Language Learning as a Struggle for Distinction in Today's Corporate Recruitment Culture: an Ethnographic Study of English Study Abroad Practices among South Korean Undergraduates

Autor/in	Jang, In Chull
Titel	Language Learning as a Struggle for Distinction in Today's Corporate Recruitment Culture: an Ethnographic Study of English Study Abroad Practices among South Korean Undergraduates
Quelle	In: L2 Journal, 7 (2015) 3, S.57-77 (21 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1945-0222
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Study Abroad; Undergraduate Students; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Recruitment; Job Skills; Employment Qualifications; Ideology; Oral Language; Language Proficiency; Language Usage; Ethnography; Sociolinguistics; Observation; Interviews; South Korea; Canada (Toronto) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Studies abroad; Auslandsstudium; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Recruiting; Rekrutierung; Produktive Fertigkeit; Employment qualification; Vocational qualification; Vocational qualifications; Berufliche Qualifikation; Ideologie; Oral interpretation; Mündlicher Sprachgebrauch; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz; Sprachgebrauch; Ethnografie; Soziolinguistik; Beobachtung; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Korea; Republik
Abstract	Young adults in South Korea are encouraged to constantly develop their skills and qualifications to meet the challenges posed by the job market in the country's neoliberal post-IMF crisis economy. This paper examines the ways in which changes in South Korea's labor market and corporate recruitment culture have affected the ideologies and practices of the country's youth with regard to the English language. By drawing on Bourdieu's concept of distinction and specifying the processes of distinction into "replacement," "opposition," and "addition," this paper clarifies the ideological construction and effects of oral communicative competence in English through an ethnographic analysis of post-secondary learners studying English in a study abroad context. Influenced by South Korea's recruitment culture, these learners distinguish primarily between learning English for standardized tests in South Korea and learning English for authentic communication while studying abroad. However, the efforts of learners who have studied abroad to develop their oral English skills bear limited fruit in South Korea's recruitment culture, which does not fully appreciate the value of the job seeker's experience of having studied English abroad. Thus, the limits of distinction function to impose the burden of English learning on individual learners. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Berkeley Language Center, University of California. B-40 Dwinelle Hall #2640, Berkeley, CA 94720. Web site: http://escholarship.org/uc/uccllt_l2
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01