Identity and honorifics use in Korean study abroad
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Lucien Brown
Abstract
This study examines quantitative (DCT data) and qualitative (recordings of natural conversations, retrospective interviews) to explore the use of Korean honorifics by four advanced male learners on a study abroad program at a university in Seoul. Although the DCT data reveal that all four learners possessed strong underlying pragmatic knowledge regarding when honorific forms (contaymal) and non-honorific forms (panmal) should normatively be used, their use of these forms in real world interactions frequently departed from native norms. To explain this gap between knowledge and usage, the paper explores questions of these speakers’ identities, drawing on a growing body of literature that sees identity as pivotal to explaining second language acquisition, particularly in the study abroad context.
Abstract
This study examines quantitative (DCT data) and qualitative (recordings of natural conversations, retrospective interviews) to explore the use of Korean honorifics by four advanced male learners on a study abroad program at a university in Seoul. Although the DCT data reveal that all four learners possessed strong underlying pragmatic knowledge regarding when honorific forms (contaymal) and non-honorific forms (panmal) should normatively be used, their use of these forms in real world interactions frequently departed from native norms. To explain this gap between knowledge and usage, the paper explores questions of these speakers’ identities, drawing on a growing body of literature that sees identity as pivotal to explaining second language acquisition, particularly in the study abroad context.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgement ix
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Part I. Orientation
- Introduction 3
- Researching whole people and whole lives 17
-
Part II. Qualitative and case studies
- Self-regulatory strategies of foreign language learners 47
- “Opening up to the world”? 75
- Politics of identification in the use of lingua francas in student mobility to Finland and France 101
- An American in Paris 127
- Exploring the potential of high school homestays as a context for local engagement and negotiation of difference 155
- The transformation of “a frog in the well” 179
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Part III. Pragmatics and identity
- “I joke you don’t” 207
- Getting over the hedge 239
- Identity and honorifics use in Korean study abroad 269
- A corpus-based study of vague language use by learners of Spanish in a study abroad context 299
- Afterword 333
- Name index 337
- Subject index 343
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgement ix
-
Part I. Orientation
- Introduction 3
- Researching whole people and whole lives 17
-
Part II. Qualitative and case studies
- Self-regulatory strategies of foreign language learners 47
- “Opening up to the world”? 75
- Politics of identification in the use of lingua francas in student mobility to Finland and France 101
- An American in Paris 127
- Exploring the potential of high school homestays as a context for local engagement and negotiation of difference 155
- The transformation of “a frog in the well” 179
-
Part III. Pragmatics and identity
- “I joke you don’t” 207
- Getting over the hedge 239
- Identity and honorifics use in Korean study abroad 269
- A corpus-based study of vague language use by learners of Spanish in a study abroad context 299
- Afterword 333
- Name index 337
- Subject index 343