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Portfolio II—Knowledge Application Essay, Hyejin Yoon

A Key Issue in Korean (English Language) Teacher Education

Korea and Multiculturalism. South Korea is rapidly becoming a multicultural society.

Since mid-1990, in line with its economic growth, South Korea has been undergoing a change in

its social situation. Increasing the number of foreign migrant workers and international marriage

is transforming South Korea into a more diverse and multicultural society. According to the

press release of the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and National

Statistical Office, the total number of foreign residents living in Korea on November 1, 2015 was

1.71 million which is found to be 3.4% of the total population. This is the rate that has increased

more than three times compared with 2006, and it is continuing to accelerate. After 2020, the

population of multicultural families is expected to reach 5% of the whole population. (Korean

Ministry of Education, 2017).

In addition, due to the continuous inflow of North Korean (NK) refugees, the cultural

diversity of residents in South Korea has been promoted further. It is because since the day when

the Korean war Armistice Agreement was signed, South and North Korea have been maintaining

different political stances and the political events destroyed the cultural and linguistic

homogeneity of people. The sharp difference in political philosophy has divided the Korean

peninsula into two parts along the 38th parallel so that North and South Korea have been in a

prolonged conflict, ceasing political, economic and cultural interchanges for over 67 years. As a

result, the two nations have formed dissimilar values and attitudes of life—the elements of little

‘c’ culture and have not experienced mutual exchanges until now. Among younger generations,

the cultural gap is significant.

In the past, due to the scarcity of food and harsh living conditions, the number of North

Koreans living in SK had steadily increased in SK. On the other hand, in the future, we expect
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Portfolio II—Knowledge Application Essay, Hyejin Yoon
that the increasing mutual exchange between South and North Korea in all areas will make SK a

more culturally diverse country. After the historic inter-Korean summit followed by “talks of the

century” between the American president and the North Korean leader, South and North Koreans

became full of hope for ending the 1950-53 Korean War and bring permanent peace to the

Korean Peninsula. Continuous dialogue on economic cooperation and cultural exchanges

between the both sides’ leaders seems to be accelerating the transformation from longing into

reality.

Concerns over growing cultural diversity of the Korean population. Although SK is

rapidly becoming a place where various cultures coexist, most Koreans are still not ready for

ethnic diversity and express negative perceptions towards a multicultural society (Jang, 2015).

Jang (2015) addressed three types of pessimistic views towards multiculturalism: Double-faced

Anti-multiculturalism, Anti-multiculturalism, and Multiculture-phobia. Through recent events it

was proved that the Koreans were likely to be confined to ethnocentric ideas.

When the visceral image of an innocent three-year old boy’s corpse that washed up on

the shore of a beach in Turkey, the around the world was devastated with an outpouring of grief.

Like other nations did, the majority of Koreans expressed their grief, conveying heartfelt

sympathies. However, the attitude toward over 500 Yemeni refugees who arrived on SK soil

was quite different from the one to the victimized child. More than 700,000—1.3% of the total

population filed together a Cheong Wa Dae—Blue House petition against granting asylum for

the Yemeni refugees in less than a month. The basic argument that people provided was related

to cultural differences, especially the refugees’ religion—Islam was a widespread concern and

terrorism also. I would not like to judge their argument per se but like to express my concerns

about their reaction relying on ‘affect bias’, because they quickly expressed their stance and set a
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Portfolio II—Knowledge Application Essay, Hyejin Yoon
course of action without the benefit of extensive research and critical thinking (English, 2015).

Their claim looked as if it was originated from exclusivism and antagonism.

Koreans’ xenophobia has a long history, so it has naturally and gradually permeated all

levels of society. In order to minimize risk to national security, Korea had walled itself off from

the rest of the world except for only one country—China over three centuries. Korea has long

been considered as the “Hermit Kingdom” until early 20 century and the deeply ingrained sense

of “pure-blood” heritage has been handed down from generation to generation.

Multiculturalism and Schools. The ethnic diversity toward a multicultural society has

led to changes in the education/learner population. The increase in the number of multicultural

families has begun to make demands on the educational system in Korea. Due to the “Us vs.

Them” paradigm that Koreans possess, often mixed-race children are not accepted as a member

of a group. To be specific, in the survey of 190 migrants, as a place where racial discrimination

mainly takes place, education facilities such as schools are ranked as the top (Gyeonggi-do

Foreigner Human Rights Supports Center, 2016). Therefore, the social requirement to ameliorate

the condition of education as it relates to these new families and refugees is being systematically

addressed. the transformation of SK society to multiculturalism makes people rethink the

importance of teachers’ roles in society. Especially, teachers’ IC is highlighted more than before;

teachers who have positive beliefs regarding diversity are able to impart their IC to their students

who bring different cultures into classrooms.

Despite the wealth of research findings on challenges NK refugee students experience

and other scholarly research to date, our understanding about SK teachers’ difficulties as they

work with NK refugee youths remains incomplete: I could not find any research with regard to

the cultural gap between SK teachers and NK students. Missing are descriptions of SK IL
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Portfolio II—Knowledge Application Essay, Hyejin Yoon
teachers’ actual experiences with attempting to being ‘good/effective’ IL teachers in their

instruction for NK students. Given the huge gap of achievement in English between SK and NK

students (Shin et al., 2012), it is highly recommended that SK IL teachers be trained and

prepared to serve this different group of students. Hence, I argue that the current lack of research

concerning SK IL teachers’ perception and practices on IC prevent us from fully understanding

the key issues at the core of teachers’ professional development as a cultural-mediators in SK.

Literature on Culture

Culture plays such a prominent part in every aspect of our lives and we are easily

hoodwinked into believing that our convictions are true and universal. However, by being

gradually freed from the grip of unconscious culture, individual’s intercultural sensitivity

can move along the continuum of IC toward ethnorelativism. Therefore, before

conceptualizing IC and exploring the frameworks of it, it is necessary to delve into the

essence of culture itself, although the concept of it is “ideological in nature” (Holliday,

2010, p. 1). It is because once people acknowledge the influence of culture on their daily

activities, they could be sufficiently motivated to raise their cultural sensitivity so as to be

confident communicators in intercultural/international contexts.

According to Brody (2003), there are hundreds of definitions of culture at the

beginning of 20 century. For example, Ayisi (1992) defined that culture is “… that

complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, moral, cultural tools, customs,

and all other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (p. 1).

Among many cultural notions, it is meaningful to examine the one of Edward T. Hall

(1989), because he was an original thinker whom many scholars consider to be the
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Portfolio II—Knowledge Application Essay, Hyejin Yoon
founder of the study of intercultural communication. He introduced a concept which he

regarded as potentially threatening to harmonious relationships among people. According

to Hall (1989), mankind has been adding to their weaknesses by evolving various

“extensions” (p. 25), cultural elements such as languages, mechanical systems, and social

structures that affect how one perceives one’s culture. Humans are caught in a trap called

“extension transference” (p. 28), thus culture is becoming lived in an unconscious way.

Once the extensions are internalized, the author explained, cultural influences on humans’

political acts, decision-making, prioritizing and ways of thinking are not consciously

understood. In the relationship between culture and cognition, DiMaggio (1997)

considered culture as a latent variable. To be specific, human beings’ mental process

heavily and uncritically rely on culturally available schemata. As a result, human beings

marginalize themselves and lose their ability to control their culture. So long as direct

conflicts do not occur in intercultural and interethnic encounters, culture does not easily

come up to the level of consciousness.

Theories of Intercultural Competence

Conceptualization of IC. Over the last 30 years, many scholars used and defined

the term intercultural competence, but they could not reach a consensus on a single

definition (Deardorff, 2006). Chen and Starosta (1997) considered intercultural

competence as a behavioral aspect for effective intercultural interaction. Based on their

argument, to interact with others in an effective manner people need intercultural

awareness (cognitive), intercultural sensitivity (affective), and intercultural competence

(behavioral) (Chen & Starosta, 1997). Lustig and Koester (2006) explain that intercultural
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Portfolio II—Knowledge Application Essay, Hyejin Yoon
competence requires knowledge, motivation, skills in communication and germane

behaviors. According to Byram (1997), intercultural competence is comprised of five

savoirs; Savoir (knowledge), Savoir-etre (curious and opened attitudes), Savoir-

comprendre (skills of interpreting and relating), Savoir-apprendre/faire (skills of

discovery and interaction) and Savoir s’engager (critical awareness). However, in terms

of the commonalities between various definitions, a majority of theorists recognize that

intercultural competence is related to four dimensions, knowledge, attitudes, skills and

behaviors (Perry et al., 2011).

Post-colonial perspective on language and EL teachers’ IC. The word ‘intercultural’ is

combination of ‘inter’ and ‘cultural’. Due to the prefix ‘inter’ indicating ‘between’, the term

‘intercultural’ emphasizes relationships and interactions between individuals of different cultures

(Hill 2006; Pusch 2004). A number of scholars who are working on IC have been criticizing the

fact that “such a limited, modern (vs. postmodern) and positivistic vision sets aside an important

aspect of social interactions: power” (Dervin & Hahl, 2015). Shi-Xu (2001) had taken into

account the tendency in research ignoring the phenomenon that “intercultural communication is

situate in the context of imbalance in power and inequality” (p. 287). In short, the “intercultural

communication” never takes place in a “power vacuum” environment (Shi-Xu, 2001, p. 287).

Therefore, EL teachers should be aware of the oppression of the power dynamic which exists

between communicators who possess the power of language and ones who do not.

Due to the power of the culture which English-speaking people possess, the dominance of

English has been observed in different areas, which has been constructed over a long period of

time. However, As the global language, English is no longer only for people who live in

English-speaking countries which occupy the Inner Circle of Kachuru’s (1992) three-circle
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Portfolio II—Knowledge Application Essay, Hyejin Yoon
model, rather it is an international language used for communication between people from

various languages and cultures (Crystal, 1997; Jenkins, 2015; McArthur, 2003; Pennycook,

2017; Trudgill et al., 2017).

Post-colonial perspectives on language can impede teachers’ professional development of

IC. McKay (2002) suggested rethinking goals and perspectives of teaching English as an

international language, by claiming that once a language is internationalized, the language is “no

longer linked to a single culture or nation but serves both global and local needs as a language of

wider communication” (p. 24). Macedo (2000) warned that if people’s mind sets are hostage to

the neocolonialist language, they are likely to lose their own languages and cultures and it could

be related to the matter of losing dignity. In this sense, exploring to what extent IL teachers are

aware of linguistic imperialism and in what way they analyze and modify the text book which is

the main teaching and learning resource based on critical perspectives would be an effective way

to gauge their IC.

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Portfolio II—Knowledge Application Essay, Hyejin Yoon
References

Ayisi, E. O. (1992). An introduction to the study of African culture. East African Publishers.

Brody, J. (2003). A linguistic anthropological perspective on language and culture in the second

language curriculum. In D.L. Lange & R. M. Paige (Eds.), Culture as the core:

Perspectives on culture in second language learning (pp. 37-51). Greenwich, CT:

Information Age Publishing.

Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural competence. Clevedon, UK:

Multilingual Matters.

Chen, G. M., & Starosta, W. J. (1997). A review of the concept of intercultural sensitivity.

Human Communication, 1, 1-16.

Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University.

Deardoff, D. K. (2006). Assessing intercultural competence in study abroad students, In M.

Byram and A. Feng (Eds.) Living and studying abroad: Research and practice (pp. 232-

256). Clevendon: Multilingual Matter.

Dervin, F., & Hahl, K. (2015). Developing a portfolio of intercultural competences in teacher

education: The case of a Finnish international programme. Scandinavian Journal of

Educational Research, 59(1), 95-109.

DiMaggio, P. (1997). Culture and cognition. Annual review of sociology, 23(1), 263-287.

English, A. (2015). The affective influence of risk perception and the collapse of compassion.

The Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com.

Gyeonggi-do Foreigner Human Rights Supports Center. (2016). The actual conditions of racial

discrimination and policy plans to eliminate discrimination. 2016 Gyeonggi-do Foreigner

Human Rights Supports Center Policy Symposium.

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Hall, E. (1989). Beyond culture. New York: Anchor Books.

Hill, I. (2006). Student types, scholl types and their combined influence on the development of

intercultural understanding. Journal of Research in Intercultural Education, 5(1), 5-33.

Holliday, A. (2010). Complexity in cultural identity. Language and Intercultural

Communication, 10(2), 165-177.

Jang, J. (2015). Korean perceptions on foreign immigrants. IOM Migration Research and

Training Centre. No. 2015-07.

Jenkins, J. (2015). Global Englishes: A resource book for students (3rd edition). New

York: Routledge.

Korea Ministry of Education. (2017). Multicultural Support Plan.

Lusting, M. W. and Koester, J. (2006). Intercultural competence: interpersonal communication

across cultures. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Macedo, D. (2000). The colonialism of the English only movement. Educational Researcher,

29(3), 15-24.

McArthur, T. (2003). Oxford guide to world English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

McKay, S. L. (2002). Teaching English As an International Language: Rethinking Goals and

Perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.

Pennycook, A. (1994). The cultural politics of English as an international language. London:

Longman.

Pusch, M. D. (2004). Intercultural training in historical perspective. In Landis, D., Bennett, J. M.,

& Bennett, M. J. (Eds.), Handbook of intercultural training (pp. 13-36). Thousand Oaks,

CA: Sage.
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Shin, J., Kim, K., Par, S., Kim, Y., Lee, J., Cho, Y., Kim, H., Lee, Y., & Choi, S. (2012).

Analysis of academic performance of multicultural and NK refugee students based on the

results of National Academic Achievement Test. KICE Research Report, RRE 2012-13.

Shi-Xu. (2001). Critical pedagogy and intercultural communication: Creating discourses of

diversity, equality, common goals and rational-moral motivation. Journal of Intercultural

Studies, 22(3), 279-293.

Trudgill, P., & Hannah, J. (2017). International English: A Guide to Varieties of English Around

the World. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group.