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Article published In: Korean Linguistics
Vol. 20:2 (2024) ► pp.169–192

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The role of university in a Korean heritage language student’s identity development

ORCiD logo with link | The University of Auckland
 | The University of Auckland
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 8 November 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/kl.00011.par
Abstract
Drawing on autobiographical narratives of a second-generation Korean heritage language (HL) student who grew up in Auckland, New Zealand, this study examines the role of university study in HL students’ identity development. In her narratives, the participant describes feeling inferior about her Korean HL and culture as a child but finding that university offered space for the (re)construction and positive reinforcement of her HL and cultural identities over time. The university provided her with a multicultural community, and HL and other identity- and heritage-culture-related courses, which enabled her both to (re)construct her sense of self and to critically examine the challenges she faced in a White European-dominated society. The findings shed light on second-generation immigrant-background students’ HL and related identity development processes, and the importance of creating bilingual and bicultural educational spaces in tertiary education for their ongoing identity development.
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Asian university students’ identity issues in diasporic Western contexts
    • Heritage language and identity construction among Korean HL learners
  • The study
    • The co-authors: Katalina and Mi Yung
    • Data collection and analysis
  • Findings
    • Growing up as a Korean New Zealander
    • Increasing Korean cultural contact outside the home
    • Developing Korean identity through academic study
    • Investing in Koreanness through HL study
  • Discussion and conclusion
  • Note
  • References
References (45)
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