking teachers to South Korea, the question of what constitutes a “good” language teacher (GLT) arises. To this end, the present study examines how 577 young English learners (K-6th grade) come to demonstrate their understanding of GLT by making use of visual images and written narratives. A social semiotic, multimodal approach to analysis is employed to scrutinize how these textual and visual narratives construct and/or presuppose a certain image of teacher identity and, as a result, display societal ideologies (Jewitt 2009). The findings yield two dimensions with regard to the objects associated with GLTs, an emotional/abstract dimension and a teaching-related dimension, and the differing use of these objects in relation to teacher gender indicating students’ awareness of teacher roles and gender. Moreover, the ways in which learners place themselves in the storied worlds seem to provide evidence for how teacher identity is, in fact, co-constructed with the notion of learner identity. Thus, the study underscores the complex nature of GLT identity construction and further highlights the benefits of using both textual and visual methods to gain better insights into learners’ beliefs about, attitudes towards, and perspectives on teachers, students, and language learning.
About the authors
So-Yeon Ahn is an assistant professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, where she conducts research on language ideology and identity, language and cultural awareness, and social and cultural approaches to language learning.
Gordon West is an assistant professor of TESOL at Sookmyung Women’s University. His main work is in the young learner TESOL program. His research interests focus on practitioner research, narrative, and critical applied linguistics.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Funds of 2016. Our deep appreciation goes to anonymous reviewers and the editor for their insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this article.
References
Ahn, So-Yeon. 2015. Criticality for global citizenship in Korean English immersion camps. Journal of Language and Intercultural Communication 15(4). 533–549.10.1080/14708477.2015.1049612Suche in Google Scholar
Ahn, So-Yeon & Gordon West. 2016. Unmasking young learners’ perceptions of good language teacher identity. English Teaching 71(1). 73–95.10.15858/engtea.71.1.201603.73Suche in Google Scholar
Amin, Nuzhat. 1997. Race and the identity of the nonnative ESL teacher. TESOL Quarterly 31(3). 580–583.10.2307/3587841Suche in Google Scholar
Armour, William S. 2004. Becoming a Japanese language learner, user, and teacher: Revelations from life history research. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 3(2). 101–125.10.1207/s15327701jlie0302_2Suche in Google Scholar
Bamberg, Michael. 1997. Positioning between structure and performance. Journal of Narrative and Life History 7(1–4). 335–342.10.1075/jnlh.7.42posSuche in Google Scholar
Barkhuizen, Gary. 2011. Narrative knowledging in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly 45(3). 391–414.10.5054/tq.2011.261888Suche in Google Scholar
Barnes, Bruce D. & Graeme Lock. 2013. Student perceptions of effective foreign language teachers: A quantitative investigation from a Korean university. Australian Journal of Teacher Education 38(2). 19–36.10.14221/ajte.2013v38n2.2Suche in Google Scholar
Bruner, Jerome. 1991. The narrative construction of reality. Critical Inquiry 18(1). 1–21.10.1086/448619Suche in Google Scholar
Bruner, Jerome. 1997. A narrative model of self‐construction. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 818. 145–161.10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb48253.xSuche in Google Scholar
Bucholtz, Mary. 1999. “Why be normal?”: Language and identity practices in a community of nerd girls. Language in Society 28(2). 203–223.10.1007/978-1-349-92299-4_15Suche in Google Scholar
Clandinin, D. Jean & F. Michael Connelly. 2000. Narrative inquiry. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Suche in Google Scholar
Clark, Elizabeth & Amos Paran. 2007. The employability of non-native-speaker teachers of EFL: A UK survey. System 35(4). 407–430.10.1016/j.system.2007.05.002Suche in Google Scholar
Cook, Vivian. 1999. Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching. TESOL Quarterly 33(2). 185–209.10.2307/3587717Suche in Google Scholar
Danielewicz, Jane. 2001. Teaching selves: Identity, pedagogy, and teacher education. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.10.1515/9780791490471Suche in Google Scholar
Davies, Bronwyn & Rom Harré. 1990. Positioning: The discursive production of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviours 20(1). 43–63.10.1111/j.1468-5914.1990.tb00174.xSuche in Google Scholar
Duff, Patricia A. & Yuko Uchida. 1997. The negotiation of teachers’ sociocultural identities and practices in postsecondary EFL classrooms. TESOL Quarterly 31(3). 451–486.10.2307/3587834Suche in Google Scholar
Dufva, Hannele, Mari Aro, Riikka Alanen & Paula Kalaja. 2011. Voices of literacy, images of books: Sociocognitive approach to multimodality in learner beliefs. ForumSprache 6. 58–74.Suche in Google Scholar
Golombek, Paula & Stefanie Rehn Jordan. 2005. “Black lambs” not “parrots”: A poststructuralist orientation to intelligibility and identity. TESOL Quarterly 39(3). 513–533.10.2307/3588492Suche in Google Scholar
Geertz, Clifford. 1995. After the fact: Two countries, four decades, one anthropologist. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.10.4159/9780674037526Suche in Google Scholar
Grant, Rachel A. & Incho Lee. 2009. The ideal English speaker: A juxtaposition of globalization and language policy in South Korea and racialized language attitudes in the United States. In Ryuko Kubota & Angel M. Y. Lin (eds.), Race, culture, and identities in second language education, 44–63. New York: Routledge.Suche in Google Scholar
Jeon, Mihyon. 2009. Globalization and native English speakers in English programme in Korea (EPIK). Language, Culture and Curriculum 22(3). 231–243.10.1080/07908310903388933Suche in Google Scholar
Jewitt, Carey. 2009. An introduction to multimodality. In Carey Jewitt (ed.), The Routledge handbook of multimodal analysis, 14–27. New York: Routledge.Suche in Google Scholar
Kalaja, Paula. 2016. ‘Dreaming is believing’: The teaching of foreign languages envisioned multimodally by student teachers. In Paula Kalaja, Ana Maria F. Barcelos, Mari Aro & Maria Ruohotie-Lyhty (eds.), Beliefs, agency and identity in foreign language learning and teaching, 124–146. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9781137425959_7Suche in Google Scholar
Kalaja, Paula, Hannele Dufva & Riikka Alanen. 2013. Experimenting with visual narratives. In Gary Barkhuizen (ed.), Narrative research in applied linguistics, 105–131. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Kanno, Yasuko & Christian Stuart. 2011. Learning to become a second language teacher: Identities-in-practice. Modern Language Journal 95(2). 236–252.10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01178.xSuche in Google Scholar
Korean Immigration Service. 2015. Tonggyeowolbo [Monthly statistical data report]. Seoul: Ministry of Justice.Suche in Google Scholar
Kramsch, Claire. 1997. The privilege of the nonnative speaker. PMLA 112(3). 359–369.10.1632/S0030812900060673Suche in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen. 2002. Colour as a semiotic mode: Notes for a grammar of colour. Visual Communication 1(3). 343–368.10.1177/147035720200100306Suche in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen. 2006. Visual interaction. In Adam Jaworski & Nikolas Coupland (eds.), The discourse reader, 2nd edn., 362–384. New York: Routledge.Suche in Google Scholar
Kubota, Ryuko & Angel Lin. 2006. Race and TESOL: Introduction to concepts and theories. TESOL Quarterly 40(3). 471–493.10.2307/40264540Suche in Google Scholar
Kubota, Ryuko & Sandra McKay. 2009. Globalization and language learning in rural Japan: The role of English in the local linguistic ecology. TESOL Quarterly 43(4). 593–619.10.1002/j.1545-7249.2009.tb00188.xSuche in Google Scholar
Lee, Jin. 2011. The policies on supplemental education in Korea. IIAS Newsletter 56. 16–17.Suche in Google Scholar
Liu, Jun. 1999. Nonnative-English-speaking professionals in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly 33(1). 85–102.10.2307/3588192Suche in Google Scholar
Morgan, Brian. 2004. Teacher identity as pedagogy: Towards a field-internal conceptualization in bilingual and second language education. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 7(2–3). 172–188.10.1080/13670050408667807Suche in Google Scholar
Motha, Suhanthie. 2006. Racializing ESOL teacher identities in US K12 public schools. TESOL Quarterly 40(3). 495–518.10.2307/40264541Suche in Google Scholar
Nagatano, Diane Hawley. 2012. Exploring Japanese university English teacher professional identity. Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781847696489Suche in Google Scholar
Norton, Bonny. 2013. Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation, 2nd edn. Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781783090563Suche in Google Scholar
Norton, Bonny & Kelleen Toohey. 2001. Changing perspectives on good language learners. TESOL Quarterly 35(2). 307–322.10.2307/3587650Suche in Google Scholar
Ochs, Elinor. 1993. Constructing social identity: A language socialization perspective. Research on Language and Social Interaction 26(3). 287–306.10.1207/s15327973rlsi2603_3Suche in Google Scholar
Park, Joseph Sung-Yul. 2009. The local construction of a global language: Ideologies of English in South Korea. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110214079Suche in Google Scholar
Pavlenko, Aneta. 2003. “I never knew I was a bilingual”: Reimagining teacher identities in TESOL. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 2(4). 251–268.10.1207/S15327701JLIE0204_2Suche in Google Scholar
Pederson, Rod. 2013. Representation, globalization, and the native speaker: Dialectics of language, ideology, and power. In Kiwan Sung & Rod Pederson (eds.), Critical ELT practices in Asia: Key issues, practices, and possibilities, 1–22. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.10.1007/978-94-6091-797-4_1Suche in Google Scholar
Pennycook, Alastair. 1994. The cultural politics of English as an international language. Harlow: Longman.Suche in Google Scholar
Polkinghorne, Donald E. 1988. Narrative knowing and the human sciences. Albany: State University of New York Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Pomerantz, Anne. 2008. “Tú necesitas preguntar en Español”: Negotiating good language learner identity in a Spanish classroom. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 7(3–4). 253–271.10.1080/15348450802237897Suche in Google Scholar
Riessman, Catherine Kohler. 1993. Narrative analysis. Qualitative Research Methods Series, No. 30. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Suche in Google Scholar
Rivers, Damian J. & Andrew S. Ross. 2013. Idealized English teachers: The implicit influence of race in Japan. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 12(5). 321–339.10.1080/15348458.2013.835575Suche in Google Scholar
Royce, Terry. 2007. Intersemiotic complementarity: A framework for multimodal discourse analysis. In Terry Royce & Wendy L. Bowcher (eds.), New directions in the analysis of multimodal discourse, 63–109. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Suche in Google Scholar
Sercu, Lies. 2006. The foreign language and intercultural competence teacher: The acquisition of a new professional identity. Intercultural Education 17(1). 55–72.10.1080/14675980500502321Suche in Google Scholar
Shafer, Roy. 1992. Retelling a life: Narration and dialogue in psychoanalysis. New York: Basic Books.Suche in Google Scholar
Shuck, Gail. 2006. Racializing the nonnative English speaker. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 5(4). 259–276.10.1207/s15327701jlie0504_1Suche in Google Scholar
Song, Jae Jung. 2012. South Korea: language policy and planning in the making. Current Issues in Language Planning 13(1). 1–68.10.1080/14664208.2012.650322Suche in Google Scholar
Søreide, Gunn Elisabeth. 2007. The public face of teacher identity – Narrative construction of teacher identity in public policy documents. Journal of Education Policy 22(2). 129–146.10.1080/02680930601158893Suche in Google Scholar
Toohey, Kelleen. 2000. Learning English at school: Identity, social relations and classroom practice. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Suche in Google Scholar
Trent, John. 2012. The discursive positioning of teachers: Native-speaking English teachers and educational discourses in Hong Kong. TESOL Quarterly 46(1). 104–126.10.1002/tesq.1Suche in Google Scholar
Tsui, Amy. 2007. Complexities of identity formation: A narrative inquiry of an EFL teacher. TESOL Quarterly 41(4). 657–680.10.1002/j.1545-7249.2007.tb00098.xSuche in Google Scholar
Tsui, Amy & James Tollefson. 2007. Language policy and the construction of national cultural identity. In Amy Tsui & James Tollefson (eds.), Language policy, culture, and identity in Asian contexts, 1–21. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.10.4324/9781315092034-1Suche in Google Scholar
Tucker-Raymond, Eli, Maria Varelas, Christine C. Pappas, Alla Korzh & Ashley Wentland. 2007. “They probably aren’t named Rachel”: Young children’s scientist identities as emergent multimodal narratives. Cultural Studies of Science Education 1(3). 559–592.10.1007/s11422-006-9017-xSuche in Google Scholar
Varghese, Manka, Brian Morgan, Bill Johnston & Kimberly A. Johnson. 2005. Theorizing language teacher identity: Three perspectives and beyond. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 4(1). 21–44.10.1207/s15327701jlie0401_2Suche in Google Scholar
Widdowson, Henry G. 1994. The ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly 28(2). 377–389.10.2307/3587438Suche in Google Scholar
Winston, Andrew S., Brenda Kenyon, Janis Stewardson & Theresa Lepine. 1995. Children’s sensitivity to expression of emotion in drawings. Visual Arts Research 21(1). 1–14.Suche in Google Scholar
Zembylas, Michalinos. 2003. Emotions and teacher identity: A poststructural perspective. Teachers and Teaching 9(3). 213–238.10.1080/13540600309378Suche in Google Scholar
Appendix 1: Data collection tool
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- ALR special issue: Visual methods in Applied Language Studies
- Drawings are talking: Exploring language learners’ beliefs through visual narratives
- Children’s drawings as part of School Language Profiles: Heteroglossic realities in families and schools
- Young learners’ portrayals of ‘good English teacher’ identities in South Korea
- Visualizing EFL teacher identity (re)construction in materials design and implementation
- What does it mean to be an English teacher in Brazil? Student teachers’ beliefs through narratives in a distance education programme
- Beliefs and practices of foreign language learning: A visual analysis
- Visual accounts of Finnish and Greek teenagers’ perceptions of their multilingual language and literacy practices
- Children’s images of HIV/AIDS in Uganda: What visual methodologies can tell us about their knowledge and life circumstances
- ‘If I didn’t know you what would you want me to see?’: Poetic mappings in neo-materialist research with young asylum seekers and refugees
- Words and images of multilingualism: A case study of two North Korean refugees
- Timeline analysis of complex language learning trajectories: Data visualisation as conceptual tool and method
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- ALR special issue: Visual methods in Applied Language Studies
- Drawings are talking: Exploring language learners’ beliefs through visual narratives
- Children’s drawings as part of School Language Profiles: Heteroglossic realities in families and schools
- Young learners’ portrayals of ‘good English teacher’ identities in South Korea
- Visualizing EFL teacher identity (re)construction in materials design and implementation
- What does it mean to be an English teacher in Brazil? Student teachers’ beliefs through narratives in a distance education programme
- Beliefs and practices of foreign language learning: A visual analysis
- Visual accounts of Finnish and Greek teenagers’ perceptions of their multilingual language and literacy practices
- Children’s images of HIV/AIDS in Uganda: What visual methodologies can tell us about their knowledge and life circumstances
- ‘If I didn’t know you what would you want me to see?’: Poetic mappings in neo-materialist research with young asylum seekers and refugees
- Words and images of multilingualism: A case study of two North Korean refugees
- Timeline analysis of complex language learning trajectories: Data visualisation as conceptual tool and method
