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Article published In: Preparing Teachers for Addressing the Sociocultural Issues with Asian Pacific Immigrants and Refugees
Edited by Yin Lam Lee-Johnson and Hsiao-Chin Kuo
[Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 31:1] 2021
► pp. 58–78

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Deconstructing discourses of diversity

Envisioning possibilities from impossibilities in multicultural education in South Korea

 | York University
Published online: 8 September 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.00057.son
Abstract
Despite the growing number of cross-cultural adolescents from immigrants and families formed through international/interracial marriages in South Korea, empirical studies investigating newcomer adolescents’ identity positioning in secondary education have been scarce. Drawing upon Ruíz, R. (1984). Orientations in language planning. NABE Journal, 8(2), 15–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar framework for language policy and planning and Cummins’ (Cummins, J. (1986). Empowering minority students: A framework for intervention. Harvard Educational Review, 56(1), 18–37. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, (2001). Negotiating identities: Education for empowerment in a diverse society (2nd ed.). California Association for Bilingual Education.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) empowerment framework for minority education, this article investigates how diversity is conceptualised in South Korea through a case study of multicultural education. Specifically, the article examines how newcomer adolescents’ linguistic and cultural identities are perceived by teachers and peers in two high schools. The findings revealed that diversity is dominantly viewed as an impediment to academic success for newcomer youth and is only appreciated once students are fully assimilated into Korean society. The concept of diversity as a resource and right and the notion of multicultural and multilingual identities in the Korean educational context are absent, or hidden, at best. Although there are examples where newcomer learners see diversity as empowerment and resources for their identity construction and positionality, this orientation has not been acknowledged in educational practices. The study calls for conceptualizing diversity as empowerment and resources as ethical lenses to move away from ethnocentric and deficit orientations.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Theoretical framework: Orientations to diversity
  • Methods
  • Findings
    • Case 1. Daham’s multicultural education and discourses of diversity
      • Institutional discourse of diversity: Educator’s perceptions toward diversity
      • Newcomer youth’s perceptions of diversity, plural linguistic and cultural identities at school
    • Case 2. Sindo’s multicultural education and discourse of diversity
      • Institutional discourse of diversity: Educator’s perceptions toward diversity
      • Newcomer youth’s perceptions of diversity, plural linguistic and cultural identities at school
  • Discussion: discourses of diversity
    • Strong tendency of diversity-as-impediment to social integration in educators’ perceptions and educational practices
    • Diversity as empowerment for positive identity positioning and academic success through students’ countering of dominant discourses
    • Ethical responsibility to increase awareness of diversity as rights and resources
    • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
References (23)
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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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