A reconceptualisation of native speakerism: ethnic return migrants and LOTE learning in South Korea

ABSTRACT

This study examines how Korean learners of Chinese perceive Chinese native speakerism, especially in relation to Choseonjok, or Korean-Chinese people. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 47 Korean learners of Chinese who attended private Chinese language institutes or in-company Chinese programmes. The transcribed interviews were examined using grounded theory. The findings demonstrate that Chinese native speakerism in South Korea is highly contextualised and intertwined with notions of model pronunciation, ethnicity, nationality and identity. Most participants believed that the Chinese pronunciation of Choseonjok would be less standard than that of native Chinese speakers living in Beijing. Although the participants considered Choseonjok Chinese speakers to be less competent than native Chinese, they categorised Choseonjok as Chinese, pointing out that being able to speak Korean is not enough to become Korean, and that Choseonjok lack emotional loyalty towards Korea. The participants also considered Choseonjok to be unsuited to work as Chinese language teachers and more suited to certain jobs that Korean nationals avoid. This study critically demonstrates how native speakerism can be instantiated in accordance with sociocultural constructs and how this can contribute to a reconceptualisation of native speakerism, especially in a non-English case.

KEYWORDS:

• Native speakerism
• Choseonjok
• Chinese language
• ethnic return migrants
• bilingualism

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Choseonjok Chinese is often considered to be close to Putonghua, and Choseonjok use Chinese as their native language (Sungkyunkwan Graduate School of China 2020). As part of China’s ethnic minority education policy, they learn Korean as their second language in primary and secondary school, especially in Choseonjok collective residential areas (Kim 2003). As a result, although their accent is often noticeable to many Korean nationals, they can generally communicate freely with Koreans. Thus they can come to Korea and get a job immediately without extra language programmes. However, they usually take 3D jobs that Koreans avoid, and it is extremely rare for a Choseonjok to be employed as a Chinese language teacher in the Korean context (PeopleNews.com 2006).

2 Many countries do not automatically confer nationality on people born in other countries, regardless of their heritage, especially one or two generations after the family member emigrated. As a result, Choseonjok hold Chinese nationality unless they naturalise in Korea, and they require a visa to enter Korea. For this reason, they are classified as foreigners in the national data.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the research fund of Hanyang University (HY-201700000000496).

Notes on contributors

Mun Woo Lee

Mun Woo Lee is an Associate Professor at the Department of English Education, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea. Her research interests include language and identity, language and ideology, and equity in the language education of underrepresented populations.