Motivational profiles of Korean language learners.

Abstract

The present study is an initial attempt to empirically investigate the demographic data of Korean language learners. The study administered questionnaires to a larger group of students to ascertain Korean language learners' prior exposure to Korean language and culture, identity entailments with the target language. It documented the systematic profile of Korean language learners based on the learners' ethnic/linguistic background information. Also, this study considered how the complex ethnic and social identities and motivations of heritage and non-heritage language learners were revealed in their diary entries.

Introduction

Of the 162 foreign languages for which enrollment data were reported in recent survey (Welles, 2004), Korean was marked as the fifteenth. Having determined how Korean fits into the larger picture of foreign language study in the US, we need to look specifically at the context of the foreign language education in which Korean language programs operate. According to Welles (2004), in 1998 there were 76 institutions offering Korean language. In 2002, however, this number increased to 91--an increase of approximately 20% (Welles, 2004). While this increase is remarkable, it is still the case that a very small percentage of colleges/universities in the US offered Korean: 91 out of approximately 2,900, or a mere 3%. In addition to the report on how many US college and university students studying Korean, it would be interesting to further examine demographic information on who studies Korean, as a comparatively less commonly taught language, and why they have decided to learn the language. Little attempt to integrate these two perspectives--that is, the demographic and the motivational--has been made with respect to learners of Korean.

It is known that many heritage language (HL hereafter) learners often experience particular struggles with their ethnic identity formation and transformation (Maloof, 1998; Syed, 2001; Tse, 1998) and decide to learn their HLs out of a motivation to realize their ethnic identity or to recover the roots of a neglected cultural heritage (Kagan & Dillon, 2003; Kim, 2002; Lee, 2002; Syed, 2001; Ryu Yang, 2003). Although there have been extensive motivation studies in the L2 field, little research has been done on the connection between motivation and HL learning. This lack of interest, however, urges us to pay more attention to motivations of HL learners compared to those of non-HL learners in relation to sociocultural and psychological contexts when we seek to understand why some students easily involve their prior knowledge in their learning and accommodate new information, while others are reluctant to accommodate new ideas or assimilate them into their prior ideas. Of a few previous studies on HL motivation, Kim's (2002) study of 38 HL learners of Korean is noteworthy. With respect to motivation, Kim's study reported that the Korean HL learners showed more integrative motivation than instrumental motivation.

Confirming the results of Kim's (2002) study, Ryu Yang (2003) argued that Korean language learners' motivational orientations vary depending on personal variables including previous language learning experience and the amount/degree of exposure to the language, and found that Korean heritage was the strongest motivational orientation for HL students, whereas non-HL students learned Korean for various reasons including their interest in Asian culture, friendship, and future career opportunity.

The present study, then, is an initial attempt to empirically investigate the complex ethnic and social identities and motivation of Korean language learners. The study administered questionnaires to a larger group of students to ascertain Korean language learners' prior exposure to Korean language and culture, identity entailments with the target language. It also documented the motivational profiles of two different learner groups learning Korean in a U.S university setting: HL and non-HL learners through their diary entries.

Method

Data were collected in Korean language programs conducted at two Carnegie Research I universities located in the Southeastern U.S. The demographic data was derived from a survey involving a total of 141 Korean language learners and the motivational data from diary entries involving a total of 16 Korean language learners from the larger sample. A learner questionnaire was used in this study to provide information on Korean language learners' background information. A total of 48 learner diary entries were used to enrich understandings of learners' motivation to learn Korean.

Results

The following sections discuss the distributions of Korean language learners based on their demographic characteristics. It then presents qualitative analyses of the learners' diary entries to provide a much clearer picture of their motivational characteristics.

Age, Gender and Class Year The 141 participants in this study ranged in age from 18 to 30 (mean = 20.42, median = 22, mode = 19 and SD = 2.05). The distribution of self-reported gender was 74 males and 67 females. There were 22 first year students, 53 second year students, 34 third year students, and 32 fourth year students.

Major, GPA and Grade Expected A wide range of majors was represented. Students self-reported 38 different major categories including "undecided." The single largest major category was "engineering" major (22%). The second most popular major was business (13%) (including finance, management, accounting, international business). Ninety one participants reported that their GPA was 3.0 or above. Almost all (98.6%) expected B or higher grade from the Korean class they were taking.

Nationality and Birthplace One hundred ten of the participants were US citizens and another 21 were permanent residents. Only 10 participants were holding a foreign student visa, so-called F-1, and all of them were Korea citizens. Eighty-six participants were born in the US and 50 in Korea. The 5 participants who were born outside other than Korea and the US were from Japan (2), China (1), England (1), and Argentina (1). Eighty-six participants were born in the US and 50 in Korea. The 5 participants who were born outside other than Korea and the US were from Japan (2), China (1), England (1), and Argentina (1).

Length of Stay and Age of Arrival in the US Of the 50 participants who were born in Korea, the average length of stay in the U.S. was 11.3 years (SD = 5.40). The range was 2-20 years, while the median was 11.5 years and the mode 13 years. Eighty six participants were born in the US and of the remaining 55 participants, the average age of arrival in the U.S. was 9.1 (SD = 6.26). The modal age of arrival was 7, the median 8, and the range 0.2-26.

First Language To the question about participant's first language, 63 participants responded that their first language was Korean, whereas 71 participants said that their first language was English. The remaining 7 participants reported a variety of language as their first language. Those miscellaneous first languages were: Chinese (4), Vietnamese (1), Thai (1), and Spanish & Kiswahili (1). Among those participants who answered that their native language was Korean, 2 participants also marked Chinese as a first language and one participant claimed Spanish as a first language as well as Korean.

Self-assessed Korean Proficiency In self-assessing their proficiency in Korean, participants rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "Not at all" to "Very well" in terms of comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing skills. The average Korean proficiency across the four skills was 3.12 (SD = 1.12). The mode was 3, the median 3, and the range 1-5. Seventy-five participants said they understood Korean "well" or "very well", whereas 42 participants reported that they understood Korean "a little" or "not at all." In contrast, only 33 participants said that they wrote Korean "well" or "very well", whereas 65 participants said that they write Korean "not at all" or just "a little." Fifty-five participants said that they spoke or read Korean "little: or "not at all." Similarly, just 54 participants reported that they spoke and read Korean "well" or "very well", respectively.

Parental First Language and Birthplace Thirty-seven participants had both non-L1 Korean-speaking father and non-L1 Korean-speaking mother: among these, a Spanish father and a Spanish/Kiswahili mother (1); Arabic father and English mother (1); English father and Greek mother (1); Chinese father and mother (4); English father and Chinese mother (1); Thai father and mother (1); Urdu father and mother (1); Vietnamese father and mother (1); and both English father and mother (26). The participant whose father was born in Japan and whose mother was born in the US reported that English was the first language of both parents. Eleven participants had a-L1 English-speaking father and a-L1 Korean-speaking mother; and one participant had a native English-speaking father and a native Korean-speaking mother. Of the total of 141 participants, 92 participants had two native Korean-speaking parents. There was one participant whose father and mother were both born in Korea, but their first language was Chinese.

Ninety-three participants had two Korean-born parents and 24 participants had both parents born in the U.S. Three participants had an American mother and a non-American father (Israeli, Japanese, Korean), whereas 13 participants had an American father and a non-American mother (Chinese, Greek, English, and 10 Koreans). One participant had a Korean mother and an English father. The other 7 participants had parents whose birthplace was neither Korea nor the US. Among these, the parents' ethnic background varied: Jamaica, Panama, Pakistan, Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, China, and Thailand.

Previous Exposure to Korean Notable patterns among those participants who "usually" used Korean for communication were observed. Within the family, these well exposed youths used Korean predominantly in communicating with parents/grandparents, whereas they used Korean less prevalently with their siblings. Those exposed to Korean in their youth tended to use Korean in communicating with their mothers more so than with their fathers; and their overall use of Korean seemed to decline as they grew older. In contrast, of those participants who "sometimes" used Korean in communicating, there was a trend toward increased reliance on Korean as they entered their adolescence. Especially, within social contexts, the occasional users of Korean with neighbors, teachers, classmates, and friends dramatically increased. On the other hand, those participants who never used Korean in childhood rarely changed from that pattern.

Motivation In keeping a diary, learners documented anything they felt to be important to their current learning experiences. In their diary entries, learners expressed their expectations, desires, and motivations for learning the language itself. For HL learners, learning Korean meant being able to speak a language that others--not only family members, but also people they would meet on a daily basis--expected them to speak. HL learners documented numerous occasions in which others simply assumed that they spoke Korean. Such expectations were important reasons why these students found themselves learning Korean. They felt that they needed to have some fluency in their HL, based primarily on wanting to be able to communicate with family members and friends.

Diary Excerpt 1

   I always noticed the different words that my dad uses to call his
   aunt and uncle and the words that my morn uses to call her aunt
   and uncle, but I never really knew the correct terms. It's going
   to be helpful when I talk to my family members (to know who I'm
   speaking to)!

In Diary Excerpt 1, the learner seemed happy to learn Korean words for family members, because she wanted to be able to speak to her family members by addressing them with correct terms. As a HL learner, she came to this learning experience already aware of how important it was for her to speak to other Koreans properly in terms of age, social status, etc. She had just not yet acquired the needed skills. As the following diary excerpt reveals, HL learners sometimes felt pressure from peers and family members about their proficiency in Korean. That pressure was often a potent motivation for learning the language, but too much pressure could bring those HL learners some side effects or negative feelings toward learning. For example,

Diary Excerpt 2

   When I'm speaking Korean to my friends or family, I kind of make up
   my own grammar and "Konglish" words.... it's kind of embarrassing
   for me, a 19-year-old Korean girl, to not know how to speak Korean.
   I know it's a learning process and this is what's supposed to happen
   when one is learning a language, bur regardless, it's still
   embarrassing.

Learning Korean also allowed HL learners a pathway into their heritage culture. While having lived outside the region and its culture, geographically and socially, they felt a need for some cultural and linguistic experiences or expertise that would help connect them more closely to their national/ethnic identity.

Diary Excerpt 3

   Last week, we watched a Korean movie ("Ditto"). I enjoyed it a
   lot--not just because of the plot, script or acting but because
   it made me a little more aware of Korean pop culture.

HL learners usually felt the needs to gain or maintain their heritage membership as they entered a college. As seen in Diary Excerpt 3 above, by sharing popular cultural aspects of the heritage society with other members such as music, movies, songs, fashion, technology, and so on, HL learners at the college level felt strong needs for learning its language to enhance their enjoyment. One HL learner even said that he felt excluded when he realized that his knowledge of Korea and its culture was so marginal, compared to other Korean-Americans. What motivated this population of learners to learn their HL is a result of their cultural understanding and enhancement and their culturally-based choice of action. In addition to seeing the value of improving their proficiency in Korean, non-HL learners revealed the importance of their direct contacts with the target language culture in and outside the classroom for their experiences. In Diary Excerpts 4 and 5, two non-HL learners found learning Korean and especially Korean culture difficult and very enjoyable.

Diary Excerpt 4

   Korean titles of respect are also hard to understand from an
   American viewpoint, and I don't fully understand titles in every
   scenario.

Diary Excerpt 5

   Another thing I like to find out is when I come upon synonyms for
   a word or phrase that I previously learned I always ask which one
   is used more or which one is more polite in order to try to
   distinguish a difference between the two.

In Diary Excerpts 4 and 5, the learners encountered one cultural aspect of the Korean language in conversation, politeness. Like the writer of the Diary Excerpt 5 said, although it would be hard for Westerners to understand, the concept of politeness is one of the keys to understanding the Korean culture and people. They as a non-HL learner of Korean realized that without having enough linguistic knowledge of politeness, it is not easy to maintain social relationship as well as communication in Korean. Similarly to the pressure that HL learners usually had about learning Korean but to some different extent, non-HL learners also felt anxieties, as reported in the following excerpt:

Diary Excerpt 6

   Often, in class, I would feel slightly uncomfortable asking 'basic'
   questions, since many of the other students were much more advanced.

In his diary entry, as seen in Diary Excerpt 6, the non-HL learner's concern about competing with the other advanced learners in the same class revealed that he felt burdened about being placed in the same class with those learners who were considered more advanced, mostly HL learners.

Conclusion

This study examined who studies Korean and why they decided to learn the language by integrating the demographic information and their diary entries. In this study, demographic variables of interest such as age, gender, first language, major, parental first language and birthplace, self-assessed language proficiency were investigated. By far, within the context of the American Korean-learning population, the largest group of Korean language learners is made up of Korean-Americans, both those who were born in the US and raised by their Korean-speaking parents and those who were born in Korea but immigrated to the US, often at a young age (Silva, 2004). The analysis of the diary data in this study helped provide in-depth understanding of language learning variables from the learner's perspective. Korean HL learners in this study felt that they needed to have some fluency in their HL for specifically heritage-related reasons. Non-HL learners were also motivated, as they would need to be to pursue a complicated and relatively uncommon L2 (in the US) as Korean. Learner language background and social/ethnic background was found associated with their motivation to learn Korean.

References

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Jeongyi Lee, Georgia Institute of Technology

Jeongyi Lee, Ph.D., is an instructor at the School of Modern Languages, Georgia Institute of Technology.