When the Global and Local Meet: Meanings of English in ‘Post-colonial’ South Korea
Abstract
This thesis attempts to unravel the “webs of significance” (Geertz 1973: 5) surrounding
English in the local context of Seoul, South Korea, a country that spends close to
two percentage of its GDP on English learning and mandates English learning from the
third grade in all public schools. Using ethnographic field work conducted in Seoul,
the thesis answers why South Koreans are such avid learners of English by closely
focusing on Korean college students in the surrounding space of the Gangnam Subway
Station. In contemporary, ‘post-colonial’ South Korea, English ability has evolved
over time into a highly valued skill set in the local context that allows for social
mobility and also a fetishized language of fantasy that gives individuals a sense
of modernity, cosmopolitanism, and social status.
English learning has become highly ‘Koreanized’ to fit local needs, focusing on strategies
for scoring high on standardized English tests. Underneath apparent enthusiasm towards
English education is a growing negative reaction to the growth of importance of English
in Korea, which surfaces all over popular media. Such public critique of the excessive
English boom can be a double-edged sword that works to raise public awareness, but
also reinforcing the notion that English is indeed important in Korean society and
cannot be ignored. To most Korean college students, English learning –although virtually
synonymous to the United States in the minds of Koreans – does not present an irreconcilable
conflict between nationalism and globalization, nor does it signify a force of American
cultural imperialism stripping away agencies of local agents.
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
Cultural AnthropologySubject
South Korean EducationGlobal English Studies
Globalization
American Imperialism
Localization
Post-colonial Studies
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/3587Citation
Choi, Michelle Hyun (2011). When the Global and Local Meet: Meanings of English in ‘Post-colonial’ South Korea.
Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/3587.Collections
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