The Pennsylvania State University

The Graduate School

SOUTH KOREAN ENTRY-LEVEL JOBSEEKERS’ ENGLISH-LANGUAGE

LEARNING IN THE NEOLIBERAL JOB MARKET

A Dissertation in

Applied Linguistics

Miso Kim

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

May 2020

ii The dissertation of Miso Kim was reviewed and approved by the following:

Suresh Canagarajah Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Applied Linguistics, English, and Asian Studies Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee

Celeste Kinginger Professor of Applied Linguistics

Mari Haneda Associate Professor of Education and Applied Linguistics

Matthew E. Poehner Professor of Education and Applied Linguistics

Robert Schrauf Professor of Applied Linguistics Department Head

iii ABSTRACT

The dissertation examines South Korean entry-level white-collar jobseekers’ negotiation of neoliberal employment requirements, reasons for studying English, and use of tools and resources for English learning. Although previous studies have problematized neoliberalism and English in

South Korea (J. S.-Y. Park, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2018; J. S.-Y. Park & Wee, 2015; Piller & J. Cho,

2013), relatively few studies have considered how Korean jobseekers who have to develop

English skills to enhance their competitiveness in the job market negotiate the demands of neoliberalism. There is even less research on how to provide appropriate educational support for them. To this end, I designed and implemented an eight-week exploratory program that aimed at developing jobseekers’ English skills using their own tools and resources based on an ecological perspective (van Lier, 2000, 2004). The study addressed the following research questions:

1. How do the Korean jobseekers interpret and negotiate the neoliberal norms of

employability in the job market?

2. For what reasons do the Korean jobseekers study for the standardized English tests and

develop oral English proficiency?

3. If opportunities can be provided to study English in a flexible setting, how do the Korean

jobseekers, who have had little experience speaking English, create their own ways of

developing their English speaking skills to achieve their goals?

Employing thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), the study analyzed six participants’ data collected during the program, which included interviews, narratives, self-assessments, participant-provided tools and resources, worksheet responses, and video recordings of classroom interactions. The analysis showed that the influence of neoliberalism differed based on gender and age. The male participants coped with the pressure of neoliberalism by adapting themselves to meet the demands of corporations, whereas the female participants chose to leave Korea to

iv pursue less competitive lives. The male participants developed their English skills to outperform others and demonstrate their effort, seeing English as an instrument for job-seeking. In contrast, the female participants did so to talk about topics of their own interest and move abroad, viewing

English a tool for freedom. All of the participants, when given the opportunity, were able to mobilize a number of tools and resources to create their own ways of learning English. Based on these findings, I argue for the continued intersectional analysis of neoliberalism and representation of diverse learners’ negotiations of neoliberalism and English learning. I also provide pedagogical implications for expanding the boundaries of language-learning materials and creating meaningful affordances for learning.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES ...... viii

LIST OF TABLES ...... x

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... xi

Chapter 1 Introduction ...... 1

1.1 Background and context ...... 1 1.2 Problem statement and research questions ...... 2 1.3 The researcher ...... 4 1.4 Organization of the dissertation...... 4

Chapter 2 Neoliberalism in the job market and English-language learning ...... 7

2.1 The definition of neoliberalism ...... 7 2.2 Neoliberalism in the job market ...... 9 2.3 English in the neoliberal job market ...... 11 2.4 A gap in the literature on neoliberalism ...... 14 2.5 Chapter summary...... 16

Chapter 3 Neoliberalism and English-language teaching for Korean jobseekers ...... 18

3.1 The history of neoliberalism in Korea ...... 18 3.2 The influence of neoliberalism on the Korean Jobseekers: “Hell Joseon” discourse ...... 21 3.2.1 Neoliberalism in the Korean recruitment process: Gongchae system ...... 23 3.2.2 Neoliberalism’s role in expanding horizons of globalization through geographic mobility ...... 24 3.3 English in the Korean job market ...... 26 3.3.1 Standardized English tests: Behind the myth of “valid indicators of English proficiency” ...... 26 3.3.2 The rise of “real” English proficiency ...... 30 3.4 The gap in the English-language teaching for the jobseekers ...... 31 3.4.1. The gap between English education in Korea and the demand of English proficiency ...... 32 3.4.2. Developing a pedagogical program: An ecological perspective ...... 34 3.5 Chapter summary...... 37

Chapter 4 Methodology ...... 39

4.1 Research design ...... 39 4.2 Participants ...... 40 4.2.1 Participant selection criteria ...... 40 4.2.2 Participant recruitment ...... 42

vi 4.2.3 Participant profiles ...... 44 4.3 The eight-week exploratory program...... 46 4.3.1 Rationale for the program ...... 46 4.3.2 Organization of the program ...... 52 4.3.3 The researcher’s role in the program ...... 56 4.4. Data collection ...... 57 4.5 Data analysis ...... 64 4.6 Reflexivity: The researcher’s positionality and research relationships ...... 70 4.7 Chapter summary...... 74

Chapter 5 The jobseekers’ interpretation and negotiation of neoliberal norms ...... 76

5.1 The participants’ job motivations and experiences...... 76 5.2 Developing human capital: Male participants ...... 78 5.2.1 Competition in the gongchae process as a legitimate rite of passage...... 79 5.2.2 Molding themselves into “injaesang” ...... 83 5.2.3 The ambivalent nature of passion: The collusion between neoliberalism and passion ...... 87 5.3 Leaving “Hell Joseon”: Female participants ...... 92 5.3.1 Questioning the intense competition in the Korean job market ...... 92 5.3.2 Decisions to study or work abroad ...... 99 5.3.3 Passion expanded: Neoliberalism and passion on a global scale ...... 104 5.4 Chapter summary...... 107

Chapter 6 The reasons for studying for standardized English tests and developing oral proficiency ...... 108

6.1 The participants’ English learning background ...... 108 6.2 English for job purposes: Male participants ...... 109 6.2.1 English for the standardized tests ...... 110 6.2.2 English for the interview process ...... 114 6.3 English for studying or working abroad: Female participants ...... 122 6.3.1 English for enjoyment ...... 123 6.3.2 English for freedom ...... 136 6.4 Chapter summary...... 142

Chapter 7 Developing ways of improving English skills ...... 143

7.1 The beginning point ...... 143 7.2 Developing ways to achieve business-related goals: Male participants ...... 160 7.2.1 Developing English interview skills ...... 160 7.2.2 Developing on-the-job workplace English skills ...... 173 7.3 Developing ways to find their futures abroad: Female participants ...... 184 7.4 Chapter summary...... 206

Chapter 8 Conclusion ...... 207

8.1 Summary of the main findings ...... 207

vii 8.2 RQ 1: Analysis and discussion ...... 210 8.2.1 Analysis of the findings ...... 210 8.2.2 The need for intersectional analysis of neoliberalism ...... 214 8.3 RQ 2: Analysis and discussion ...... 217 8.3.1 Analysis of the findings ...... 217 8.3.2 Representation of diverse learners’ voices in the study of neoliberalism and language learning ...... 221 8.4 RQ 3: Evaluation of the program and pedagogical implications ...... 224 8.4.1 Evaluation of the program ...... 224 8.4.2 Pedagogical implications: Learning English with learners’ own tools and resources ...... 227 8.5 Concluding remarks ...... 234

References ...... 237

Appendix A Recruitment advertisement ...... 263

Appendix B Sample interview questions (from Interviews #1 to #4) ...... 265

Appendix C Resume worksheet ...... 267

Appendix D Cover letter worksheet...... 268

Appendix E Picture narratives #1 and #2 prompt ...... 269

Appendix F Motivation self-assessment worksheet and direction ...... 270

Appendix G Proficiency self-assessment worksheet and direction ...... 272

Appendix H Self-diagnosis worksheet ...... 274

Appendix I Reflection worksheet ...... 276

Appendix J A sample codebook ...... 277

Appendix K Transcription conventions ...... 283

viii LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4-1: The researcher’s and participants’ motivation for the eight-week program ...... 53

Figure 4-2: WS and PS rooms ...... 56

Figure 4-3: A part of Hani’s self-assessment worksheet ...... 67

Figure 5-1: Joon’s cover letter ...... 81

Figure 5-2: Byungwoo’s response to “tell me about yourself” question in the WS ...... 84

Figure 5-3: Joon’s response to a question on working overtime ...... 92

Figure 5-4: A part of Hani’s motivation self-assessment worksheet response ...... 94

Figure 5-5: Yena’s first draft of her self-introduction essay ...... 95

Figure 5-6: Yena’s response to an interview question ...... 96

Figure 5-7: Jiwon’s response to the Week 5 WS worksheet ...... 98

Figure 5-8: Hani’s exchange student application...... 100

Figure 5-9: Yena’s response to the motivation self-assessment sheet ...... 101

Figure 6-1: Joon’s response to the motivation self-assessment worksheet ...... 113

Figure 6-2: Haewon’s response to a worksheet in Week 2 ...... 119

Figure 6-3: Yena’s second picture narrative...... 131

Figure 6-4: Jiwon’s response on the worksheet in Week 4 ...... 134

Figure 6-5: Hani’s motivation self-assessment ...... 137

Figure 6-6: Hani’s proficiency self-assessment worksheet ...... 138

Figure 6-7: Yena’s fictional résumé...... 139

Figure 7-1: The visualization template for the participants’ use of tools and resources ...... 148

Figure 7-2: Byungwoo’s beginning point ...... 149

Figure 7-3: Haewon’s beginning point ...... 151

Figure 7-4: Joon’s beginning point ...... 152

ix Figure 7-5: Hani’s beginning point ...... 156

Figure 7-6: Yena’s beginning point ...... 157

Figure 7-7: Jiwon’s beginning point ...... 159

Figure 7-8: Byungwoo’s use of tools and resources for English interviews ...... 164

Figure 7-9: Haewon’s use of tools and resources for English interviews ...... 167

Figure 7-10: Joon’s use of tools and resources for English interviews ...... 172

Figure 7-11: Byungwoo’s use of tools and resources for on-the-job English skills ...... 175

Figure 7-12: Haewon’s use of tools and resources after obtaining a job ...... 177

Figure 7-13: Joon’s PowerPoint slides ...... 178

Figure 7-14: Joon’s use of tools and resources for English interviews ...... 183

Figure 7-15: Hani’s use of tools and resources...... 190

Figure 7-16: The lids in the classroom ...... 192

Figure 7-17: Yena’s self-introduction essay (first draft) ...... 194

Figure 7-18: Yena’s self-introduction essay (second draft) ...... 196

Figure 7-19: Yena’s use of tools and resources ...... 197

Figure 7-20: Jiwon’s use of tools and resources ...... 205

Figure 8-1: Summary of pedagogical implications ...... 229

x LIST OF TABLES

Table 1-1: Organization of the dissertation by RQs...... 5

Table 3-1: TOEIC, TOEIC Speaking, and OPIc Comparison Table...... 27

Table 4-1: A profile of participants at the beginning of the study...... 44

Table 4-2: The participants’ profiles after the data collection...... 45

Table 4-3: Summary of previous chapters and data...... 46

Table 4-4: The curriculum...... 54

Table 4-5: Organization of the WS and PS...... 54

Table 4-6: Data for RQ 1...... 57

Table 4-7: Data for RQ 2...... 58

Table 4-8: Data for RQ 3...... 59

Table 4-9: Secondary data sources...... 61

Table 4-10: Data collection process timeline...... 63

Table 6-1: Summary of the female participants’ metaphors...... 124

Table 7-1: Summary of the male participants’ self-assessments...... 145

Table 7-2: Summary of the female participants’ self-assessments...... 153

Table 7-3: Jiwon’s goals and changes of her tools and resources...... 198

Table 8-1: Summary of the main findings...... 208

xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

One day in 2017, one of my participants introduced a “fear candy” in our classroom.

According to her, it gives “tiny fears” to anyone who takes it. She further explained: “fear gives us power, fear gives us peace, and fear gives us clear sense.” Although fear in itself may sound negative, experiencing “tiny fears” and enjoying them will provide solid steps for inner strength and peace.

Throughout my dissertation journey, I faced fearful moments countless times, and I never imagined I would be able to finish it. In retrospect, I was able to cross the finish line thanks to many individuals who gave me “fear candies,” which turned my fear into sweet moments of growth. Thank you for your guidance, care, feedback, and encouragement, all of which helped me enjoy fear and grow up to be a wholehearted teacher-researcher.

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Suresh

Canagarajah, who has always inspired me throughout my academic journey. I was motivated to pursue the path of an applied linguist after reading his works in my junior year, and I continued to follow his works in my MA program. He generously accepted me as a PhD advisee in 2014, and from then on, I truly enjoyed the honor of researching with him, teaching with him, and learning from him for six years. Although I have to leave PSU for now, I would like to follow in his footsteps and inspire my students, just like he did. He is a true role model of a critical, competent, and caring applied linguist.

I would like to extend my gratitude to my committee members. Dr. Celeste Kinginger introduced me to the world of multimodal narratives and the joy of analyzing them. Dr. Mari

Haneda demonstrated how to conduct qualitative research with a solid foundation and strong commitment. Dr. Matt Poehner helped me build a solid philosophical and theoretical foundation

xii for my educational research. I sincerely appreciate their thoughtful insights, critical feedback, and warm encouragement.

I would like to thank Dr. Deryn Verity and Dr. Karen Johnson for their careful teaching mentorship. I joined the PhD program without much teaching experience, which always made me doubt my competence as a teacher; however, they taught me that my cognitive and emotional dissonances were growth points. Thank you for teaching me the joy of resolving dissonances and growing further. Also, I appreciate Dr. Dorie Evensen’s feedback and guidance during my early doctoral studies, which laid an important foundation for my dissertation work.

My fellow PSU friends, Naseh, Katie, Eunjeong, Nick, Eleanor, Megan, Lera, Lupe, Lu,

Eunhae, Wan, and Jinhee, I appreciate the time we spent together at Paterno 1st floor, Sparks 312,

Starbucks, various coffee shops and restaurants in downtown, Wegmans, and Tudek Park. You helped me carry on. My special thanks go to Sungwoo seonsaengnim, who gave useful tips for

PSU admission interview in 2014 and supported me throughout my PhD course of study. I would like to thank my friends in online spaces for creating virtual communities for intellectual discussion and emotional support. The communities were vital for me to broaden my horizons and share vicissitudes of my doctoral journey.

I am indebted to all participants for collaboratively shaping this study together, sharing stories with me, and trusting me as a friendly facilitator. Whenever I fell into the trap of self- doubt, I recalled the memories with you, and murmured to myself numerous times— “my participants’ stories are invaluable in the academic community.” I could have given up, but I did not want our stories to be stored in my external hard drive forever. Your stories gave me threads;

I wove them. I wish our tapestry can be meaningfully used in the scholarly community.

xiii This study was supported by Gilbert R. Watz Fellowship, Research and Graduate Studies

Office, and Humanities Initiative Dissertation Release. I appreciate the generous financial support, which made this research possible.

I would like to express my appreciation to my family. I have always made reckless life decisions since my teenage years, but they always trusted me and supported my decisions. Last but not the least, I am grateful to Gunhee, who always stood by me during my dissertation writing work.

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Background and context

South Korean (henceforth, Korean) entry-level white-collar jobseekers face constant pressure to invest in increasing their market value to remain competitive on the job market as neoliberal workers (de Costa, Park, & Wee, 2016). The neoliberal worker is a “rational subject who aims to benefit from the future exploits generated by her own capital” (van Doorn, 2014, p.

358). In Korea, jobseekers from their mid-20s to early 30s are considered the “spec generation”

(H. Cho, 2015), those who are supposed to marketize themselves by accumulating “specs.”

“Spec,” an abbreviation of specification, describes a jobseeker’s qualification and competence, as if describing the technical characteristics of an electronic product. Faced with the excessive pressure to develop specs, jobseekers have come to call their country “Hell Joseon” (Hell Korea).

To keep abreast with the demands of neoliberalism, it is imperative for jobseekers to report high scores on standardized English tests and demonstrate competence in speaking English to show that they are globally competent. More than 1,100 domestic corporations require scores on one or two of the following tests: Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC),

TOEIC Speaking, or Oral Proficiency Interview – computer (OPIc) (Multicampus, 2017;

YBMNET, 2018a). However, there is a disconnect between the test scores and the jobseekers’ actual proficiency (M. Kim, D.-I. Choi, & T.-Y. Kim, 2018; J. S.-Y. Park, 2011). This is because it is common for the jobseekers to attend hakwons (private institutes offering test-preparation services) to learn test-taking strategies and tips for choosing the correct answers (Booth, 2018), so that they can earn good scores on the day of the test. The disconnect has led to skepticism about

2 the test scores (J. S.-Y. Park, 2011). To complement the caveat of the test scores, the corporations have begun to use English interviews to choose those who can demonstrate their authentic

English speaking skills spontaneously.

Despite the increasing demand for English speaking skills, jobseekers in the spec generation have had little access to English speaking education unless they could afford studying abroad. Although they had exposure to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and English-

Medium Instruction (EMI) in their secondary and tertiary education, the exposure was too little to develop the jobseekers’ speaking skills. While the jobseekers have the option to take online continuing education courses on English conversation skills, the courses are mostly designed for office workers in their 30s or 40s (H. Kim, 11 January 2018), not addressing the needs of younger jobseekers. Therefore, the jobseekers are left with little means to develop their speaking skills.

1.2 Problem statement and research questions

Young Korean jobseekers, as members of the “spec generation” in a highly competitive job market, are expected to invest in earning high scores and developing their oral English proficiency to secure jobs. Though this is widely recognized, there is a paucity of literature on how the jobseekers negotiate the demands of neoliberalism and prepare for the tests and develop their speaking skills accordingly (cf. I. C. Jang, 2015). This poses the first problem. The second problem is that there is even less research on how the jobseekers can develop speaking skills without resorting to hakwons. This dissertation helps to fill the research gaps, contributing to scholars’ understanding of spec generation jobseekers in the neoliberal job market and teachers’ development of meaningful pedagogy for the learners who struggle with a lack of opportunities to practice speaking skills.

3 To address the problems, the dissertation aims to fulfill descriptive and pedagogical goals. As for the first problem, I set the descriptive goal of exploring how jobseekers interpret and negotiate the neoliberal quest of self-development and why they learn English as part of their job market preparation. With respect to the second problem, I set the pedagogical goal of investigating how the jobseekers develop alternative methods for learning to speak English when they are given an eight-week opportunity to direct their own learning with their own tools and resources. Given the goals, the dissertation reports on a case study in which I investigated three specific research questions (RQs) during an eight-week program:

1. How do the Korean jobseekers interpret and negotiate the neoliberal norms of

employability in the job market?

2. For what reasons do the Korean jobseekers study for the standardized English tests and

develop oral English proficiency?

3. If opportunities can be provided to study English in a flexible setting, how do the Korean

jobseekers, who have had little experience speaking English, create their own ways of

developing their English speaking skills to achieve their goals?

The first and second research questions address the descriptive goal, and the third one is for the pedagogical goal. The first question focuses on investigating the trajectories by which the jobseekers interpret the pressure to compete on the job market, set their own job-seeking goals, and negotiate their ways of preparing for jobs. The second question is for describing how the jobseekers perceive the tests used on the job market and oral English proficiency to achieve their goals. The third question investigates the trajectory through which the jobseekers set their goals of learning English, use artifacts related to their own goals and interests, and design their own ways of learning in an eight-week program that I conducted.

4 1.3 The researcher

At the time of writing this dissertation, I primarily identified as a researcher-activist working in the field of applied linguistics and striving to revive teaching/learning English as part of meaningful cognitive and social development, not merely test-taking. I had experience in tutoring students from low-income and immigrant families in Korea in English, working at a

TOEIC hakwon as a teaching assistant and teaching English in high schools and universities in both Korea and the United States.

As a young Korean who belongs to the “spec generation,” I began the research with two personal goals: (1) to understand how my fellow young Koreans in their mid- to late-20s cope with the pressure to learn English for the social motivation in the job market, and (2) to support them by contributing my expertise in teaching English. The motivations emanated from my previous experience of working at the TOEIC hakwon, where I interacted with more than 1,000 students a day who were trying to develop as many specs as possible. As I assisted them, I gradually learned the complexities of preparing for the standardized English tests and developing the English speaking skills necessary to succeed in the increasingly competitive job market. I realized the need to explore different ways of teaching English. For this reason, I undertook this research and designed the eight-week program.

1.4 Organization of the dissertation

Table 1-1 below is the organization of the dissertation classified by each RQ. The dissertation consists of eight chapters, including the current introductory chapter. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive review of neoliberalism and English in the job market, and Chapter 3 outlines neoliberalism and English learning in the Korean job market in particular. In both

5 chapters, the first sections (Sections 2.1 and 3.1) give general introductions to the chapters. The second sections (Sections 2.2 and 3.2) are related to the first RQ. The third sections (Sections 2.3 and 3.3) are tied to the second RQ. The fourth sections (Sections 2.4 and 3.4) point out the gaps in the literature of neoliberalism and English education, which serve as a background for the third

RQ. Following the description of methodology in Chapter 4, Chapter 5, 6, and 7 present findings to RQ 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The last chapter concludes the dissertation by discussing the findings of each chapter.

Table 1-1. Organization of the dissertation by RQs

RQ 1 RQ 2 RQ 3

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Neoliberalism in the job English in the The gap in the

market (Section 2.2) neoliberal job market literature on

(Section 2.3) neoliberalism (Section

2.4)

Chapter 3 The influence of English in the Korean The gap between

neoliberalism on the job market (Section English education in

Korean jobseekers: “Hell 3.3) South Korea and the

Joseon” discourse demand of English

(Section 3.2) proficiency (Section

3.4)

Chapter 4 Methodology

Chapter 5 Results of RQ 1

Chapter 6 Results of RQ 2

Chapter 7 Results of RQ 3

Chapter 8 RQ 1: Analysis and RQ 2: Analysis and RQ 3: Evaluation of

discussion (Section 8.2) discussion (Section the program and

8.3) pedagogical

implications (Section

8.4)

Chapter 2

Neoliberalism in the job market and English-language learning

The chapter provides a general overview of my research on neoliberalism in the job market and pinpoints a gap in the literature. First, in Section 2.1, I lay out the definition of neoliberalism, which originally was an economic theory but has since expanded to an ideology. In

Section 2.2, I explore how neoliberalism as an ideology functions in the job market. Then I sketch how neoliberalism influences English-language learning in Section 2.3. I conclude the chapter by describing a gap in the literature, which is a lack of attention to pedagogical proposals that would help learners negotiate the influence of neoliberalism.

2.1 The definition of neoliberalism

Harvey (2005) defined neoliberalism as “a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade” (p. 2). Neoliberalism espouses the deregulation of the market, privatization of public services, and decreased government control over the economy. The role of the state is therefore limited to securing free economic activities and exchange (Steger & Roy,

2010). The spread of neoliberalism has been facilitated by globalization. Globalization, in economic terms, is roughly defined as the increase in cross-border economic interactions that has led to a qualitative shift in relations among nation-states (Kotz, 2002) powered by technological advances. The blurred boundaries enable merchandise, investments, and labor power to cross borders more easily, as if the world were a free market.

8 The emergence of neoliberalism aligns with Friedrich von Hayek’s effort to challenge

Keynesian economic ideas. Keynesian economics espouses active government intervention that would create more job opportunities and provide welfare in times of economic crisis. It served as the foundation of the New Deal plan to put an end to the Great Depression in the United States in the 1930s and remained influential until the 1970s (Steger & Roy, 2010). Economic recessions in the 1970s triggered by the Vietnam War and oil price shocks were a catalyst for Hayek,

Friedman, and their followers to argue for reinstating liberal policies to mitigate high inflation and poor economic growth (Palley, 2005; Steger & Roy, 2010). They laid the foundation for political leaders to actively implement neoliberal policies, including weakening the power of labor unions and deregulating industry and finance (Harvey, 2005). Such neoliberal doctrine expanded to other countries around the world, and Korea was not the exception (to be discussed in detail in Chapter 3). Although the neoliberal doctrine faced heavy criticism because of the subprime crisis in the late 2000s, it remained prominent in the late 2010s (Schram &

Pavlovskaya, 2018).

While neoliberalism was originally an economic theory, it has come to permeate every aspect of human life. According to Steger and Roy (2010), neoliberalism has become an ideology that organizes its “core ideas into fairly simple truth-claims that encourage people to act in certain ways” (p. 38) and it “puts the production and exchange of material goods at the heart of human experience” (p. 38). One instance of such expansion can be found in the conceptualization of education as a commodity to increase social mobility and employability, wherein students become consumers of the educational enterprise (Nilsson & Wihlborg, 2011). Another example can be found in the abundance of market metaphors in everyday language, such as “governments need to hear what the markets are saying” and “financial markets tried to persuade the government to privatize social security” (Holborow, 2015, p. 36). This personification of the market reifies the market as an essential given entity and propels market-based neoliberal

9 ideology (Holborow, 2015). The two examples demonstrate how neoliberalism has infiltrated different areas of human life.

2.2 Neoliberalism in the job market

Due to the prevalence of neoliberalism, the job market has become a place where jobseekers transform themselves into commodities and compete to be sold. Neoliberals believe that the government should not intervene in competition, because “policy interventions to increase employment either cause inflation or raise unemployment, by destabilising the market process” (Palley, 2005, p. 21). The job market embodies the free-market ideology, wherein candidates are supposed to compete globally with their skills and competences without intervention.

Jobseekers take responsibility for investing in their human capital to increase their value to survive in the market. Davies and Bansel (2007) argued, “[W]ithin the neoliberal form of government, the concept of the citizen is thus transformed. The so-called ‘passive’ citizen of the welfare state becomes the autonomous ‘active’ citizen with rights, duties, obligations and expectations – the citizen as active entrepreneur of the self; the citizen as morally superior” (p.

252). In other words, the primary virtue for jobseekers is to equip themselves with the

(govern)mentality to actively invest in their human capital without resorting to government support via welfare services. This (govern)mentality is key to Foucault’s (2008) notion of homo

œconomicus. Foucault argued that “homo œconomicus is an entrepreneur, an entrepreneur of himself. This is true to the extent that, in practice, the stake in all neo-liberal analysis is the replacement every time of homo œconomicus as partner of exchange with homo œconomicus as entrepreneur of himself, being for himself his own capital, being for himself his own producer, being for himself the source of his earnings” (p. 226). In today’s neoliberal job market,

10 jobseekers, as homo œconomicus, are supposed to have the (govern)mentality to increase the value of their human capital.

In the neoliberal job market, recruitment entails the selection of human resources best suited to a particular purpose. To be selected, jobseekers need to present themselves as attractive bundles of skills that would yield high returns if employed (Urciuoli, 2008). The ideal skillset not only includes hard skills (e.g., expertise in subject matter and technical knowledge) but also extends to soft skills (e.g., communication skills, leadership, flexibility, and creativity). The valorization of soft skills is because the notion of work has shifted from labor power to human capital (van Doorn, 2014). While the former means the material labor necessary to produce surplus value, the latter extends to immaterial labor that includes “attributes, proclivities, and capacities previously not (thought to be) productive of economic value, such as linguistic or social competences, compassion, care, or taste” (van Doorn, 2014, p. 356). Soft skills are crucial to employability because the modern-day workplace requires working flexibly in a team, leading innovation, and communicating and networking with a number of diverse people (Andrews &

Higson, 2008; Robles, 2012). As a result, modern-day jobseekers need to show self-discipline and monitor and assess themselves to develop both types of skills and brand themselves as attractive human capital to be selected during the recruitment procedure.

Due to the influence of globalization, the neoliberal recruitment process takes place on a global scale. The cross-border movement of workers is steadily increasing and creating polarization, as approximately 20% of the population in wealthy countries (e.g., Canada,

Australia, and New Zealand) is migrants and 20–30% of population in developing countries (e.g.,

El Salvador and Jamaica) is emigrants (Giovanni, Levchenko, & Ortega, 2014). Skilled workers take advantage of their mobility to maximize their earnings. For instance, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals migrate to the United States, and entrepreneurs move to Silicon Valley (Kerr, Kerr, Ö zden, & Parsons, 2016). Low-skilled

11 laborers, too, move to places where they can find higher wages and better benefits. Examples include female Filipino domestic workers migrating to Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and other developed countries (Lorente, 2018) and low-skilled Mexican laborers working in the agriculture and construction sectors in the United States (Hanson, Liu, & McIntosh, 2017).

In short, neoliberalism in the job market has turned jobseekers into mobile bundles of skills who keep investing in their human capital to remain competitive in the global job market.

Not only hard skills but also soft skills are important aspects of a successful modern-day jobseeker. The recruitment process is no longer confined to a certain geographic location; the jobseekers, both high- and low-skilled, cross the boundaries of nation-states.

2.3 English in the neoliberal job market

Language skills are one of the most important skillsets that jobseekers need to have in today’s globalized job market, because just as merchandise and investment are transnational, so too is labor. The phenomenon is called linguistic entrepreneurship (de Costa, Park, & Wee,

2019). English skills are particularly in demand because English is one of the most influential lingua francas in the world. Therefore, developing competence to interact in English is inseparable from human capital building and it is the jobseekers’ individual responsibility to invest in their English skills. The benefit they receive in return for their investment is considered natural, because “within neoliberal and meritocratic thinking, individuals also ‘deserve’ what they have, since they have made the choices that brought them there” (Bernstein, Hellmich,

Katznelson, J. Shin, & Vinall, 2015, p. 5). The quest for self-improvement is a form of

(govern)mentality that applies market principles to the management of individuals (Del Percio,

2018).

12 In this culture of linguistic entrepreneurship, learning a language is considered a means of increasing one’s value (J. Gray, O’Regan, & Wallace, 2018). It motivates “an enterprising orientation and the drive to increase one’s language repertoires by oneself” (Canagarajah, 2017, p. 16). The “added value” manifests itself in a variety of ways depending on the context. In the

Korean context, high scores on standardized English tests attest to the score-holders’ diligence in preparing for the posted job (M. Kim et al., 2018), and greater English fluency is believed to increase one’s employability in the job market (J. S.-Y. Park, 2011). Among Filipino domestic workers, those who are trained in the languages and cultures of foreign countries have the mobility to work transnationally (Lorente, 2018). In Canadian call centers, bilingual competence is valued for individuals who provide service to clientele (Heller, 2003). In Quebec, the wage premiums of bilingual Francophone men and women was 12.20% and 17.04%, respectively

(Grin, Sfreddo, & Vaillancourt, 2010). As shown, the “added value” of language skills yields returns in various forms, which further motivates individuals to invest in their linguistic repertoires.

The pursuit of language for economic return has boosted the second-/foreign-language education industry, where “the value of knowledge is highlighted and students are constructed as consumers, educational practices as services, faculty/teachers as employees or service providers, and education as resources or product” (H. Shin, 2016, p. 511). Language teaching pedagogy has become a commodity that prepares students to achieve distinct types of value and transforms them into desirable entrepreneurial personae (Soto & Pérez-Milans, 2018). The students are consumers of language education services who independently seek to develop themselves.

Educational practices are reduced to instrumental purposes with less focus on language use

(Block & J. Gray, 2015) and more focus on the preparation that learners require to obtain credentials for employment purposes (Warriner, 2016). Learning materials promote English as a well-branded commodity (J. Gray, 2010, 2012) and language teachers are precarious knowledge

13 workers who are responsible for equipping students with utilitarian skills (Bernstein et al., 2015).

Although the second-/foreign-language education industry may seem “neutral” in providing educational services, it perpetuates implicit ideologies of neoliberalism (H. Shin, 2016; Warriner,

2016).

The gains of language teaching and learning are quantitatively measured by credentials, such as test scores, certificates, and grades. Standardized English tests enjoy great popularity for providing arguably objective and reliable measurements of global job candidates’ English skills.

For instance, the makers of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), which is highly popular in Korea, claim that the test provides valid measurements of the test takers’

English skills for communicating in business, commerce, and industry (Educational Testing

Service, 2015). The makers of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) similarly indicate that the test “measures English language proficiency in a practical, everyday context and the tasks and texts reflect both workplace and social situations” (IELTS, 2019, para.

2). Although there may be a gap between the students’ learning and their credentials (Lave &

McDermott, 2002), what counts in the market is materialized representation of learning – the credentials. Credentials are believed to increase one’s marketability for a better job in the future

(Gao & J. S.-Y. Park, 2015). Because of the priority given to credentials, educational institutions are “now managed and resourced according to a quasi market and targets expressed in terms of measures such as grades and credentials: Thus ‘accountability and efficiency’ engages the educational system as a whole and everyone within it” (Williams, 2011, p. 277). The produced credentials, then, serve as one of the indicators of homo œconomicus’s value.

14 2.4 A gap in the literature on neoliberalism

While there has been extensive scholarship on the negative influences of neoliberalism in second-/foreign-language education, pedagogical investigations to mitigate them are scarce. This subsection first reviews the literature and then presents an argument for why the gap matters.

The literatures in applied linguistics have largely criticized neoliberalism for its negative influences in the following areas: (1) political economy, language commodification, and linguistic capital; (2) social class, inequality, and ideology; (3) language policy and planning; (4) the relationship between multilingualism and neoliberalism; and (5) language learners. The studies that comprise the first thread mainly employ Bourdieu’s theory of the linguistic market to analyze how languages obtain value and become commodities and capital in call centers, tourism industries, job markets, and various other contexts (Duchêne & Heller, 2012; Heller, 2003, 2010;

I. C. Jang, 2015, 2017; J. S.-Y. Park, 2011; J. S.-Y. Park & Wee, 2015). These studies have been challenged and supplemented by studies that use Marxist political economy, which conceptualizes commodities in terms of their use and exchange values and examines the social relations involved in the production, distribution, circulation, and consumption of commodities and resources (Block, 2017a, 2017b; Gal, 1989; Holborow, 2006, 2018; Irvine, 1989; M. Kim et al., 2018; Ricento, 2015; Simpson & O’Regan, 2018). The studies comprising the second thread problematize unequal access to language proficiency and uncover neoliberal ideologies embedded in everyday discourses, generally informed by social theories, linguistic anthropology, and critical discourse analysis (Block, 2013; Holborow, 2007; J. S.-Y. Park, 2010, 2015, 2018; Ramírez &

Hyslop-Margison, 2015). The third thread of studies investigates the enactment of neoliberalism in language policies across the globe, analyzes the economic value of languages, and calls for policy changes (Bruthiaux, 2015; Byean, 2015; de Costa et al., 2019; Grin, 2015; Grin et al.,

2010; Piller & J. Cho, 2013). The fourth thread of studies argues that promoting multilingualism

15 (or plurilingualism) without careful consideration of power and inequality would result in the spread of neoliberal ideologies (Flores, 2013; Kubota, 2014); complementing the argument,

Canagarajah (2017) argued that skilled migrants strategically use communicative practices for community and ecological development. The last thread of studies empirically investigates neoliberalism as instantiated in a wide variety of educational contexts, including classroom ethnographies in job training centers, adult English as a Second Language (ESL) courses, and certification courses, among others (Ayers & Carlone, 2007; Block & J. Gray, 2015; Del Percio,

2018; Soto & Pérez-Milans, 2018; Warriner, 2016), and ethnographic, interview, and questionnaire studies of language learners (Abelmann, S. J. Park, & H. Kim, 2009, 2014; Bacon

& S. Y. Kim, 2018; I. C. Jang, 2015, 2017; H. Shin, 2016) and transnational workers (Kubota,

2011b, 2013; Lorente, 2010, 2012, 2018; Muth & Del Percio, 2018).

A review of these studies indicates that previous scholarship has not only provided a conceptual framework for researching neoliberalism by drawing on interdisciplinary theories but has also used quantitative and qualitative methods to provide empirical evidence of how neoliberalism is instantiated in different contexts. Previous studies have found that the negative influences of neoliberalism include but are not limited to the reduction of languages to commodities (Duchêne & Heller, 2012; Heller, 2003, 2010; I. C. Jang, 2015, 2017; M. Kim et al.,

2018; J. S.-Y. Park, 2011; J. S.-Y. Park & Wee, 2015), the reduction of language skills to a self- entrepreneurial resource and language learners to self-branding individuals (de Costa et al., 2016,

2019; H. Shin, 2016; Simpson, 2018), and the reduction of language teachers to precarious knowledge workers (Bernstein et al., 2015).

While the negative influences are evident, specific pedagogical proposals have yet to be offered. The lacuna matters because if neoliberalism is a trend that sweeps second-/foreign- language teaching across the globe, it will be important to find ways to help learners negotiate its ideologies for their own benefit. Language learning is not a mechanical transmission of linguistic

16 competence; competence is developed through constant engagement in social interactions and activities (Douglas Fir Group, 2016). Learners need awareness and negotiation strategies to critically reappropriate the neoliberal ideologies they face in the course of developing competence.

Although it is not easy to reverse the dominant influences of neoliberalism, how can neoliberalism be differently negotiated, at least at the classroom level? If learners are conceptualized as homo œconomicus seeking English skills for exchange value rather than use value (Simpson, 2018), then how can scholarship help to mitigate the negative influences? How can scholarship be used to inform ways of providing leeway for teachers? While Soto and Pérez-

Milans (2018) conducted an ethnographic study centered on pedagogy in a low-prestige secondary school, the study was primarily concerned with the commodity register of pedagogy rather than pedagogical implications.

The questions above led to the descriptive and pedagogical goals of the studies mentioned earlier in Chapter 1.2. To address the descriptive goal, the study examines how they perceive, interpret, and negotiate the neoliberal ideologies associated with English in the Korean job market context throughout the eight-week program. To fulfill the pedagogical goal, the study explores how learners develop ways of learning English if they are given an eight-week opportunity to work with a facilitator by using their own tools and resources. Based on the exploratory findings on the two goals, the dissertation aims to develop suggestions for helping students negotiate neoliberalism in language classrooms in the ways they see fit.

2.5 Chapter summary

Neoliberalism is an ideology that espouses entrepreneurial freedom (Harvey, 2005) and prioritizes the production, exchange, and circulation of goods and services (Steger & Roy, 2010).

17 In the neoliberal job market, jobseekers are supposed to increase their market value by accumulating both hard and soft skills, because they are viewed as homo economicus who actively invest in their human capital. They are expected to practice their English skills and demonstrate the skills by presenting high test scores, because English increases the jobseekers’ human capital and the tests are believed to yield objective and reliable measurements of their

English skills. While previous scholarship has criticized neoliberalism extensively and reviewed the impact of neoliberalism in various contexts, proposals to help language learners renegotiate the influences of neoliberalism remain scarce.

This chapter established a broad background for researching neoliberalism and English- language learning. Building on this chapter, Chapter 3 focuses on the Korean context, as this is the specific background of the present study.

Chapter 3

Neoliberalism and English-language teaching for Korean jobseekers

The purpose of the chapter is to provide background information about neoliberalism and

English in Korea and problematize the gap between the English education jobseekers receive and the recent boom in speaking skills. In Section 3.1, I explain the influence of neoliberalism on the

Korean economy since the mid-1990s. In Section 3.2, I introduce the discourse of “Hell Joseon”

(Hell Korea) and the concept of the “spec generation,” both of which emerged from the neoliberal economic reform. Then I lay out the recruitment process (gongchae) that spec-generation jobseekers go through to secure jobs. I also explain an alternative route available to jobseekers, which is going abroad. In Section 3.3, I examine the status of English in the job market, including the status of standardized English tests and the recent boom in speaking proficiency. Lastly, in

Section 3.4, I problematize the discrepancy between the recent demand for English-language speaking skills and the English education jobseekers receive.

3.1 The history of neoliberalism in Korea

To understand neoliberalism in Korea, it is necessary to examine Korea’s economic development after the Korean War. From the end of the war to the mid-1990s, Korea experienced a “miracle” economic development fueled by strong state-led developmental policy (Minns,

2001). According to the World Bank (2018), Korea’s GDP per capita was 158.2 USD in 1960, making Korea one of the poorest nations in the world. The GDP reached 12,333 USD in 1996, making the Korean economy the twelfth-largest in the world (Minns, 2001). In 1996, Korea joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in which the

19 majority of member countries are high-income developed countries. The steep economic development was heavily supported by state-led aggressive industrial policy to subsidize large industrial conglomerates called chaebols (Graham, 2003), such as LG, Hyundai, and Samsung

(Tejada, 2017), under Park Chung-Hee’s administration from 1961 to 19791. In exchange for the subsidies, the chaebols had to satisfy strict performance standards to contribute to the Korean economy (K. Gray, 2008). Lim and J.-H. Jang (2006) described how “the state’s financial guarantee of, or support for chaebols’ business ventures by state-controlled banks under policy guidance and coordination, was the basic formula of economic development in South Korea” (p.

442). During the Park administration, the economic growth rate averaged 11% per year (Korean

Statistical Information Service, 2018). There is great controversy about the authoritarianism behind Park’s contribution to Korea’s economic development (Graham, 2003; H.-A. Kim &

Sorensen, 2011).

His dictatorship led to his assassination in 1979 by Kim Jae-Gyu who supported democratization. Although the growth rate momentarily stagnated after the assassination, the

Korean economy resumed rapid growth from 1981 to 1988, when the authoritarian Chun Doo-

Hwan government was inaugurated after a military coup d’état and adopted new economic policies to control inflation and restructure the economy (Heo, H. Jeon, H. Kim, & O. Kim,

2008).

Despite this rapid economic development, political unrest related to the authoritarian and militaristic Chun Doo-Hwan government increased. This unrest ultimately led to a massive uprising in June 1987 and the election of the democratic Roh Tae-Woo government. During

Roh’s term from 1988 to 1993, chaebols and U.S.-educated Korean elite bureaucrats and academics began to espouse neoliberalism as a legitimate economic ideology for international

1 Park Chung-Hee was a military general who captured the regime through the May 16, 1961, coup and became the president of Korea in 1963.

20 competition (K. Gray, 2008; K.-K. Lee, 2011). Neoliberalism in this context means “a free- market ideology that underscored the ineffectiveness of state control” (K.-K. Lee, 2011, p. 31).

Chaebols demanded the liberalization of financial markets so that they could attract more foreign capital and experience less governmental control. Bureaucrats and academics similarly insisted on less government control (K. Gray, 2008; K.-K. Lee, 2011).

The neoliberal economic restructuring was further accelerated during Kim Young-Sam’s administration from 1993 to 1998. Beginning with his inauguration, Kim Young-Sam strongly pushed for government-led, top-down globalization called segyehwa. Segyehwa is a comprehensive term that refers to the embrace of “political, economic, social, and cultural enhancement to reach the level of advanced nations in the world” (S. S. Kim, 2000, p. 3). In terms of economy, the administration implemented a market liberalization policy to enhance international competitiveness (K. Gray, 2008). Under the motto that it is necessary to nurture international citizens who have the competence to work in international society, English-language education was heavily emphasized, leading to a boom in early English education, early study- abroad (jogi yuhak), and private English education (Kang, 2014).

In the midst of this globalization drive, however, the Asian Economic Crisis of 1997 occurred, bringing with it serious economic recession. The crisis is arguably one of the most traumatic events in Korea’s history after the Korean War. The economic growth rate hit -5.5% in

1998 (Korean Statistical Information Service, 2018). The government requested a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In exchange for the bailout, the government was forced to implement policies in line with neoliberalism. The government had to “restructure its economic, financial, and governmental management systems along free-market lines” (J. Song,

2014, p. 250). The restructuring included market deregulation, the privatization of state-owned corporations, and the implementation of austerity policies. J.-H. Jang (2011) argued that the restructuring “gave transnational capital and foreign businesses crucial advantages and more

21 leeway, while domestic firms and financial institutions were forced to rapidly downsize or were driven into bankruptcy” (p. 48). The restructuring fundamentally transformed the Korean economy, accelerating the casualization of work and income polarization (K.-Y. Shin, 2011). A number of workers experienced prolonged unemployment, and corporations went bankrupt (Lim

& J.-H. Jang, 2006; J. Song, 2014). The top five chaebol corporations laid off 80,000 employees in 1998 alone (S. Kwon & O’Donnell, 1999). The pursuit of labor flexibility caused the proliferation of low-quality jobs, such as low-paying temporary jobs without severance or insurance coverage (J.-H. Jang, 2011). The number of part-time, dispatched, and contract workers drastically increased (K.-Y. Shin, 2011).

The crisis and subsequent neoliberal economic reform cast a long shadow over all aspects of Korean society that persists to this day. After the crisis in 1997, the global economic recession caused by the subprime crisis in 2008 spilled over to the Korean economy, resulting in large capital outflows and a rapid drop in the growth rate of Korean exports (H. Lee & Rhee, 2012).

Accordingly, today’s young people, who are part of the generation that witnessed the two crises, came to “face a transformed South Korean economy in which full-time, secure employment is harder to procure; state and local protections and services are curtailed; the reproduction of the middle class is fraught with uncertainty; and the vagaries of transnational capital figure profoundly” (Abelmann et al., 2014, pp. 231–232).

3.2 The influence of neoliberalism on the Korean Jobseekers: “Hell Joseon” discourse

The influences of neoliberal economic reform have led young Koreans to denigrate their country, creating and spreading the discourse of “Hell Joseon”2 (Hell Korea) since 2015. The

2 Joseon was the last Korean dynasty (AD 1392–1910). The term “Hell Joseon” is used instead of “Hell Korea” to emphasize the meaning that that the country is still a primitive feudal kingdom system, rather than a modern democratic nation-state.

22 discourse emerged from the young Koreans’ despair at being unable to survive under the influences of neoliberal economic reform, including a minimum wage of less than $8 an hour, extreme competition in the labor market, and dim prospects for the future. During childhood, some, if not most, young Koreans witnessed their parents’ sudden economic collapse caused by the Asian Economic Crisis of 1997. Their parents, having lost their jobs and fortunes, taught their children that obtaining a better education and more qualifications than their competitors would prevent them from experiencing the same instability. Young Koreans therefore internalized the logic of neoliberal competition at a very early age, believing that relentlessly cultivating themselves and prevailing over their competitors would bring them success. Denney (2015) illustrated young Koreans’ reality: “South Korea is an ultra-competitive place, where youth is raided by cram schools, night schools, and little sleep. The job market is no less competitive, where the more ‘specs,’ or academic and career qualifications, someone has the more likely they are to be hired” (para. 4).

Jobseekers in their mid-20s and early 30s, who comprise the participants of this study, are described as the “spec generation” (H. Cho, 2015). They have internalized the neoliberal logic whereby their worth can only be demonstrated through the accumulation of a number of “specs”

(an abbreviation for specifications), as if they were electronic products with specific capabilities.

Specs—including diplomas from prestigious universities, proficiency in English and other foreign languages, certificates of various kinds, work experience, and appearance (judged by photos on résumés)—are required to apply to the majority of corporations in Korea (Presidential Committee on Young Generation, 2014). It is literally the survival of the fittest; only those whose specs are best suited to the corporations will land decent jobs. For them, a decent job means full-time, regular employment with one of the chaebol corporations or their subsidiaries. Failure to land such a job means facing the same, perhaps even harsher, economic crisis that their parents experienced in 1997. Therefore, the young generation works hard to accumulate specs to obtain

23 jobs, sharing the sentiment that “life is a continuous process of competition, from birth until death” (H. Cho, 2015, p. 447).

3.2.1 Neoliberalism in the Korean recruitment process: Gongchae system

Jobseekers accumulate specs to distinguish themselves from competitors in the gongchae process, which means “open recruitment.” Gongchae is a rite of passage for every jobseeker who aims to obtain a decent entry-level job in a large-sized major corporation in Korea. The gongchae process is used by Samsung, LG, Hyundai Motor Company, Doosan, and other large-sized conglomerates to recruit new entry-level employees. It typically includes four steps: document screening, a personality and aptitude test, interviews, and a pre-employment medical checkup.

During the first stage, the applicants’ specs and application essays are evaluated. The majority of large corporations require scores on standardized English tests, including the TOEIC, TOEIC

Speaking, and OPIc3 (Presidential Committee on Young Generation, 2014) at this stage. Those who pass the first stage move on to take a personality and aptitude test. Each conglomerate has its own multiple-choice test. Some of these tests are the Global Samsung Aptitude Test (GSAT), LG

Way Fit Test, Hyundai Motor Group Aptitude Test, and Doosan Comprehensive Aptitude Test.

Taking the GSAT as an example, as of 2018, applicants need to answer multiple-choice questions assessing their verbal, quantitative, logical reasoning, and visual thinking skills. Although

Samsung does not disclose the number of test-takerls, Jaechul Lee (2018) estimated that nearly

100,000 applicants took the test in 2018. It is one of the most important high-stakes tests in

Korea, followed by the College Scholastic Ability Test and the public servant exam. The third stage includes general interviews by human resources (HR) managers, presentation interviews,

3 OPIc test uses a modified version of American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guidelines. Please see Table 3-1 for details.

24 interviews in English, and interviews by executives. Only those who pass the first three stages reach the medical checkup, the final stage.

Gongchae is unique to Korea. While recruitment systems in the United States and

Germany focus on hiring applicants who possess the competency to perform duties specific to the job, the Korean gongchae process is geared toward selecting a number of candidates who fit the corporation’s injaesang – candidates who are exemplary role models and possess key skills valued by the corporation – and only then assigning job duties (Jingu Lee, H. Lee, & S. Park,

2016). While gongchae is effective for selecting a number of standardized workers at once through an arguably fair process, it compels jobseekers to prioritize accumulating the right specs over honing job-related competencies and skills, which may result in a mismatch between a new employee’s skillset and the job requirements (Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 2013;

Jingu Lee, H. Lee, & S. Park, 2016).

3.2.2 Neoliberalism’s role in expanding horizons of globalization through geographic mobility

Jobseekers who refuse to follow the seemingly predestined competitive route can opt for an alternative: escaping Hell Joseon and finding refuge in foreign countries. The exodus to foreign countries is called Tal Joseon (탈조선, 脫朝鮮). In 2015, a novel narrating a young

Korean woman’s journey of escaping Korea and moving to Australia, titled 한국이 싫어서

(Because I Hate Korea), became a best-selling book. Behind this book’s notable popularity was the shared sentiment that “emigration or long-term travel has become a coping mechanism”

(Epstein & M. Y. Kim, 2018, p. 4) for the extremely competitive environment, poor work-life balance, and exploitative working conditions of Korea. B. Hwang (2016) argued that the young

25 Koreans are refugees who have become tired of the poor-quality jobs in Korea and are looking for hope in foreign countries.

To leave Korea, young people opt for applying to working holiday programs or seeking immigration opportunities, mostly in developed Anglophone countries such as Canada, Australia, the United States, and New Zealand. The trend of leaving Korea is corroborated by statistics. The number of Korean young people renouncing their Korean nationality doubled from 2015 to 2016

(Korea Immigration Service, 2016). In addition, the number of Korean young people who participate in overseas working holiday programs has been steadily increasing since 2014, and

Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are the most popular destinations (MOFA Working Holiday

Info Center, 2018).

Such a trend is more pronounced among young women than men, partly because of longstanding gender discrimination in corporations. According to statistics on the gender wage gap (OECD, 2017), in full-time jobs, Korean men earn 36.7% more than women, which is the highest gap among OECD countries. Although it is not unique to Korea, women’s employment rate peaks in the late 20s and drops in the 30s (Statistics Korea, 2017) because of marriage and childbirth. In addition, corporate culture is not favorable to young working women, marginalizing and devaluing young women’s labor power (Y. Hong & Hellberg, 2017). A survey demonstrated that young women are more willing to migrate than men, and the major reason is to escape from intense competition (B. Kim, 2017).

In summary, the Hell Joseon discourse embodies the young spec generation’s frustrations with the need to survive in a highly competitive and polarized society. The young jobseekers are expected to increase their specs as much as possible; otherwise, they will end up being “leftovers” of the society (D.-W. Song & K. Lee, 2017). Some jobseekers strive to accumulate specs and go through gongchae process to secure regular full-time jobs. Others decide to migrate to more

26 developed countries for better living conditions. This latter tendency is more prominent among women. In the following section, I investigate the importance of English for the spec generation.

3.3 English in the Korean job market

English matters to the young spec generation in two respects: (1) achieving high scores on standardized English tests, and (2) developing oral skills to succeed in English interviews. The sections below discuss these aspects.

3.3.1 Standardized English tests: Behind the myth of “valid indicators of English proficiency”

Standardized English tests stand at the center of the spec-building race, as English is an essential resource for globalized, competitive, and self-entrepreneurial individuals to function transnationally at work. TOEIC is by far the most widely used test in the Korean job market, followed by TOEIC Speaking and OPIc. TOEIC is a paper-and-pencil multiple-choice reading and listening test that “measures the everyday English skills of people working in an international environment” (Educational Testing Service, 2015, p. 2). TOEIC Speaking and OPIc are computerized oral tests that measure test-takers’ ability to communicate in English in global business contexts. The oral tests prompt the test-takers to audio-record their timed monologue responses to the questions. Other well-known international tests of English, including the Test of

English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or IELTS, are not commonly used in the job market because the tests are more expensive and academically oriented, while the three tests mentioned are business-oriented. Writing tests such as TOEIC Writing and OPIc Writing are seldom required. Table 3-1 below presents a summary of the three tests commonly used in korea

(Educational Testing Service, 2015, 2016; Multicampus, 2017; YBMNET, 2018a).

Table 3-1. TOEIC, TOEIC Speaking, and OPIc Comparison Table

TOEIC TOEIC Speaking OPIc

Skills tested Listening and reading Speaking Speaking

comprehension

Format Paper-and-pencil Computer-delivered oral Computer-

test delivered oral test

Questions 100 multiple-choice 11 oral questions 12~15 oral

questions questions

Time 2.5 hours 20 minutes 40 minutes

Score scale 0–990 0–200 (Level 0 to 8) 7 levels (Novice

Low ~ Advanced

Low)

Scoring process Automated scoring ETS human raters American Council

process on the Teaching of

Foreign Languages

(ACTFL) human

raters

Mean score among 690 128 (Level 5) Not available

Korean jobseekers

Registration fee 44,500 KRW (39.28 77,000 KRW (67.98 78,100 KRW

USD) USD) (68.95 USD)

Test developer ETS (non-profit) ACTFL (non-

profit)

Local test YBM (for-profit) Multicampus (for-

administrator profit)

Fueled by the Korean government-led globalization drive that began in the late 1990s (S.

S. Kim, 2000), corporations actively began using TOEIC to hire candidates who could function in

English internationally. While TOEIC has enjoyed great popularity since then, criticisms against

TOEIC emerged in the late 2000s. The discriminatory power of TOEIC scores continued to decrease because it became almost mandatory for all jobseekers to submit high scores (J. S.-Y.

Park, 2011). Since TOEIC only measures receptive skills in a multiple-choice format, even those test-takers with perfect scores may be seriously deficient when it comes to communicating in

English (I.-C. Choi, 2008). In response to these criticisms, employers began putting more weight on oral skills tfhan reading and listening skills (J. S.-Y. Park, 2011). Computerized oral tests, including TOEIC Speaking and OPIc, found a profitable niche here. Both tests claim that they serve as valid indicators of test-takers’ oral language proficiency and are used by more than 1,600 corporations and institutions across Korea (Multicampus, 2017; YBMNET, 2018a). Notable is that the boom in speaking tests has not led to the demise of TOEIC. While some corporations declare that TOEIC is no longer important, jobseekers feel that TOEIC is a prerequisite. A satisfactory score, at least 800 out of 990 on TOEIC (Abelmann et al., 2009), is required to graduate from college, apply for extracurricular activities, obtain scholarships, and participate in all other aspects of Korean undergraduate students’ lives (I.-C. Choi, 2008); it is almost impossible to imagine a person obtaining a white-collar job without a four-year college degree and a satisfactory TOEIC score. The social importance of the test is illustrated in the jobseekers’ government petition for reducing the cost of the TOEIC (C. Park, 2018), signed by 37,914.

Test developers and local test administrators claim that the tests provide reliable and valid means of evaluating candidates’ proficiency (Educational Testing Service, 2015, 2016;

29 Multicampus, 2017); however, test preparation and implementation do not correspond with the original purposes of the tests (I.-C. Choi, 2008). Private test-preparation schools, called hakwons, help attendees develop test-taking skills, manage the attendees’ class schedule, and even offer boarding schools dedicated only to preparing for the test (Jung & S. Hong, 2015). The test-taking strategies taught at hakwons include working on questions during the 2–3 minutes allowed for checking test sheets, which is a violation of test policy, and ticking non-adjective forms of words because adjectives are not likely to be the correct answer to multiple-choice questions (K. Jeong,

2015). To obtain higher scores, jobseekers tend to opt for memorizing a set of expressions provided by hakwons to answer test questions in a short time rather than practicing their oral skills (M. Kim et al., 2018). Faced with the pressure to produce high scores in a short time, the jobseekers opt for these types of test-preparation services whose goal is for attendees to achieve the highest scores possible rather than develop proficiency. Although the effectiveness of such strategies is questionable at best, it is apparent that the ways jobseekers study for the tests have little to do with their business-related proficiency development.

While the tests are arguably developed for measuring test-takers’ business-related

English proficiency, they are actually used for sifting out candidates during the hiring process.

HR managers in charge of entry-level employee recruitment are well aware of the fact that the applicants enroll in hakwons to cram for the tests (M. Kim et al., 2018); however, they keep using the scores because they need quantification of the applicants’ specs. The jobseekers also perceive the tests as a measurement of their perseverance in job preparation (M. Kim, D.-I. Choi, & T.-Y.

Kim, 2019). They believe that by presenting higher scores, they can prove how diligently they have prepared for the position.

The relationship among the jobseekers, employers, English, and the standardized tests spawns multiple problems for each stakeholder: (1) English, a communicative resource used for interacting, turns into an essential spec; (2) the tests, which should measure the jobseekers’

30 proficiency, end up measuring their test-taking skills; (3) the jobseekers, who are required to speak English, may not be able to speak English on the job; and (4) the employers, who have to hire people to perform business tasks in English, are not given sufficient information about the prospective employees’ proficiency through test scores.

3.3.2 The rise of “real” English proficiency

The problems associated with standardized tests have led to the widespread belief that

English speaking competence is the true indicator of English proficiency, because speaking skills can be demonstrated on the spot and fluency cannot be achieved in a short period of time. The belief is shared by both groups of the spec generation: those who wish to go through the gongchae process and others who plan to find their future abroad. People in this generation generally share the sentiment that they lack competence to use English despite the amount of

English education they have received, what J. S.-Y. Park (2009) called the ideology of self- deprecation.

Private English education services tap into jobseekers’ sense of inferiority, saying that they provide a remedy for “English sickness,” “English mute,” and “English paralysis.” Some advertisement copy labels those who cannot converse in English as “absolute beginner[s],” which may sound negative and even shameful (M. Kim, 2017). English neither holds official status nor is spoken in everyday life in Korea; however, it is assumed that young Koreans should be able to demonstrate proficiency in English speaking, since they have received at least 10 years of elementary and secondary English education. J. S.-Y. Park (2009) noted, “Most Koreans accept that, regardless of their test scores, they are still lacking in good English skills, and place the burden upon themselves to continuously develop better communicative competence” (p. 453). To keep up with the demand for English speaking proficiency, the market for private English

31 speaking education services is growing fast, although it remains comparatively smaller than the market for test-preparation services (Heewan Kim, 2018). Hakwons for English speaking, phone

English, smartphone-based applications, and online lecture services are actively expanding the market share. The trend demonstrates that a high score on TOEIC is no longer a sign of a good

English speaker; the young spec generation needs to develop English speaking skills in addition to obtaining high test scores if they wish to succeed in the gongchae process or find a better life abroad.

Research have indicated that the trend in English speaking skills exacerbates the divide between English “haves” and “have-nots.” Young adults from (upper-)middle-class backgrounds have access to early study-abroad opportunities (jogi yuhak), English-only kindergartens, and private native-speaking tutors to help them develop their English speaking skills from their early years (J. S.-Y. Park, 2015; H. Shin, 2016). Once they came of age, members of the spec generation from relatively higher socio-economic backgrounds were able to afford eohagyeonsu

(post-secondary English study abroad) to further cultivate their specs and develop English proficiency (I. C. Jang, 2015). In contrast, those who could not afford them resorted to public education, test-preparation services, or online lectures, which are much less expensive but provide fewer opportunities to practice speaking skills. The unequal access to English speaking skills may lead to an aggravated English divide (J. S.-Y. Park, 2015b); those who speak better

English may have more opportunities to succeed in the gongchae process or find their futures abroad.

3.4 The gap in the English-language teaching for the jobseekers

For members of the young spec generation, English competence is essential regardless of what paths they take. Both the gongchae system and emigration necessitate standardized English

32 test scores and oral English proficiency. However, the general spec generation, who did not have access to expensive jogi yuhak, have not received enough education related to oral skills. This section introduces the English education they have received and suggests that the education was not sufficient to equip them with the speaking skills required for applying for jobs and going abroad. This section then discusses using the ecological perspective (J. J. Gibson, 1979; van Lier,

2000, 2004) for designing an exploratory eight-week program to investigate how the young

Koreans create their own ways of developing English speaking skills, if they were given opportunities.

3.4.1. The gap between English education in Korea and the demand of English proficiency

After the Asian Economic Crisis of 1997, the government reformed the educational system to nurture “globally competent” young generations whose members could speak English fluently. The reforms included a shift from a grammar-focused approach to communicative language teaching (CLT; Byean, 2015). In the mid-2000s, the debate on making English an official language to keep abreast with the globalizing world swept Korea (J. S.-Y. Park, 2009).

From 2007 onward, the Lee Myung-Bak administration strongly emphasized English immersion education. As a corollary to the heated interest in English education, two approaches to developing English speaking proficiency were implemented in Korea: CLT and English-medium instruction (EMI, otherwise known as immersion). Why does the spec generation feel its English is insufficient, even after CLT and EMI? As illustrated below, the implementation of the two approaches took the approaches away from their formative principles as they became fused with neoliberal ideologies of English.

First, while CLT may have been a timely alternative to the then-prevalent grammar- translation methods, the way it has been actualized in Korea has spawned socio-ideological

33 problems. Although English teachers showed positive attitudes toward CLT, they had difficulties to implement it in public classrooms because of large class size, time pressure, lack of teacher training and resources (S. Choi, 2000) or pressure to focus on college admission, not English communication (T. Park & Chang, 2017). In secondary schools, student-centered activities were not common, the percentage of speaking and writing in English classrooms remain at 25–34%, (J.

Hwang, S. Shin, T. Kim, K. Kim, J. Kim, & E. Woo, 2012) and students showed low satisfaction with public English education (H. Kim, S. Woo, J. Jeon, & Jin, 2010). The importance of English speaking increased, but the public education could not provide opportunities to develop speaking skills. While affluent students could attend hakwons or go early study-abroad trips (jogi yuhak), others had to rely on the public English education. It resulted in the exacerbation of the “English divide,” a proficiency gap between students of higher and lower socioeconomic statuses (Byean,

2015; M. Jeon, 2012). While CLT may have shifted the focus from grammar to communicative competence, its implementation was fraught with the socio-ideological drive to “globalize” citizens and consequently resulted in widening gaps in English proficiency between socioeconomic classes.

Second, while it is generally accepted that immersion without meaningful interaction or output is not effective in developing oral proficiency (Swain, 1995), EMI courses in Korean universities are driven by economic and ideological motives and have questionable results in terms of students’ oral proficiency development. Since Lee’s inauguration, English immersion,

EMI, and “English only” have become widespread practices, particularly at the college level. The number of EMI courses has greatly increased because it counts in calculating university rankings.

The annual university rankings, published by two giant media corporations in Korea, include criteria on the proportion of foreign instructors, the number of international and exchange students, and the proportion of EMI lectures (Piller & J. Cho, 2013), all of which are used to evaluate internationalization. Students are frustrated with EMI because it is inefficient and

34 incomprehensible. They suffer from English language anxiety in EMI courses (D. L. Kim et al.,

2017) and experience a mismatch between the academic English courses at school and the business English skills required for and on the job (J.-H. Lee, 2012). Despite the frustration, universities believe that increasing the volume of EMI is a shortcut (in terms of time and energy) for increasing the rankings; it is quicker to implement than increasing research and publications or renovating the campus. These economic and ideological drives have led to the expansion of

EMI, but the educational effects of EMI on undergraduates’ English proficiency remain uncertain.

In sum, there is a gap between the speaking competence required for competing on the job market and going abroad and the English education members of the spec generation have received. In principle, CLT enacts learner-oriented teaching methods with a focus on meaning and communication (Spada, 2007) and EMI floods learners with comprehensible English input

(Swain & Lapkin, 1995). However, in practice, these approaches, which are intertwined with the socioeconomic interests of the government in globalizing its citizens and the universities’ desire to increase their rankings, have resulted in a wider “English divide,” and frustration among students (M. Jeon, 2012). The education has not sufficiently prepared the spec generation students with communicative skills.

3.4.2. Developing a pedagogical program: An ecological perspective

Given the gap in the English-language education, how can language educators and researchers help the young Koreans to develop oral competence? To address this question, this study experiments with an eight-week exploratory program to investigate how the young Koreans create their own ways of developing oral English proficiency with their own tools and resources in a flexible setting.

35 In creating the program and analyzing the data, this study takes a linguistic ecology viewpoint inspired by J. J. Gibson (1979) and van Lier (1997, 2000, 2004). The ecological perspective views language learning contexts as ecosystems in which learners, materials, teachers, tools, resources, curricula, and all other elements interact with each other. van Lier

(1997) explained the perspective as “a conception of the learning environment as a complex adaptive system, of the mind as the totality of relationships between a developing person and the surrounding world, and of learning as the result of meaningful activity in an accessible environment” (p. 783). The environment is full of opportunities resources to be perceived by learners and guide their actions (E. J. Gibson & Pick, 1986); the affordance is “what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill.” (J. J. Gibson, 1979, p. 127). From this perspective, learning takes place as learners perceive the opportunities and resources, build relationships with them, and act on affordances provided by them.

The ecological perspective allows us to investigate how the Korean jobseekers create their own ways of learning English as they seek tools and resources in their environment, turn them into learning materials, use them for practicing specific English skills, and achieve their goals. To explore their journeys toward their goals, this study focuses on four areas: (1) the jobseekers’ self-concept, (2) tools and resources available to them, (3) their desired English skills, and (4) their goals.

First, the jobseekers are agents who perceive elements in their environment, establish relationships with them, and develop their sense of self in the relationship. van Lier (2004) described, “The self is not just a detached observer taking in the world through the windows of the mind, but it is an ongoing project of establishing one’s place in the world” (p. 131). In other words, learners are not containers to be filled with knowledge; learners are active agents who strive to establish their places in their relationships with other elements in the ecosystem. Their self-concepts as language learners reflect how they view themselves in the web of relationships,

36 and change as they establish different relationships in their environment. For instance, a jobseeker may view herself as a deficient learner of English because of negative relationships with difficult teaching materials; she may develop a more positive self-concept if she finds more engaging resources in her environment and acts upon their affordances. Understanding how jobseekers perceive themselves is central, because it provides information about the relationships they had established in their environment.

Second, the tools and resources provide affordances for learners to do something with them, such as prompting classroom discourse and providing a de facto curriculum (Guerrettaz &

Johnston, 2013). The tools and resources themselves, however, do not automatically facilitate meaningful learning. For example, learning textbooks presenting work-related vocabulary exercises may provide affordances for learning but may not emerge as significant for a learner who had wanted to engage in a more free role-playing practice (Block & J. Gray, 2015). It is through emergence that learners realize how useful the affordances could be for their learning.

Their tools and resources provide potential for learning; it is through learners’ perception, interpretation, and action that learning takes place. In other words, the tools and resources provide action potential for the learners to perceive, interpret, and act with and within the affordances

(van Lier, 2000).

Third, their desired English skills mean the specific skills of English that the jobseekers want to practice in the program. They aim for developing specific English skills pertinent to their goals, such as interview skills or business presentation skills. They will seek tools and resources related to the skills. For example, if a jobseeker wants to develop interview skills, she may perceive books on interview skills, how-to videos on YouTube, or job consultants as helpful tools and resources for developing the skills, and use their affordances for practicing the skills. It is important to examine their desired skills, because it influences learners’ perception and use of the tools and resources. The objects in the environment “only become affordances when they are

37 attended to (i.e., noticed) and used for action” (van Lier, 2004, p. 112). What becomes affordances would vary depending on the Korean jobseeker’s desired skills.

Lastly, their goals mean what they want to achieve with English skills. Individual jobseekers have diverse goals, ranging from getting a short-term sales position to landing a permanent job in international finance. Depending on their goals, they will identify key English skills needed to achieve the goals and seek tools and resources related to the skills.

Focusing on the four areas, this dissertation aims to explore how the jobseekers create their own ways of practicing English in the eight-week program. By doing so, this study will be able to identify what tools and resources could be meaningful for the jobseekers who have not had much experience in speaking English, and offer suggestions on how the tools and resources can be used for creating different ways of practicing English than test-oriented methods, CLT, or

EMI discussed above.

3.5 Chapter summary

Spec-generation jobseekers, who grew up during turbulent economic crises, perceive their own country as “Hell Joseon” and mainly opt for one of two ways to survive: (1) accumulating as many specs as possible to withstand the gongchae process, or (2) emigrating to other countries to find better work-life balance and less competition. While scores on standardized English tests are indispensable parts of one’s specs, these scores may not accurately capture test-takers’ English proficiency. This has led to the belief that English speaking skills indicate a person’s “real” English proficiency; however, access to the means to develop the skills is unequally distributed. Although members of the spec generation participated in CLT and EMI in elementary, secondary, and tertiary education, the two educational methods did not provide them with enough opportunities to develop English skills for the job market, whether domestic or

38 international. Jobseekers’ petition against the TOEIC and continued frustration about EMI lectures has not led to a significant transformation of the structure. Given this gap, this study adopts the ecological perspective to explore how the jobseekers identify their tools and resources and use them to create their own ways of learning in their environment throughout the eight-week program.

Chapter 4

Methodology

In this section, I outline the study design, participants, curriculum of the eight-week program, analytic method, and research relationships. First and foremost, I describe the use of a qualitative case study design to fulfill the descriptive and pedagogical goals of the study.

Beginning with a detailed description of the participants, I explain the rationale for the program design and organization of the eight-week program. After that, I present a description and the purpose of each data source in detail, as the study involves various qualitative data sources. A step-by-step explanation of the analytic method, thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), is also presented. Finally, I close the chapter with notes on researcher reflexivity.

4.1 Research design

The study adopted a qualitative case study design for its power in generating an in-depth exploration of a particular social phenomenon using multiple data sources (Creswell, 2013; Duff,

2007). M. D. Gall, J. P. Gall, and Borg (2003) described a case study as “the in-depth study of instances of a phenomenon in its natural context from perspectives of the participants involved in the phenomenon” (p. 436). The dissertation provides a detailed illustration of the phenomenon of neoliberalism and English in the Korean job market by examining the experiences of entry-level white-collar Korean jobseekers. Defining a single participant as a bounded case, the dissertation examines each participant’s interpretation of neoliberalism, the meanings they attribute to

English, and the development of his/her own ways of learning English.

40 As captured in Chapter 1, the dissertation has both descriptive and pedagogical goals. To fulfill the descriptive one, ethnographical research might have been viable, but it was not chosen because it was impractical to gain access to a group of jobseekers who have studied English for job-seeking purposes for an extended period of time. Jobseekers’ study groups or hakwons would have been appropriate, but the former is not open to non-members or consistent enough to study for several months and the latter does not grant permission to researchers because they are for- profit institutions catering to the needs of customers first. To address the pedagogical goal,

(participatory) action research would have been appropriate, but the study did not align with this type of research’s core purpose, which is to advance current educational practices (Efron &

Ravid, 2013) or “examine a problematic situation or action to change it better” (Kindon, Pain, &

Kesby, 2007, p. 1). In contrast, the case study design allows researchers to describe cases in-depth and organize themes chronologically (Creswell, 2013). In this dissertation, the case study design helped me to explore how the jobseekers created their own ways of learning throughout the program period. Therefore, it was selected as a way of achieving both goals.

4.2 Participants

4.2.1 Participant selection criteria

This study used purposeful selection (Maxwell, 2013) to choose participants who were competing in the spec-building race and who had experienced the public English education outlined in Chapter 3. To be eligible for the study, an individual had to: (1) have a learning goal that involves oral English tasks for jobseeking purposes, including job interviews, standardized tests, business presentations, and other business-related purposes; (2) be currently seeking or preparing for a job in a position in a private corporation in Korea; (3) be a junior or senior in

41 college, or a recent college graduate who had received their undergraduate diploma within the last six months; and (4) be a Korean citizen who had completed their elementary, secondary, and tertiary education in Korean schools and spent less than one year abroad in Anglophone countries. The rationale for each criterion is as follows. First, the individuals had to have a goal in practicing oral tasks because the program provided opportunities to use English verbally, which are less accessible than reading- or listening-oriented tasks in Korea. Second, while English is essential for all kinds of public, private, or other types of white-collar positions in Korea, the focus of this study was limited to those who learn English to go through the gongchae system and obtain jobs in private corporations. Third, the term “jobseekers” in Korean discourse tends to refer to upper-level undergraduate students and recent graduates who are actively applying for jobs. Finally, the participants were limited to native-born Koreans who had completed their education in Korea because the study intended to investigate Korean jobseekers who have not had the privilege of studying in Anglophone countries, such as through early study-abroad programs.

When recruiting the participants, I did not control for the participants’ levels of English proficiency. First of all, the focus of the study did not include analyzing their development of

English before and after the eight-week program. Second, there are no accepted principles to measure the ability to engage in real-life business communication, which includes contextual cues, background knowledge, multimodal expressions, code-meshing, gestures, communicative strategies, and many other communicative resources (Lüdi, Höchle, & Yanaprasart, 2010). While it would have been possible to control for the participants’ English proficiency by referring to standardized test scores such as scores on TOEIC or TOEIC Speaking, the scores have low validity (Nicholson, 2015) in terms of describing test-takers’ proficiency, as discussed in Chapter

3. For these reasons, the study was open to participants of various proficiency levels.

42 4.2.2 Participant recruitment

I recruited the participants by posting online recruitment advertisements on student-run college community websites and social media (e.g., Facebook groups), and asked my friends and acquaintances to spread the link. The advertisements emphasized that the participants would be able to practice business-related tasks orally in an eight-week, small-group class. They announced that the participants would have opportunities to receive individualized diagnoses and feedback on their performances from a doctoral student specializing in applied linguistics and English education. A short profile of me and program explanation were included in the advertisement.

The recruitment was posted only in Korean. The English version of the recruitment advertisement is provided in Appendix A.

Those who wished to participate reached me by using the contact information in the advertisement or the comments function of the social media. I created an online form to check their demographic information to check their eligibility criteria and asked them to fill it out. The form included demographic information (i.e., the prospective participant’s name, contact information, year in school, major, months spent abroad, and desired job position) and a picture narrative, which required them to upload a picture that described what English meant to them and provide a one- or two-paragraph narrative.

Out of the 34 individuals who wished to participate, 14 were invited to the study. When choosing participants, I first screened the applications of candidates who did not meet the recruitment criteria. Then I considered the depth of the picture narratives, because I supposed that those who sincerely wanted to participate in the study would have written their narratives more diligently. I rejected narratives fewer than two sentences in length and selected only those that showed motivation and a need to practice English in the study context. I finalized the participant

43 pool by considering the diversity of the participants’ gender identifications, years in school, and majors.

I went through the consent process with all 14 participants. I gave my name, contact information, and affiliation, and explained the research procedure. I disclosed that their participation is totally voluntary and they may choose not to participate at any time during the study. I clarified the protection of privacy and confidentiality of the data, and I answered to their questions related to this study. All of them signed the written consent forms to confirm their voluntary willingness to participate in this study. The consent process was entirely in Korean, because it was the first language of all participants and me.

By the end of the sixth week of the program, two participants had to leave the study because one succeeded in obtaining a job and the other had additional duties at school. Twelve participants finished the program.

The dissertation captures the stories of six focal participants especially closely. The primary reason for choosing them is all of them were preparing for either entering the job market or going abroad and succeeded in doing so by two months after the program’s completion. Their success shows that the program had an immediate impact on their career paths, compared to the other six participants who remained as students or delayed entering the job market. In addition, the chosen participants developed clearer and more specific goals for themselves during the program than the rest of the participants. Based on these goals, they prepared learning materials and designed activities during the course of the eight-week program. Since longitudinal tracking of the other six participants is beyond the practical scope of the study, the cases of the six participants who were successful were chosen for the dissertation.

44 4.2.3 Participant profiles

Table 4-1 shows the profiles of the six participants at the beginning of the study period, and Table 4-2 illustrates their profiles during the last week of the data collection period and two months afterward. All participants spoke Korean as their first language and had had all of their elementary, secondary, and tertiary education in Korean; had learned English in an English as a

Foreign Language (EFL) setting; and had attended or graduated from four-year private universities in Seoul, the capital of Korea. All male participants had finished approximately two years of mandatory military service, which is the reason they were older than the females.

Table 4-1. A profile of participants at the beginning of the study

Pseudonym Gender Korean Major Years in Desired Test scores

age4 school position or

corporation

Byungwoo Male 26 Ukrainian Graduated Overseas TOEIC 960,

studies business, sales, TOEIC

trade in Speaking

POSCO, or Level 7

Samsung

Electronics

Haewon Male 27 Business Senior Overseas sales TOEIC 850,

administration OPIc

4 Koreans determine age in a different way than other countries normally do. All Koreans are one year old at the time they are born and become one year older on New Year’s Day regardless of their date of birth. Each of the participant would be one or two years younger if their age had been determined in the American way.

Intermediate

High

Joon Male 26 English Senior Private banker, TOEIC 920

language and Korea TOEIC

literature Investment & Speaking 6

Securities Co.,

Ltd.

Hani Female 22 Bio- Junior Bioengineering, None

convergence artificial

engineering intelligence,

marketing

Yena Female 24 Business Senior Overseas sales None

administration

Jiwon Female 24 International Senior Overseas sales TOEIC

logistics (infrastructure), Speaking

LG Level 6,

International OPIc

Intermediate

Mid 2

Table 4-2. The participants’ profiles after the data collection

Eighth week Two months after the study

Byungwoo Received a job offer from a transportation Manager at a transportation

company company

Haewon Received a job offer from a global Manager at a department store

department store

Joon Received a job offer from a foreign-based Manager at a foreign-based

finance firm finance firm

Hani Applied to an exchange student program Admitted participant in an

(European countries and Canada) exchange student program in

Lithuania

Yena Applied to an exchange student program Pending result

(European countries and the United

States)

Jiwon Applied for a working holiday in Student in a study-abroad program

Australia at Vietnam

4.3 The eight-week exploratory program

4.3.1 Rationale for the program

The eight-week program was designed for collecting data to address all three research questions. Table 4-3 below summarizes the background of each RQs discussed in Chapters 2 and

3, research goals and RQs, data needed to answer each RQ, methods to collect the data during the eight-week pedagogical program, and other secondary data sources.

Table 4-3. Summary of previous chapters and data

Section 2.2 Section 2.3 Section 2.4

To remain competitive in English skills are Negative influences of

today’s neoliberal job important for increasing neoliberalism are

market, jobseekers turn one’s value in the job evident, but there are no

themselves into mobile market (linguistic pedagogical proposals to

bundles of skills and entrepreneurship). help learners to negotiate

continue to develop the ideologies for their

themselves (homo own benefit, at least in

œconomicus). the classroom level.

Section 3.2 Section 3.3 Section 3.4

In Korea, “Hell Joseon” In Korea, standardized In Korea, although CLT

discourse reflects the English tests are highly and EMI have been in

intense competition influential but spawn practice, they have not

throughout the whole many problems; sufficiently prepared the

life; some choose to therefore, English young Koreans with

participate in gongchae, speaking competence, communicative skills. To

while some others which can be explore how they create

choose to live the demonstrated on the their ways of learning

country. spot, is getting more English with their tools,

importance. the ecological

Background

1. perspective is used.

Descriptive goal Pedagogical goal

2. Goal s

Exploring how jobseekers interpret and negotiate the Investigating how the

neoliberal quest of self-development and why they jobseekers develop

learn English as part of their job market preparation alternative methods for

learning to speak English

when they are given an

eight-week opportunity

to direct their own

learning with their own

tools and resources

RQ 1 RQ 2 RQ 3

How do the Korean For what reasons do the If opportunities can be

jobseekers interpret and Korean jobseekers study provided to study

negotiate the neoliberal for the standardized English in a flexible

norms of employability English tests and setting, how do the

in the job market? develop oral English Korean jobseekers, who

proficiency? have had little

experience speaking

English, create their own

ways of developing their

English speaking skills

to achieve their goals? 3. RQs

1-1) The participants’ 2-1) The participants’ 3-1) The participants’

job backgrounds and background in taking the diagnosis of their self-

motivations tests and practicing oral conception as learners,

1-2) The participants’ proficiency available tools and

progresses in gongchae 2-2) The participants’ resources, desired

and their strategies meaning of learning English skills, and goals

English 3-2) The participants’

2-3) The participants’ tools and resources

motivation for learning 3-3) The participants’

English and their use of the tools and

perceived proficiency resources

2-4) The participants’ 3-4) Their evaluation of

performance in English the effectiveness of

using their tools and

resources 4. Data needed to answer each RQ each to answer needed 4. Data 1-1) Interview (#1), 2-1) Interview (#1) 3-1) Self-diagnosis

resume, cover letter 2-2) Picture narratives worksheet, interview

1-2) Updates on (#1 and #2) (#2)

jobseeking progress and 2-3) Motivation self- 3-2) Participants’ tools

strategy assessment worksheet, and resources throughout

proficiency self- the program

assessment worksheet, 3-3) Video-recordings of

interview (#3) classroom interaction

2-4) English tasks

5. Methods to collect the data during the during the data collect 5.to Methods program pedagogical

3-4) Reflections,

interview (#4)

Demographic information, field notes, participants’ responses on worksheets,

facilitator’s reports (#1 and #2), researcher identity memos (#1 and #2),

participants’ updates two months after the study 6. Other data Other 6.

This section explains the three rows from the bottom, because the other rows are summaries of previous chapters. The fourth row, “Data needed to answer each RQ,” means what data will answer the RQs. For RQ 1, it was important to understand how they interpret the pressure in the job market and how they negotiate it as they make progresses in their job-seeking efforts. To this end, I decided to collect the participants’ job backgrounds, motivations, and their progresses and strategies throughout the eight-week period. For RQ 2, to examine their reasons to study English, a comprehensive understanding about their learning was needed; therefore, I collected data on their English learning background, the meaning they assign to English, their motivation, their perceived proficiency, and their performances. For RQ 3, documenting the participants’ trajectories of directing their own learning process was essential. To do this, I collected the participants’ diagnosis of their situations at the beginning of the program, their tools and resources5, their uses of the tools and resources, and their reflection.

5 I use “tools and resources” to mean elements in the learners’ environment, not mediational tools in sociocultural theory or activity theory. The former refers to elements that provide affordances for learning (e.g., textbooks, materials, teachers, and curriculum) (Guerrettaz & Johnston, 2013), whereas the latter includes broader tools and signs which mediate the learners’ thinking and practice (e.g., languages, cultures, language ideologies and policies, and language workbooks and dictionaries) (Razfar & Rumenapp, 2011).

51 The fifth row, “Methods to collect the data during the pedagogical program” shows a list of data collection methods conducted in the program. Each item in the fifth row corresponds to the same numbered item in the fourth row. For example, interview #1, resume, and cover letter

(1-1 in the fifth row) were used to elicit information about the participants’ job backgrounds and motivations (1-1 in the fourth row).

The sixth row shows a list of secondary data sources. They were not intended to answer one specific RQ and provided general information regarding the study. All data sources mentioned in the fifth and sixth rows are explained further in Tables 4-6, 4-7, 4-8, and 4-9 in

Section 4.4.

For RQs 1 and 2, the most direct method to elicit data from participants would have been interviews, because the RQs are based on the descriptive goal. The strength of running a pedagogical program, however, was that some tasks provide opportunities to practice English for learners and offer data for the researcher. For instance, the participants could practice using

English by writing resume (1-1) and cover letter (1-1), and doing English tasks (2-4); the researcher could use the participants’ responses as data to triangulate the interview data. In addition, some tasks allowed the participants to reflect on their own English learning and simultaneously gave the researcher data to address the RQs, such as picture narratives (2-2), motivation self-assessment worksheet (2-3), and proficiency self-assessment worksheet (2-3). For these reasons, not only interviews but also other tasks were used for enriching the data of this study.

RQ 3, which emerged from the pedagogical goal, needed hands-on data on the participants’ trajectories of directing their own learning from the beginning to the end of the program. Therefore, their diagnosis, tools and resources, and reflections were mainly collected, and interviews were conducted to complement the data.

52 As data analysis progressed, however, I found that some data explained some RQs better, even though the data were not intended to do so. In those cases, I changed my original plan in

Table 4-3 above and used the data with highest explanatory power. It will be discussed more in detail in Section 4.5, data analysis.

4.3.2 Organization of the program

While the main purpose of the program was to collect data, the program had to satisfy participants’ needs to practice oral English skills. To satisfy both, I originally planned to meet each participant one-to-one basis for two hours every week, but it would take 28 hours every week (14 participants and two hours each meeting) and scheduling the sessions would be a great challenge. I consulted this issue with my friend who had been providing job consultation for young Koreans. He recommended me to increase interaction with participants by holding a whole-group session (WS) and a pair session (PS) in a week, two hours each. In this way, I could

(1) interact with each participant four hours a week (two hours in WS, two hours in PS), (2) save time by assigning some tasks (e.g., resume and cover letter) in WS and reviewing them with individual participants in PS, and (3) spend 16 hours a week (two hours of WS, 14 hours of PS, seven pairs and two hours each session) and schedule the sessions more smoothly. Holding WS and PS also had potential benefits for participants. They could (1) make friends in WS and PS, (2) share job-related information with fellow jobseekers, and (3) do group activities to practice

English with other participants. Therefore, I decided to organize the eight-week program in this way.

Figure 4-1 below summarizes the researcher’s and participants’ motivation for participating in the eight-week program, which consisted of WS and PS. The eight-week program was designed for the researcher’s data collection and the participants’ English practice. In the

53 WS, the researcher assigned some tasks which could be beneficial for both the researcher and participants English practice, such as resume, cover letter, English tasks, and self-assessment worksheets mentioned in Figure 4-1. The participants got opportunities to interact with fellow jobseekers to practice the tasks. In the PS, the researcher reviewed the tasks assigned in the WS and collected data on each participant’s tools and resource use. The participants received individualized feedback and directed their own learning by using their tools and resources.

Figure 4-1. The researcher’s and participants’ motivation for the eight-week program

The next step was to decide what tasks to do in the WS and PS. The tasks had to be beneficial for the job-seeking participants and satisfy the researcher’s need to collect data. The

WS provided space for group tasks; the PS allowed individual tasks. Therefore, I decided to place some job-related English tasks that can be done in groups to the WS, and individuals’ use of tools and resources in the PS. For the WS, I identified some business-related tasks by reviewing some published materials and selected the tasks frequently appeared in the books: small talk, job interview, presentation, negotiation, and meetings. For the PS, I mainly gave the space for participants to bring their tools and resources to direct their own learning. I also conducted data collection interviews in the PS, because interviews required individual interaction. Table 4-4 below is the curriculum of WS and PS, and Table 4-5 is a sequence of WS and PS. Figure 4-2 shows the room settings in which WS and PS took place.

Table 4-4. The curriculum

Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

WS Introduction Small Small Job Job Presentation Negotiation Review

talk talk interview interview and

(1) (2) (1) (2) meetings

PS Individualized Individualized curriculum

curriculum (Working with participants’ tools and resources)

(diagnosis and

planning)

Table 4-5. Organization of the WS and PS

Format Sequence

WS • All 14 participants in a (Weeks 1–8)

seminar room • Warm-up (10 minutes, a short task related to

• Participants worked on the task for the week)

general business tasks in • Introduction of the task (15–20 minutes,

groups lecture on the task and explanation of

• Researcher video-recorded English expressions)

the interactions and collected • 2–3 small tasks on the topic (20 minutes for

all worksheets for data each task designed for practicing English

analysis skills related to the topic)

• Researcher assigned some • Final task (15–20 minutes, a comprehensive

research-related worksheets task requiring students to use all of the skills

practiced in the session)

• Assignment of some research-related

worksheets

PS • Two participants in a small (Weeks 1–2)

study room • (Optional) Review of the WS materials

• Participants worked on • Diagnoses and data collection interviews (#1

practicing English with their and #2)

tools and resources

• Researcher video-recorded (Weeks 3–8)

the interactions and collected • (Optional) Review of the WS materials

all tools and resource for data • Each participant’s individual use of tools

analysis and resources

• Researcher gave • (Weeks 4 and 8) Data collection interviews

individualized feedback and (#3 and #4)

interaction

• Researcher did some

research-related activities

(e.g., interviews)

Seminar room (WS) Study room (PS)

Figure 4-2. WS and PS rooms

4.3.3 The researcher’s role in the program

My primary role in the program was a researcher-facilitator. As a researcher, I clearly stated that this program was offered for research purposes, explained the potential risks related to participating in the research, video-recorded all sessions, conducted interviews, and analyzed the data. As a facilitator, I designed the curriculum, led the WSs, consulted with the participants about their needs and goals, and guided the participants in completing materials and activities in the PSs.

I introduced myself as a doctoral student in applied linguistics with extensive experience in teaching English to speakers of different languages. What I brought to the sessions were my knowledge of EFL learning, my teaching experience, opportunities to engage in carefully designed business-related tasks in English, and learning resources pertinent to their goals. I emphasized that I had the expertise to closely collaborate with each of the participants to provide the necessary activities, resources, and appropriate level of mediation to achieve their goals.

Simultaneously, I stressed that I was not an omniscient figure who was able to provide definite

57 answers to all questions or to lead them to predefined goals; rather, it was their responsibility to create their own ways of learning English appropriate to their goals.

4.4. Data collection

This section explains the data sources mentioned Section 4.3 in detail. To best explain each source, tables are used. The tables present a description and the purpose of each data source.

The tables show the data sources chronologically.

Sample interview questions (from #1 to #4) can be found in Appendix B. The data sources that elicited participants’ responses on worksheets (resume, cover letter, picture narrative

#1 and #2, motivation self-assessment worksheet, proficiency self-assessment worksheet, self- assessment, and reflection) are also presented in Appendices C to I, except English tasks (in

Table 4-7) and the participants’ responses on them (in Table 4-9), which had too many pages and thus are omitted to conserve space.

Table 4-6. Data for RQ 1

Week Data Description and purpose

Week Interview #1 (Description) In the first PS, I interviewed the participants about

1 their job backgrounds, job motivations, scores on standardized tests,

and experiences with English oral proficiency.

(Purpose) The first interview provided each participant’s

background.

Week Résumé (Description) They practiced writing an English résumé in the Week

4 4 WS as a class activity.

(Purpose) It showed their previous job experience and background.

Week Cover letter (Description) They composed an abridged version of a cover letter.

5 (Purpose) It showed their job prospects and motivation for pursuing

the job.

Weeks Updates on (Description) They shared their progress in the gongchae process

1-8 jobseeking and talked about their strategies to navigate the process.

progress and (Purpose) The information showed how they negotiated the demands

strategy of the job market.

Table 4-7. Data for RQ 2

Week Data Description and purpose

Week Interview #1 (same with Interview #1 in Table 4-6)

Pre- Picture (Description) Before the program, each of the participants chose a session narrative #1 picture representing what English meant to them and composed a

narrative explaining it.

(Purpose) It was used to examine the meanings and values they

associated with English before beginning the program.

Week Motivation (Description) The participants drew pictures and/or wrote

4 self- paragraphs about what made them practice English skills.

assessment (Purpose) It showed the influence of motivation, others’

worksheet expectations, and/or social pressure on the participants’ desire to

learn English.

Week Proficiency (Description) On a sheet of paper, the participants freely drew

4 self- pictures and/or wrote paragraphs evaluating their communication

assessment skills in English.

worksheet (Purpose) It was used to diagnose their conception of English

communication and their perceived strengths and weaknesses.

Week Interview #3 (Description) The interview asked participants to explain their

4 motivation and proficiency self-assessment sheets.

(Purpose) It clarified their motivation, others’ expectation, and/or

social pressure to learn English and diagnosed their conception of

English communication and their perceived strengths and

weaknesses.

Weeks English tasks (Description) In WS, they participated in business-related English

1-8 tasks.

(Purpose) The tasks allowed the participants to practice English oral

skills and provided data on their English performance.

Table 4-8. Data for RQ 3

Week Data Description and purpose

Weeks Video (Description) A video camera mounted on a tripod was placed at

1-8 recordings of the back of the rooms to record WS and PS.

classroom (Purpose) It recorded all interactions during the program.

interactions

Week Self-assessment (Description) On a sheet of paper, the participants drew pictures

2 worksheet and/or wrote paragraphs about (1) how they see themselves as

learners of English, (2) what tools and resources they have for

learning English, (3) what English skills they wanted to practice,

and (4) what goals they wanted to achieve by learning English.

(Purpose) It was used to diagnose their self-concepts, available

tools and resources, desired English skills, and goals. Based on the

diagnosis, each participant and I discussed plans for practicing

English in the upcoming PSs. It was the prompt for interview #2.

Week Interview #2 (Description) The interview asked participants to explain the self-

2 assessment sheets.

(Purpose) It diagnosed the participants’ perception of themselves

as a learner of English, available tools and resources, desired

English skills, and goals. Based on the information, each

participant and I set up the plan for the PS.

Weeks Participants’ (Description) From Weeks 3 to 8 in the PS, the participants

3-8 tools and brought their own tools and resources and used them as learning

resources materials.

(Purpose) The tools and resources were used to investigate how

the participants created their own ways of learning English

throughout the program period.

Week Reflection (Description) In the last session, they reflected upon the eight-

8 week program and wrote about their developments, achievements,

and areas for continued improvement.

(Purpose) It was used to examine the participants’ evaluations of

their progress during the program.

Week Interview #4 (Description) Using their reflections as prompts, I asked what

8 progresses they have made and their plans for the future.

(Purpose) The interview clarified the participants’ perceptions of

their progress over the program.

Table 4-9. Secondary data sources

Week Data Description and purpose

Pre- Demographic (Description) Each participant filled out a form asking them for their session information name, contact information, year in school, major, months spent

abroad, and desired job position.

(Purpose) The information shed light on the participants’

backgrounds.

Pre- Field notes (Description) Immediately after each WS and PS, I wrote field notes session about topics and activities covered in the session, my observations, to impressions, and brief thoughts.

Post- (Purpose) The notes served as a basis for all data analysis. session

Pre- Researcher (Description) Before beginning of the study, I wrote a research session identity identity memo by following Maxwell’s (2013) guidelines.

memo #1 (Purpose) I used it to elucidate the presuppositions and conceptions I

brought to the study.

Weeks Participants’ (Description) The participants sometimes wrote responses to the

1-8 responses on worksheets on the English tasks provided in the WSs.

worksheets

(Purpose) Responses to the WS activities occasionally informed

their dream jobs, background, and relevant experience.

Week Facilitator (Description) In Week 3, I summarized the participants’ self-

3 report #1 conceptions, available tools and resources, their desired skills, and

their goals. I explained how they relate or did not relate to each other.

(Purpose) The report helped the participants clarify their current

situations and design their PS plans.

Week Facilitator (Description) In Week 6, I provided an interim report summarizing

6 report #2 each participant’s progress.

(Purpose) The report informed the participants of my views on their

progress.

Post- Researcher (Description) After implementing the study, I wrote a research session identity identity memo by following Maxwell’s (2013) guidelines.(Purpose)

memo #2 I used it to determine how my presuppositions and conceptions had

changed due to the completion of the study.

Post- Participants’ (Description) Two months after the study period, the participants session updates two wrote narratives about what they were doing, how they were

months after studying English, and how the program had influenced their lives.

the study (Purpose) It demonstrated the influence of the program after the data

collection period.

Data sources in Tables 4-6, 4-7, 4-8, and 4-9 varied in terms of languages and formats.

Korean and English were mixed, as the participants had the choice of using either language.

Generally, Korean was dominant in the interviews and narratives, English was dominant in worksheets and tasks, and Korean and English were mixed in the video recordings. The data

63 sources were mainly text-based, but multimodal resources including drawings, photos, videos, and PowerPoint presentations were commonly used.

The above tables list all of the data sources. Table 4-10 below is a graphic timeline showing when each data source was collected or generated.

Table 4-10. Data collection process timeline

Pre- • Demographic information session • Picture narrative #1

• Researcher identity memo #1

Week 1 • Interview #1 (PS)

Week 2 • Self-assessment worksheet (Assigned in WS, reviewed in • Field notes (WS

PS) and PS)

• Interview #2 (PS) • English tasks (WS)

Week 3 • Facilitator report #1 (PS) • Responses on

Week 4 • Résumé (WS) worksheets (WS)

• Motivation self-assessment • Video-recordings of

worksheet (Assigned in WS, classroom

reviewed in PS) • Participants’ interaction (WS and

• Proficiency self-assessment tools and PS)

worksheet (Assigned in WS, resources (PS) • Updates on their

reviewed in PS) jobseeking progress

• Interview #3 (PS) and strategy (PS)

Week 5 • Cover letter (WS)

Week 6 • Facilitator report #2 (PS)

Week 7

Week 8 • Reflection (Assigned in WS,

reviewed in PS)

• Picture narrative #2 (Assigned in

WS, reviewed in PS)

• Interview #4 (PS)

Post- • Update session • Researcher identity memo #2

4.5 Data analysis

All data were first electronically prepared by converting them into a digital format and storing them on an encrypted external hard drive. All files were labeled with each participant’s pseudonym and collected data. All data were imported to Nvivo 12, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software program, to facilitate the analytical process.

I used Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis for three reasons. First of all, it allows a researcher to identify and analyze patterns across a large dataset to address the research questions (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Lapadat, 2012). As this study involved a number of different data sources, it was vital to find common threads across the data sources, connect them by creating themes, and identify patterns by observing the themes without reducing the role of context (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006). Second, thematic analysis is compatible with this study’s case study design. It is an analytic method not wedded to a particular paradigm or theory

(Braun & Clarke, 2006; Braun, Clarke, & Rance, 2014); thus, it can be used to provide deep and systematic accounts of a case (Boyatzis, 1998). Third, it is flexible enough to support both data-

65 and theory-driven analyses (Clarke & Braun, 2013). In other words, it can be used inductively and deductively at the same time (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006). As this study was simultaneously guided by pre-determined research goals and questions (i.e., inductive) and supported by results of the data (i.e., deductive), the method was the most appropriate. For these reasons, thematic analysis was chosen.

The data analysis process followed the six phases outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006).

During the first phase, familiarizing yourself with the data, I revisited the raw data at the end of each week, read the data several times, and wrote memos and reflections to immerse myself in the data. Immediately after the eight-week program, I began generating and assigning initial codes to all of the data, which is the second phase. I assigned broad initial codes, using preliminarily descriptive and process coding categories. A descriptive coding category is assigned to a basic and essential topic of a chunk of the data, and a process coding category captures actions as intertwined with dynamics of time (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014). I kept general themes for the descriptive codes and labeled the participants’ trajectories of creating their own ways of learning using the process coding categories. In the third phase, searching for themes, I looked for patterns across different data sources and collated codes to search for themes. In this stage, I explored connections among the data sources to triangulate the findings (Maxwell, 2013). In the fourth phase, reviewing themes, I reviewed extracts related to each theme to ensure my analysis accurately represented the data. I examined how the themes could be used to address each research question, and I labeled the relationships. After that, I moved on to the fifth phase, defining and naming themes. I paid special attention to labeling each theme concisely enough to capture the essence of it, and I composed accompanying descriptions to clarify the theme’s scope and content. Based on the fully developed themes, I chose data extracts that vividly represent the stories of the data for the last phase, producing the report. Sample codebook can be found in

Appendix J.

66 The main data analysis method was thematic analysis, but there are three special notes in the data analysis process: (1) treatment of linguistic and multimodal semiotic resources in data,

(2) analysis of metaphors, and (3) use of some data for answering different RQs than the original plan in Section 4.3 and 4.4.

First, the video-recorded classroom interaction data included the participants’ intonation changes, gestures, and other non-linguistic cues, and the other data sources had drawings, photos,

PowerPoint slides, and numerous other visual semiotic resources. Especially, the worksheets for

RQ 2 (self-assessment worksheet, picture narratives, motivation self-assessment worksheet, and proficiency self-assessment worksheet) contained rich hand-drawings and picture-based metaphors. For the former type of data, I used a modified version of Markee’s (2015) transcription conventions (provided in Appendix K) which allowed transcribing both linguistic and non-linguistic data in interactions. For the latter one, it was crucial to analyze the participants’ images and languages simultaneously, because “image is founded on the logic of display in space; writing (and speech even more so) is founded on the logic of succession in time.

Image is spatial and nonsequential; writing and speech are temporal and sequential” (Kress, 2000, p. 339, italics in original). To make full sense of data, I analyzed why the participant used the semiotic resource in the particular way. For instance, in the self-assessment worksheet, Hani drew a drowning person and said it was herself when she spoke English (Figure 4-3 below)6. Even though a person’s life is in perilous situation, a fisher (on the left of the picture) and people on the bridge (on the top) are not offering any help and just looking at her. The person is trying to catch whatever came into her reach, such as the apple, mug, and paper around her. Her drawing represents her great frustration and helplessness whenever she spoke English.

6 Hani’s full worksheet will be discussed further in Chapter 7.

Figure 4-3. A part of Hani’s self-assessment worksheet

Second, some multimodal data contained rich metaphors. To understand them fully, I also used metaphor analysis, especially in Section 6.3. Analysis of the metaphors used by learners

“provide 'windows' for examining the cognitions and feelings of learners” (Ellis & Barkhuizen,

2005, p. 313). Metaphors have two domains: source domain and target domain. Source domain is the conceptual domain from which the metaphorical expression was drawn, and target domain is the conceptual domain understood by using the source domain (Kovecses, 2010). Hani’s metaphor of a drowning person above is an example. By likening herself (target domain) to a drowning person (source domain), she clearly expressed her frustration. Other participants, too, used metaphors to express their meanings with their preferred modes of communication.

Therefore, I analyzed why the metaphor was used, why the source domain was selected, and how the participants used different semiotic sources to make the meaning.

Lastly, throughout the thematic analysis process, I found that some data could be used differently than their original purposes. There were two cases: (1) data intended to address one particular RQ yielded rich data for answering a different RQ, and (2) video-recorded, naturally

68 occurred interactions in WS and PS provided important insights about answering the RQs. The example of the first case was the motivation self-assessment worksheet. Although it was intended for answering RQ 2, some participants’ responses were also connected to RQ 1. For the second case, I found that natural conversations captured in the video-recordings, such as Haewon’s explanation about his hometown and his desired job, provided important data on understanding his job market experience, which was used for addressing RQ 1. There were a number of instances like these; therefore, I used the data with higher explanatory power for each question, rather than adhering to the original plan in Table 4-3.

To ensure trustworthiness of the findings, I used trustworthy criteria (Glesne, 2016, p. 53) for qualitative studies. Table 4-11 below summarizes my responses to each criterion.

Table 4-11. Trustworthiness criteria

Criteria (as in Glesne, My responses

2016)

Prolonged engagement Throughout the program, I have interacted with them both in-person and persistent and online extensively. Each participant and I met at least 32 hours observations throughout this program, and we also interacted via mobile

messenger apps to ask and answer questions. Sometimes, I spent

more time outside of the program to respond to the participants’

requests about advice on graduate schools, study abroad, or other

issues related to my previous background.

Triangulation As described in Section 4.3.1, I used the pedagogical program to

collect diverse sources of data. Tables 4-6 to 4-8 are the lists of data

sources used to triangulate the findings.

Rich, thick description I presented the data in their full forms as much as possible, given the

space limitations. For instance, I provided multimodal transcription

of participants’ interactions, pictures of their worksheet responses,

their narratives, and other data along with enough detail and context

to understand basis for my claims in the dissertation.

Negative case analysis Throughout the data analysis process, I examined both the

supporting and negative cases to test the validity of my conclusions,

and adjusted my conclusions accordingly.

Member checking By the time I finished preliminary data analysis, the participants had

already obtained full-time jobs and/or moved abroad. Because of

their status changes, it was technically difficult to contact them to set

up a time for going through the analysis result.

Clarification of To clarify my bias and subjectivity, I composed researcher identity researcher bias and memos before and after the program, and used them as references of subjectivity my bias throughout the analysis procedure. I also reported my

personal goals of this program (Section 1.3), my roles in the

program (Section 4.3.3), my subjectivities, positionalities, and

research relationships (Section 4.6) for readers to evaluate how my

subjectivities influenced my findings.

Peer review and In the course of writing this dissertation, I have shared my analysis debriefing and reflected the feedback both formally and informally. I formally

presented this research five times in conferences, talks, and meetings

to share my data. Also, I informally discussed my analysis of the

data with my colleagues to ask for different perspectives. I reflected

the diverse feedback and perspectives in writing and revising the

dissertation.

Audit trail I kept all documents related to this dissertation as a record of my

research process. They include data (all data listed in tables 4-4 to 4-

8) and my analysis (codebook, analytic notes, and NVivo project

file).

4.6 Reflexivity: The researcher’s positionality and research relationships

In qualitative research, a researcher herself is the instrument for data collection and analysis. The researcher’s position affects access to the research site, establishes the researcher- participant relationships that influence the participants’ decisions on what to share and what not to, and shapes meaning-making of the collected data (Berger, 2013). It is through the researcher that data are collected, interpreted, and analyzed. To draw trustworthy and credible findings, it is essential to reflect upon the researcher’s own “situatedness within the research and the effect that it may have on the setting and people being studied, questions being asked, data being collected and its interpretation” (Berger, 2013, p. 220). In other words, reflexivity in qualitative research is a crucial methodological tool to validate the research practices (Pillow, 2003). Therefore, this section outlines the identity and position of the researcher—me—first, examines the research relationships I established with the participants, and lays out potential influences on data collection and analysis.

I shared many demographic characteristics with all the participants, including age, race, ethnicity, nationality, first language (L1), and college life experience in Korea. All of us, including me, were from 22 to 27 (Korean age), identified ourselves as Koreans in terms of race,

71 spoke Korean as an L1, and attended or graduated from four-year colleges in Seoul. Particularly, I was 26 at the time of data collection, which helped me establish close relationships and rapport easily.

The participants found my education level, experience overseas, and background knowledge about the job market different from their own. I had completed my undergraduate education and six years of graduate-level study, whereas the participants were in the midst of, or had just finished, their undergraduate education. In addition, I had had one-year undergraduate exchange student experience and four years of doctoral studies in the United States, both of which some participants were interested in doing at some point. Lastly, I disclosed that I did not have any experience with the gongchae process or obtaining a full-time job in a private corporation.

My background prompted the participants to ask me intermittently about studying, living, or working abroad, and to explain to me extensively the job market process they were going through.

In the beginning of the data collection period, I positioned myself as a collaborative advisor who hoped to help them achieve their goals with regard to English for employment. I strove to establish more of a student/guide or a student/advisor relationship than a student/teacher relationship. We all addressed each other with a honorific title -nim (-님), a common and formal title of respect in Korea. We avoided calling each other “student,” “teacher,” or other hierarchical titles. It was crucial to build a more egalitarian relationship than traditional hierarchical teacher- student relationship because the program was designed for the participants to take charge of their own learning with their own goals and interests, not to learn through a teacher-directed method.

The participants were experts in their majors and job fields; thus, we together discussed how better to develop the English proficiency needed for them to meet their goals. I tried to take a backseat and had them lead their own learning.

72 As data collection progressed, the research relationship developed into a much deeper relationship than I had expected in the beginning. In addition to acting as a researcher-facilitator and a guide/advisor, I was asked to take on different roles than those I had expected in the beginning of the study. With the male students, I developed professional relationships. For instance, I was a resource about graduate schools for Byungwoo and Joon. Byungwoo sat with me for an hour after his PS on several occasions to ask for my advice about going to graduate school, building a good relationship with his course advisor, finding a job after a graduate program, and other related concerns. Joon asked about documents, exams, and other qualifications for enrolling in a prestigious master of business administration (MBA) program several times. Even though both participants planned to get full-time jobs first and proceed to graduate programs later in their lives, I consulted with them about their graduate school plans over the course of the eight-week program. For Haewon, I came to play the role of a dream coach. In PSs, I had Haewon bring job-related materials he wanted to practice. During each of the activities, he explicitly verbalized his dream (getting a full-time managerial job at a department store); completed the work as if he were an employee there; and asked me to proofread, correct, or make suggestions on his applications and interview scripts. In Week 7, he got his dream job and came to the PS with tears in his eyes, calling the program a “dreaming attic” (꿈꾸는

다락방), a Korean phrase that describes a place for making dreams come true and that had gained popularity because of a famous self-help book in Korea. Although I did not intend to, I happened to provide a space where he could visualize his dream vividly.

The relationship was more emotional and deeper with the female participants, partly because I was female. In Hani’s case, I ended up serving as an advisor for study-abroad programs and a discussion partner. She asked several times to meet me after PSs to discuss study-abroad programs. I volunteered to show her how to find course catalogs, estimates of living costs,

73 medical support for international students, and affordable housing. Also, Hani tended to bring deeply philosophical or psychological discussion questions to the PSs, which pushed me to act as a conversation partner for her. During such discussions, I used to tell Hani, “Your eyes twinkle when you talk about things you like,” because I honestly thought so; after the program finished,

Hani told me, “I always thought of myself as a mirror reflecting somebody else, but I could feel I was a living person thanks to what you’ve said.” I had inadvertently made her realize who she was because of the close relationship we had built throughout the program.

In working with Yena, I came to be seen as a friend for sharing hobbies and an advisor to ask about English and study-abroad programs. She was deeply interested in collecting cosmetics, watching YouTube beauty clips, introducing new cosmetic products, and designing new cosmetics. In PSs, we watched beauty clips together, learned new makeup techniques, and chatted about them. Also, she sent instant messages through KakaoTalk (a popular mobile messenger application used in Korea) intermittently to ask English-related questions whenever they came up and discussed study-abroad programs with Haewon (who had had a short study-abroad experience) and me. As for Jiwon, she found her PS partner and me to be the only ones with whom she could express opinions about social issues without fear of being judged. Her PS partner and I happened to share similar views about recent feminist movements and social issues in

Korea, which led Jiwon to recognize the PSs as a safe place to share her views and ask questions.

Some of her PS materials were politically loaded, which was made possible because her PS partner and I shared similar political views. During Week 8, she showed interest in joining a book club for discussing feminist issues with her PS partner.

As is the nature of a qualitative research, my identity, background, and research relationships influenced data. My identity and background (mid-twenties, female, highly educated, Korean-English bilingual, and studied/worked in a foreign country) allowed the participants to discuss English-related concerns with me in a relaxed manner and enabled me to

74 serve as a resource for them during discussions of living or studying abroad. My background in the humanities and social sciences helped me interact naturally when the participants brought sociocultural or philosophical questions. However, the participants had to explain typical job market preparation and business-related issues in great detail, as I did not have experience in either seeking jobs in private corporations or working in the business sector.

The research relationships shaped the data the participants shared with me. My unexpected involvement in their lives opened up windows to see into their lives as a coach, advisor, friend, resource, and discussion partner, as well as researcher. The multiple roles I played provided me with data on how each of them struggled to learn English as a whole living person, not merely as a student or participant. The relationships enriched the data, allowing me to investigate how they planned to extend what they had learned in the program to their individual lives, be it jobseeking, studying/living abroad, or even joining a feminist book club.

4.7 Chapter summary

This chapter provided a detailed description of how the research questions were investigated. A qualitative case study design focusing on six jobseekers was used to illustrate the phenomenon of neoliberalism and English in the Korean job market. The jobseekers participated in the eight-week program focused on developing their oral skills using their own tools and resources. A number of qualitative data sources were collected to illuminate the cases through multiple lenses. To identify and analyze patterns across all forms of data, thematic analysis

(Braun & Clarke, 2006) was employed. Following the guidelines by Braun and Clarke, I completed the thematic analysis procedure recursively and iteratively to ensure validity of my analysis. While doing so, I also focused on multimodality and metaphors presented in the data.

75 The entire data collection and analysis process was influenced by my positionality in the study and my research relationships with all the participants.

Chapter 5

The jobseekers’ interpretation and negotiation of neoliberal norms

This section addresses the first research question, “How do the Korean jobseekers interpret and negotiate the neoliberal norms of employability in the job markets?” The chapter begins by describing the job motivation and experiences of the focal six jobseekers in Section 5.1.

Then it introduces two overarching themes of the jobseekers’ interpretation and negotiation of neoliberal demands in Sections 5.2 and 5.3: developing human capital and leaving “Hell Joseon,” respectively.

5.1 The participants’ job motivations and experiences

From the very beginning of the study, Byungwoo, Haewon, and Joon were highly committed to securing jobs. Byungwoo and Haewon sought overseas sales positions at Samsung,

POSCO, and Lotte, all of which belonged to the ten largest Korean corporations in 2018 as calculated by total amount of assets (Fair Trade Commission, 2018). Their interest in overseas sales grew out of their experience in short-term exchange student programs. Byungwoo had studied in Ukraine for five months and interned at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion

Agency (KOTRA) in Ukraine for six months, accumulating experience in international business.

Haewon had been on a four-month exchange student program in Paris, where he first dreamed of doing business internationally. Joon was highly motivated to become a private banker. Although his major was unrelated to finance, he accumulated specs by obtaining certificates and winning prestigious awards in finance. All of them had extensive job-related experience, including internships and part-time jobs. Byungwoo had completed international business and marketing

77 internships, Haewon had worked as a marketer for plastic surgery hospitals, and Joon had extensive experience with consulting on asset management and investment.

In comparison to the male participants, the female participants were not as deeply invested in active job-seeking. Hani reported that she wanted to work in an artificial intelligence

(AI) laboratory because “its [AI’s] mechanisms could be a piece of beautiful artwork.” However, she said she wanted to live abroad and apply for exchange student programs before getting a job.

Yena was on the job market but thought that she was not as seriously invested as the male participants. She initially wanted to obtain a job in a cosmetics corporation, but her goal shifted among KOTRA, trading companies, and foreign-based firms in the first two weeks. Beginning in the third week, she considered delaying going on the job market and instead taking a gap year to live abroad. Jiwon had applied for several positions in sales and marketing in the past gongchae season, but she had failed to secure a position and was taking a short break until the next season.

Although all of the female participants had less job-related experience compared to the male participants, they truly valued their experiences with traveling abroad. Hani had had several short-term trips to Europe, describing the experiences as “liberating” and “oxygen-like” because she felt Korea was “suffocating.” Yena had traveled to Europe in 2016, gone to a local cosmetics store, and conversed with the sales clerk in English about skin types and tones. She said, “I realized I need to speak English at that time.” This was an eye-opening experience for her, showing her how she could parlay her hobby into future global jobs. Jiwon had taken a gap year to backpack in European countries. She began the trip as an au pair in a British home and then moved to Scotland, Turkey, and other European countries, staying less than a month in each country and doing part-time jobs. She recounted the experience as an opportunity to “grow up to be an independent adult” and “be fully immersed with the English-speaking environment.”

The male participants had clear job motivations and extensive work experience, whereas the female participants had unclear job motivations and less work experience. While both groups

78 of participants were interested in working internationally, the female participants were more inclined to live abroad than the male participants were. Using this background as a starting point, the two main themes of the first research question are discussed below.

5.2 Developing human capital: Male participants

As discussed in Section 2.2, in the neoliberal job market, all jobseekers are expected to develop their human capital, seeing themselves as entrepreneurs (de Costa et al., 2016, 2018; van

Doorn, 2014). Human capital does not only include the hard skills necessary to perform the job responsibilities, but it also extends to soft skills including “attributes, proclivities, and capacities” that “are now increasingly valorized in capitalist modes of flexible accumulation” (van Doorn,

2014, p. 356). Jobseekers with human capital, as “bundles of skills” (Urciuoli, 2008), are supposed to present themselves as attractive commodities on the job market if they wish to succeed in the competitive selection process. The entrepreneurial self is viewed as assuming the

“responsibility of a good citizen who takes good care of one’s own human capital and contributes to society through conscious management of it” (de Costa et al., 2018, p. 2).

The jobseekers, as entrepreneurial selves, accepted the reality of the heated, sometimes unjust, competition and considered it a legitimate rite of passage into adulthood. They molded themselves into proper injaesang (the ideal candidate) of each corporation, branding themselves with marketable skills. Passion was crucial in all of their job-seeking efforts, but it simultaneously inured them to severe working conditions and the workaholic culture.

79 5.2.1 Competition in the gongchae process as a legitimate rite of passage

H. Cho (2015), in her article on the spec generation, cited an exchange with a student:

“[I]f someone were to ask me, ‘Do you live to eat?’ or ‘Eat to live?’ I would answer, ‘I live in order not to be eaten’” (p. 444). Members of the spec generation share the belief that it is natural for them to be left behind if their specs are not competitive enough; those who fail to abide by the rules of competition end up becoming the ingyeo (leftover or surplus) of society, a deprecating term that indicates “the quality of a person who does not have, and thus cannot add, any effective value to their family, community, or society. In other words, it refers to a surplus human being, someone regarded as a useless person or a redundant individual” (S. Kim, 2015, p. 2). The terms

“spec generation” and ingyeo signify the precarious ground that individuals of this generation stand on. If they cannot acquire enough specs, they end up falling into the swamp of ingyeo.

Spec-building activities are essential for surviving the gongchae process. Accordingly, the male participants, who were more invested in job-seeking than the female participants, struggled to distinguish themselves from other competitors in the gongchae process. Byungwoo worked on increasing his quadrilingual competence and accumulating job-related experience,

Haewon invested in creating entrepreurial stories to tell in the interviews, and Joon was busy collecting certificates related to finance because he was not a finance major and felt he needed to prove his competence.

Byungwoo’s experience in a study group focused on the job market illustrates his perception of the competitive situation and his efforts to distinguish himself. He had had three internship experiences, quadrilingual competence, and near-perfect grade-point average (GPA), all of which are outstanding specs; however, he was well aware that his major, Ukrainian studies, left him with far less chance of obtaining a job compared to engineering and business majors.

Byungwoo’s concerns intensified when he had to compete with candidates who held American

80 diplomas, as it was commonly recognized that American diplomas were more valued specs than diplomas like his from Korean universities. He could not avoid competing with the American diploma-holders because he was aiming for an overseas sales position. Acknowledging that he had to compensate for his weakness, he tried pushing himself further by aiming for perfect scores on the TOEIC and TOEIC Speaking tests (for more details on this, see Section 6.2). Excerpt 5-1 below is taken from my field notes and demonstrates how Byungwoo felt left behind compared to business and engineering majors.

Excerpt 5-1. Byungwoo’s concern

“He (Byungwoo) is in a study group (for job-seeking), and he says that the people there are highly qualified (One has an MBA, worked in China, 33 years old, but seeking an entry-level job. One holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering). He said is extremely difficult for those who majored in language.”

Haewon was also highly invested in surviving the competition. Haewon felt intense pressure whenever he had to compete with those who had lived abroad for an extended period of time, since the experience of living abroad itself constitutes a spec. Before joining the program,

Haewon had been to an interview where he felt “탈탈 털리다 (all beaten up)” because he was the only one who did not have more than one year of experience overseas. This put him behind the others. To compensate, he tried hard to develop the qualities required by his dream corporation

(see Section 5.2.2) so that he could defeat his competitors in the gongchae system. Haewon ultimately received a job offer from his dream corporation in the seventh week, immediately calling me to inform me of the good news, bursting into tears and thanking me. His parents and friends also cried together, celebrating his transition from a college student to a self-sufficient salaried employee. The AAA Group also invited all of its new employees and their parents to

81 AAA Newcomers’ Day, a celebratory event to share AAA’s vision with the new employees and their parents.

Joon, like Byungwoo, believed that he had to compete harder than business majors. To compensate for his non-lucrative major (English language and literature), Joon was committed to earning certificates and awards that would testify to his finance-related skills. He received finance certificates and won a presentation-based competition about mock investment hosted by

Samsung. He also worked as an intern at a finance company in Yeoido, a famous financial district in Seoul. He emphasized this internship experience when he was asked to write a cover letter in the Week 5 WS and spoke about his experience with an English interview in the Week 5 PS.

Figure 5-1 below is a paragraph of his cover letter, which reads, “During my study of K College

[his school], I developed a passion for analyzing the company as planning various services. For example, I interned at the IR company at 여의도 [Yeoido]. My position entailed researching industries and studying the company. I learned that how to.” In the PS, he elaborated further on this, saying that he had taken part in an initial public offering, prepared presentation materials related to small-cap companies (a financial term referring to companies with comparatively small market capitalization), and conducted market research. As he was well aware that he was being compared to business majors and thus had to go the extra mile, he strove to distinguish himself from his competitors by accumulating credentials (i.e., certificates and awards) and finance- related work experiences.

Figure 5-1. Joon’s cover letter

Joon was also sensitive to the social pressure to keep up with developmental milestones for youth in their 20s. In other words, he tried to meet the commonly held expectations for people in their 20s: graduating from college in their mid-20s and landing regular, full-time jobs in their mid- or late-20s. His sensitivity was shown in his interaction with Jiwon. In the seventh week of

WS, Jiwon told me, “Last Tuesday […] I was talking with Joon, he asked if I want to go working holiday […] Two years ago, he wanted to have fun, when he was my age. Just two years’ age difference. He said that but he wanted to make money and save money quickly (그때 저번주에

화요일에 […] 가면서 얘기하는데 준님이 워홀 가고 싶으세요 하더니 […] 자기도 2 년 전에

제 나이 때는 약간 놀고 싶고 이랬대요. 두살 차이 나는데. 그랬대요 그런데 이제 빨리 돈

모으고 돈 벌고 그렇게 하고 싶다고 하시더라고요).” This means that Joon felt that he was too old to delay beginning the gongchae process. Joon was 26 and Jiwon was 24, and both were seniors in college; however, Joon positioned himself as an older adult who needed to undergo this rite of passage, relegating Jiwon’s plan to simply “having fun.”

This theme illustrates that experiencing the gongchae process is perceived as a legitimate rite of passage into real adulthood. The male participants realized the importance of outperforming the competition by accumulating as many specs as possible. The spec-building activities involved the objective appraisal of their current specs compared to those of other candidates, such as Byungwoo’s and Joon’s effort to compensate for their non-lucrative major fields. Two other essential specs are a foreign diploma and overseas experience, as they arguably testify to the candidates’ ability to perform transnational work in the neoliberal workplace, as discussed in Section 2.2. As a result, Byungwoo and Haewon felt that they had to invest in making up for their lack of foreign diplomas and overseas experiences. Haewon’s tearful family celebration and his participation in the AAA Group’s Newcomers’ Day with his parents, and

83 Joon’s interaction with Jiwon imply that experiencing the competition during the gongchae process is considered a rite of passage for the young generation in which the successful candidates are celebrated and worth being cried over, whereas the unsuccessful ones are left behind as ingyeo who must prepare for the next gongchae season. Working on activities other than spec-building, such as applying for working holidays, is considered a form of time off (K.

Yoon, 2015) that is socially acceptable only for younger, or perhaps less mature, adults.

5.2.2 Molding themselves into “injaesang”

Each corporation presents their injaesang—the qualities of the model employee—that

“epitomizes their business philosophies and work-related skills in specialized areas” (Jang, 2015, p. 61). Injaesang extends to personal values, such as “professionalism (professional ability and motive), creativity (thinking and critical reasoning), leadership (leading the change and challenging the future), and humanity (innate personality and organization adaptability)” (Bae &

Rowley, 2003). Injaesang is a local manifestation of how both hard and soft skills are valued in the job market, as discussed in Section 2.2. Injaesang is a corporation’s philosophy for recruitment, including the selection of candidates and the training of new employees. As injaesang serves as a criterion for new employee recruitment, candidates are expected to present themselves in accordance with injaesang. Injaesang is how the concept, homo œconomicus, is localized in the Korean job market.

Byungwoo demonstrated his fit with injaesang by emphasizing his social skills. When practicing interview questions, he kept borrowing a metaphor, such as Bibimbab or Anpanman, to emphasize that he was well-rounded. Bibimbab is a cuisine that mixes a number of ingredients together, and he referred to it to stress that he worked well with others. Anpanman, a Japanese manga character, is well known for offering all kinds of help, which Byungwoo tried to model in

84 the gongache process. Figure 5-2 is a capture file of Byungwoo’s worksheet, illustrating how he portrayed himself as similar to Bibimbab.

Figure 5-2. Byungwoo’s response to “tell me about yourself” question in the WS

Byungwoo’s case also illustrates the struggle to reflect injaesang without sounding like a workaholic or someone too unique to fit in. He studied diligently during his undergraduate years and earned a near-perfect GPA. Nevertheless, he was cautious not to mention his GPA because it was considered an overqualification. He noted, “The employers consider me as a nerd, or they suppose I would leave the company very soon and get a job in a better company 너무 공부만 한

사람 같고 금방 그만두고 더 좋은 회사로 가버릴 사람 같이 보여서요.” He tried to portray himself as a modest, balanced person who does not boast about his strengths (i.e., GPA) but works well with others.

Haewon’s case epitomizes the governmentality of the self necessary to model injaesang, in terms of both personal qualities and physical appearance. His dream corporation was well known for its young and fashionable brand identity, emphasizing passion, self-cultivation, new challenges, cooperation, and collaboration. To align himself with this image, he looked back on his exchange student experience and brainstormed a marketable story that embodied these qualities. He had once sold knives and earned 1,100 Euros in Paris. In the fourth week of PS,

Haewon asked for my help in elaborating on this theme to make it more attractive to interviewers.

85 He always included this experience on his résumé and wanted to talk about it in the interview, too. Therefore, he had used Google Translate, but the translated paragraph sounded awkward. He wanted to emphasize that he had gained experience in sales by doing market analysis, promotion, and sales related to this position. In Excerpt 5-2, Haewon tries to link this experience to injaesang. He thought that this episode directly spoke to injaesang, specifically the characteristics of “passion” and “new challenges.” In lines 2–4, he includes the keywords “purchase,”

“promote,” and “sales,” all of which are pertinent to the sales position.

Excerpt 5-2. Haewon’s story of selling knives at Paris

1 H: Through this process, I had an experience (.) to: (0.5) uh to, to to pur, pur,

2 uh purchase some items↑ and, and: (0.4) and 광고를 뭐라[how do I say “promotion”]

3 M: Promoted, promoted the…

4 H: Promoted, promoted, promoted these items↑, and also s, s, sales them, in, to customer↑,

5 so (2.0) uh this project↓, ah ah this process help me (.) to (1.9)

6 적응하다가 뭐죠 [how do I say “be familiarized with”]

7 M: To be familiarize, familiar with

8 To be familiar with, (.) with, uh, this field.

Note. H = Haewon, M = Miso (the researcher)

Molding oneself into injaesang extends to physical appearance. During the eighth week of PS, Yena, Haewon, and I were reviewing Yena’s exchange student application while eating some snacks. Yena and I munched on the snacks, but Haewon refused to eat anything, so I asked him the reason. Haewon said he was on a diet because “I have a friend who is working for AAA

[i.e., the corporation he got into]. He said there is no chubby employee at all AAA 에 일하는

친구가 있는데요, 뚱뚱한 사람 하나도 없다고...” Fitting into injaesang required not only

“building” the qualities of the model employee but also “looking like” that model employee.

86 Joon ventriloquized the speech of the corporation (Agha, 2011) to present himself as the ideal candidate. In this context, “ventriloquizing” means strategically employing the speech preferred by employers rather than using the jobseekers’ own words. For instance, in the Week 5

PS, Joon worked on responding to the question, “What is your hobby?” He had enjoyed basketball since his teenage years, so he initially stated that his hobby is basketball. Yet he was dissatisfied with his response, thinking that it would not be attractive to interviewers. He thought about it a while, and with a finger snap and “aha” moment, he began to respond: “As I know, the position what I will is really stressful. So if I got stress, if I got stress in the future, I can relieve the stress myself with basketball.” While playing basketball is seemingly irrelevant to performing the responsibilities of a private banker, Joon presented it as a self-management skill conducive to reducing stress on the job.

The theme shows that the male participants who were actively applying for jobs perceived the importance of fitting into injaesang desired by corporations and presented themselves as such by demonstrating both work-related skills (i.e., quadrilingual skills, sales experience, and finance certificates and awards) and soft skills (i.e., working well with others, managing one’s physical appearance, and taking control of their stress independently). These spec-building activities embody the governmentality of the self (Foucault, 2008) and affective regime (de Costa et al., 2019) that drive jobseekers to self-monitor, self-assess, and self-develop their competitiveness for specific job posts. While the word “competitiveness” may appear neutral, it entails tailoring oneself to the set of values desired by a particular corporation, as if ventriloquizing the speech of the corporation (Agha, 2011), rather than competing with one’s own identity and voice.

87 5.2.3 The ambivalent nature of passion: The collusion between neoliberalism and passion

Entry-level jobseekers are expected to be passionate about their spec-building activities and prospective work. The jobseekers are surrounded with messages urging them to find the job they love to do and love the job they do. If they do so, they are told, job satisfaction will naturally increase, and they will be able to lead happier lives.

While the statements above may appear commonsensical, passion in the job market has mixed implications. On the one hand, passion may help jobseekers find self-fulfillment from their work as stated above; on the other hand, passion may inure the jobseekers to the harsh working conditions and unstable contracts of their jobs, encouraging the jobseekers to follow their dreams rather than seek appropriate compensation. This leads to ambivalence about passion: “On the one hand, they have jobs that are a source of passion and pleasure; but on the other hand, they experience passion—in all spheres of their lives—in the most literal sense of the term: pain, suffering and fatigue caused by unstable contracts and working conditions” (Armano & Murgia,

2013, p. 494). The jobseekers are supposed to see work as “a site of personal ‘satisfaction’”

(Cockayne, 2016, p. 456) to which they are emotionally attached; therefore, it is considered natural for them to feel motivated to invest in their spec-building activities and be satisfied with the work they do, despite severe working conditions and overwork. The dual nature of passion can be found in the participants’ data in the forms of self-exploitation (Byungwoo), identification with the corporation (Haewon), and the sacrifice of work-life balance (Joon).

Byungwoo’s case illustrates how the deep internalization of passion can shape competition in the neoliberal job market, often to the extent to self-exploitation. Not only was

Byungwoo highly committed to increasing his specs, but also he aggressively pursued competition. His aim was to defeat other candidates by acquiring nearly perfect specs, including obtaining full scores on the TOEIC and TOEIC Speaking tests and accumulating business-related

88 experiences both within and outside of Korea. His résumé listed three internship experiences in

Ukraine and Korea, each of which was associated with a renowned organization or corporation, such as the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, and Naver (the most commonly used search engine in Korea, similar to Google). Whenever he encountered competitors with better specs, he stressed the need to develop himself further rather than becoming discouraged. Occasionally, his pursuit of better specs reached the point of self- exploitation. One illustration of this is his response to a practice interview question: “Some people like to enjoy long free time although they earn less money. Others work hard to earn more money but has almost no free time.” He responded that he would rather be a “slave” (of the company) rather than enjoy much free time, because he self-reported that he was highly achievement-oriented. He literally used the English word “slave” in the practice interview to indicate his passion for achieving more than others at work, perhaps by sacrificing himself.

However, the internalization of passion led him to be critical of those who refused to follow the logic of passionate self-development. Excerpt 5-3 below illustrates his pessimistic view of a current trend among young people: the trend towards living stably (line 1) and taking the civil servant examination (lines 6–8). A civil servant job is not high-paying or prestigious, and it is generally thought to require less competence than jobs in the private sector. Despite this, it is highly favored among Koreans in their 20s because it guarantees job security, a pension, and a 9 a.m.–to-6 p.m. work-life balance, as demonstrated by the fact that approximately 440,000 people, which is 6.8% of the population aged 20–29, prepare for the exam (Hyangdeok Kim & D. Lee,

2018). The exam generally includes solving multiple-choice questions on Korean language,

English langauge, Korean history, and other specialized subjects (e.g., law, administration, economics, and others); to succeed, test-takers have to memorize the information in a number of textbooks and complete numerous workbooks (lines 10–12).

89 Excerpt 5-3. Byungwoo’s pessimistic view toward the public servant exam

1 B: The worst career advice >I’ve ever received< is to um live sta, sta, stab, stably?

2 M: Live stably?

3 B: Live stably. °Right?°

4 M: Why? Why do you think that it is the worst career advice?

5 B: I, I think that uh (.) uh (.) ((shakes fingers)) Nowadays in Korea °there are°

6 who are prepare for, who prepare for examination to become a (.)

7 M: Public servant

8 B: Public servant. I think that it is too, disappointed situation right?

9 Because youngers have a lot of opportunities and ability to do something more (.)

10 creatively or to be more passionate, >right?< But everyone are sitting ((laughs))

11 in front of the cha, in front of the desk right? and study the same textbook,

12 or some any oth, any kind of solutions or 문제집[workbook]? […]

13 So I think that it will be a, uh (.) 뭐라고 하지[How can I say this (in English)] catastrophe?

14 M: Uh, it will be:, I’m skeptical about that?

15 B: Uh, 재앙[disaster]? Disaster.

In Byungwoo’s view, those who prepare for the test are wasting “a lot of opportunity and ability to do something more creatively or to be more passionate” (lines 9–10). They waste their precious time and effort studying the same textbooks and workbooks in front of desks (lines 10–

13). Byungwoo strongly believed that young people should work hard to achieve their dreams

(lines 9–10) as he was doing, relegating the dream of being a civil servant to a “catastrophe” (line

13) or “disaster” (line 15). This demonstrates that he regarded passion to develop oneself and compete in the market as the most important virtue for a young person.

Passion not only motivated the participants in the quest for better specs, but it also inspired them to work for companies they associated with pleasurable memories from childhood.

Haewon’s case illustrates this association. He had been shaping his identity around his goal

90 corporate’s narrative since his childhood and associated himself with the goals of the corporation when he became an adult jobseeker. This represents a form of brand loyalty, which not only includes buying a particular brand’s products but also extends to building the brand’s community and gaining membership in it (Ouellette, 2012). Haewon’s case illustrates his passion for synchronizing his life story with the development of the corporation to which he applied.

Excerpt 5-4 below illustrates how Haewon’s childhood experience in AAA Department

Store (a pseudonym) extended to his passion to work in the store. Haewon’s hometown was an industrial port city with less culture and contemporary life compared to adjacent cities such as

Busan and Daegu. While describing his childhood memories at the AAA Department Store, he emphasized that the store had opened up a brand-new avenue for cultural activities in the quiet city. The department store became a symbol of modern life, since it offered high-quality fashion, luxury brands, galleries, fine dining restaurants, and various attractions. In his hometown, the success of the AAA Department Store had led to the creation of a shopping district that consisted of the AAA Department Store and AAA Plaza. Haewon’s goal was to help customers feel the same way that he had felt in the AAA shopping district since his childhood. The excerpt indicates that passion is not limited to building better specs to outperform the competition; it extends to the association of one’s life with the corporation.

Excerpt 5-4. Haewon’s experience with the AAA department store

In my case, my hometown is C city, and I was asked to explain why I applied to the AAA department store, so in my case, I put a title, like, “I wish to let customers experience the image of the AAA department store I experienced.” When I was Grade 5, in C city, this department store, it was the very first time something called department store was built in this city. So I remember the feeling when it was built. It was first time I could experience new cultural activities in a day. I served in the C city hall during my military service, and at that time, the

AAA plaza, the AAA department store AAA plaza [a branch of the department store] was also built. I witnessed the

91 entire history of the AAA department store in C city. So I said I am passionate about letting the customers experience what I experienced, something like, new cultural activities and experiences that the department store can offer, I thought they are attractive and so I applied.

저는 고향이 C 인데 그냥 백화점 왜 AAA 백화점에 지원했는지를 설명해라 나오잖아요, 저 같은 경우는 내가

받았던 백화점 이미지를 고객한테 돌려주고 싶다, 이렇게 제목을 달고, 제가 C, 초등학교 5 학년때 백화점,

백화점이 처음 생겼어요 백화점이라는 게 처음 생긴 거에요 그니까 저는 그 느낌 있잖아요 문화생활을

하루만에 즐길 수 있다는, 그리고 제가 군생활도 제가 C 에서, C 시청에서 했는데 C 시청에서 할때

AAA 플라자라고 AAA 백화점 AAA 플라자도 그때 생겼어요 모든 AAA 백화점의 역사, C 점의 역사를 내가

본 그거니까 내가 그때 느꼈던 걸 고객에게 그대로 돌려주고 싶다, 백화점이 어떤 곳이다, 그렇게, 경험이랑,

그 경험을 토대로 이런 게 매력적이라고 생각했고 난 이래서 지원하려고 했다.

The male jobseekers internalized passion (Byungwoo) and extended passion to create an association between themselves with the corporation (Haewon). Joon’s case is similar to

Byungwoo’s case, as Joon’s data show how the embodiment of work extends to forsaking one’s personal life. While Joon desired work-life balance in his career, he acknowledged that life should be easily sacrificed for building a successful career. In the Week 5 PS, Joon and his PS partner chatted about their work experience in the private sector. They shared how much of the

“slave-like working culture” they had survived, including frequent overtime work and intense pressure. While Joon said that his internship was analyzing the financial industry, when Joon’s PS partner asked him what he had learned during the internship period, Joon responded,

“maknodong 막노동” (an informal word that means manual labor), “nogada 노가다” (a slang word for the heavy physical labor involved in construction work), and “sabjil 삽질” (an informal word that means shoveling but connotes doing pointless work directed by a supervisor). His words indicate that he basically learned how to do labor-intensive work by following his supervisor’s directions and working overtime, as if he were a slave there. Despite the toxic work culture, Joon acknowledged that he had to accept the reality. Figure 5-3 below is Joon’s response

92 to the question, “How do you (feel about) working late or overtime?” His response is: “I think the more important thing in our life is build our career. If we meet our 워라밸 (work-life balance), we can’t improve our career. So, I will work over time if I should for my work .” Joon was aware that passion came at a price: sacrificing his personal life for the sake of work.

Figure 5-3. Joon’s response to a question on working overtime

5.3 Leaving “Hell Joseon”: Female participants

While it is commonly accepted that the quest for developing one’s specs and tailoring oneself to fit into injaesang with (ambivalent) passion is the mainstream way of life, there is another trend, as briefly described in Section 3.3. Some jobseekers choose to leave the country to avoid the intense competition at home and find a better life abroad. This section analyzes the female jobseekers who chose to leave the country, albeit temporarily.

5.3.1 Questioning the intense competition in the Korean job market

H. Cho’s (2015) and S. Kim’s (2015) articles analyze the neologisms describing the harsh competition: “spec generation” and ingyeo. The neologisms are part of a trend suggesting that

93 those who neglect their duty of accumulating better specs may end up becoming ingyeo, or surplus individuals in society. The meritocracy favors entrepreneurs who continuously invest in their own human capital and prove their economic worth through competition. However, on the other side of the spectrum, there are those who question the intense competition in Korea or even reject the competition altogether and find alternative routes. This pattern can be observed in the data of the six jobseekers. While the male participants accepted that competition is a legitimate rite of passage, as discussed in Section 5.2.1, the female participants shared the sentiment that competition was suffocating and sought different ways of life.

Two of the female participants in the study, Hani and Yena, both imagined the competition as daunting. Yet while Hani was concerned mostly with the ethical and social implications she perceived as stemming from the competition, Yena suffered with poor self- esteem, believing that she did not have the ability to compete successfully. The last female participant, Jiwon, had participated in the competition at one point but withdrew because of gender-based discrimination in gongchae and corporate culture.

First of all, Hani perceived the ethical and social problems in Korea as suffocating, which led her to avoid participating in the competition at all. Responding to the motivation self- assessment provided in Week 4 (see Figure 5-4), Hani clearly indicated that “Korean society is killing me” (details about the assessment are presented in Section 6.3) and that she wanted a

“better place” although “there is no Utopia.” While it was not clear why she was struggling with

Korean society at the beginning of the program, she explained the reason as the program progressed. During Week 4, Hani stated that she had written extensively about the corruption at her college while working as a reporter for an independent press. This had made her deeply skeptical of the blind pursuit of excellence and competition, a pursuit that overlooked ethical issues and inequality.

Figure 5-4. A part of Hani’s motivation self-assessment worksheet response

Her interests in critical social issues are well demonstrated in Excerpt 5-5 below. Hani’s statement of self-introduction was written in Korean by Hani and translated into English by her friend. It clearly indicates her “care for social problems” and interest in integrating “science (her field of study), society, and art.”

Excerpt 5-5. Hani’s self-introduction

I am Hani Kim, majoring in Biotechnology. I care for social problems and do love literature and humanity. I study mainly social problems and inequality. In my opinion, science, society, and art cannot be detached as they are connected into one formation.

While Hani did not participate in the competition because of what she perceived as large- scale ethical and social problems, Yena delayed participating because she realized the gap between her specs and what the corporations wanted. Figure 5-5, Yena’s draft of her self- introduction essay shows that she tried to emphasize her easygoing personality by drawing on her volunteering experience: “I’ve done many volunteering activities related to education because I strongly believe that education can give a chances which provide even start point,” referring to equal opportunity, and “That’s why I am sociable and easy blended person.” She also tried to emphasize her extensive experience in tutoring, traveling, and performing. However, she began to

95 realize that her experience did no more than attest to her social skills and did not relate well with the job descriptions provided by the cosmetics corporation to which she hoped to apply, which favored paid professional experience in the industry.

Figure 5-5. Yena’s first draft of her self-introduction essay

Yena’s perceived gap intensified as she interacted with her PS partner, Haewon, who was more experienced in job-seeking. From Weeks 4 to 8, Haewon advised Yena on how to present herself as if she were a competent jobseeker. One example is Figure 5-6, Yena’s worksheet response to an interview question: “How do you handle your stress and pressure?” Yena responded that she liked yoga and jogging because “it makes me think more cleary and keep me

96 calm down and refresh me.” Haewon commented, “The content is good. But like I said earlier, if you go to the real interview, it is better to mention collaborative activities, something like table tennis 내용이 좋습니다. 그런데 이것도 앞과 마찬가지로 실제 면접장 가시면 탁구 등

타인과 같이할 수 있는 활동을 말씀하시는게 더 좋다고 합니다” because employers generally wish to see candidates’ ability to work collaboratively. It was not only his advice but also his job market experience that scared her. One demonstration of this appeared in Week 7, when Yena kept asking Haewon questions about specs, such as the necessary number of certificates, the

TOEIC score requirements, and other spec-building activities. Throughout this interaction, Yena realized that she had neither the job-related experience nor the skills to marketize herself. She discussed her concerns with me, saying that everyone besides her had excellent specs and she felt she lacked so many qualifications. The perceived gap between what she wanted and what she lacked led her to believe that it would be too daunting to enter the gongchae process, although she was a senior. Accordingly, she began considering options other than participating in the gongchae process, such as delaying graduation, studying abroad, or gaining internship or work experience.

Figure 5-6. Yena’s response to an interview question

As Hani did, Jiwon attributed her inability to compete to society, not to herself. In particular, she blamed gender-based discrimination. Prior to participating in this study, Jiwon had actively applied for overseas sales positions but she had failed to obtain one because of her insufficient score on the TOEIC Speaking test. At the beginning of the program, she regretted not having a high enough score and showed eagerness to develop her speaking proficiency to obtain a job. As she participated in the program, however, she saw that even if she earned a high enough score and was able to obtain a job, it would not be worth it because of the gender-based discrimination young women face.

In Week 4, she began questioning the meaning of the gongchae process because she saw there was little reward in comparison to the amount of investment it required, especially for young women. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that among 34 developed countries, Korea’s working hours are ranked third-highest, the work-life balance is thirtieth-worst, and the gender wage gap is the largest (OECD, 2019a, 2019c, 2019b).

Although the gender wage gap is believed to be attributable to marriage, unmarried women earn

19.8% less than men (C. Kim & Oh, 2019). Jiwon complained, “I think men don’t realize their privilege 남자들은 자기 기득권을 모르는 거 같아요.” She perceived that completing the competitive gongchae process was not worth the averse working conditions and discrimination against women. In the Week 5 WS, she wrote a response to the question, “How do you feel about working late?” Her response is in Figure 5-7. It reads, “I think It can happen during busy time but

It shouldn’t be a every day routain. It’s not good for both company and individuals work & life not productive, efficient, effective If it keeps it constantly.” Next to the response, she scribbled,

“한국이 싫어서(because I hate Korea).” As briefly introduced in Section 3.2.2, this is the title of a best-selling novel in Korea written by Jang (2015) that describes a young Korean woman’s

98 frustration with the working conditions in Korea and her migration to Australia. The scribble indicates that Jiwon associated the work-life issue with the novel, perhaps linking her experience with that of the protagonist of the novel. By Week 6, her consideration of going abroad had turned into firm determination, as she said, “I’m still young and I don’t want to sacrifice my life to the company. I want to enjoy my life more.” From that week onward, Jiwon decided not to participate in the gongchae process anymore, even though she had already prepared for gongchae extensively and had work experience.

Figure 5-7. Jiwon’s response to the Week 5 WS worksheet

As discussed in Section 5.2.1, competing in the gongchae process is believed to be a legitimate rite of passage for landing a decent job and entering real adulthood; however, competition may breed a sense of suffocation and fear or even discrimination against those who are not ideal candidates on the job market. The gongchae process entails the selection of those who possess both the explicit and implicit qualities embodied in injaesang. Jobseekers do not fit into injaesang if they actively criticize society (Hani’s case), lack experience that is recognized as

99 relevant (Yena’s case), or anticipate gender-based discrimination (Jiwon’s case). The gongchae process may appear as if it provides equal opportunity to all jobseekers who are pursuing self- improvement; however, the competition may be justifying the blind pursuit of better specs as well as discrimination against women.

5.3.2 Decisions to study or work abroad

As explained in Chapter 3, neoliberalism and globalization have intensified competition in the Korean job market. On the other side of the coin, neoliberalism and globalization have brought mobility and flexibility, allowing individuals to move across borders. Recognizing these elements of Hell Joseon, the young women chose instead to participate in Tal Joseon, which means escaping Korea, as introduced in Section 3.2.2. The discourse of Tal Joseon embodies individuals’ disbelief of and frustration about neoliberal competition (Ryu, 2016), as well as their pessimistic attitudes toward the future of the country. The young generation has taken advantage of porous national borders to travel, work, and study. This diasporic movement pattern is found in the cases of the female participants.

The main reason for leaving the country was the strong social pressure to participate in the rite of passage that is gongchae. Young people face strong pressure to build as impressive of specs as possible, obtain a secure job at a major corporation, work overtime, and even endure an unethical work culture (M. Lee, 2016; D. Song et al., 2018). The female participants found different ways to negotiate this pressure.

Finding a life abroad was not a mere excuse to avoid competition but a serious commitment to find the meaning of life, however abstract. Hani’s determination to go abroad was associated with her desperation to find the meaning of life. This is well illustrated in Figure 5-8 below, Hani’s application to an exchange student program at her college. The application had

100 been written in Korean by Hani and translated into English by her friend. In the first paragraph,

Hani portrays herself as an indecisive person who cannot even choose a meal from a menu by citing a scene from the movie Carol (to be discussed further in Section 7.3). The second paragraph emphasizes that what “I [Hani] do love and adore” is a “conversation” with people from different cultures whom she meets during her trip. Conversation “empowers” her and makes her feel that she is “leading her own life.” The third paragraph explains why she decided to apply for the semester-abroad program: to develop her English skills and travel for an extended period of time.

Figure 5-8. Hani’s exchange student application

Hani’s case resonates with the discourse of Korean youth who choose Tal Joseon. They are labeled as refugees who express frustration and dismay toward Korea and wander in search of better lives and stability (D. Song & K. Lee, 2017). Hani saw that there was no place to find her future in Korea, as she struggled with ethical and social problems at home that she felt were

“killing” (Figure 5-4) her. Her decision to spend a semester abroad, therefore, was not mere indecisiveness or avoidance but a serious commitment to finding the true meaning of life.

101 While Hani’s decision was motivated by her frustration at home, Yena’s motivation to go abroad was attributable to peer pressure. At the beginning of the eight-week program, Yena had no motivation to go abroad because she thought she could develop her specs to succeed in Korea.

She emphasized that her specs were on par with those of others who had been abroad. However, she gradually perceived the pressure to go abroad as she interacted with other participants in the program, especially Haewon (Yena’s PS partner), who had been to France for four months. She began considering going abroad in Week 4, as demonstrated in her response to the motivation self-assessment sheet in Figure 5-9, which reads: “*My friends are thinking about (applying for) language study abroad or exchange student programs, and they tend to think that it (i.e., going abroad) is conventional. → At first I thought I can do it in Korea~ but I feel like I need to go abroad because my friends are going abroad, and I think living abroad would be a good experience but it is a burden to me because of high cost.”

Figure 5-9. Yena’s response to the motivation self-assessment sheet

Yena’s response indicates that peer pressure was the main reason she began seriously considering studying abroad. She felt more pressure as she interacted with Haewon in the weekly

PS sessions, because Haewon’s exchange student experience had positively influenced his experience on the job market. In Weeks 4 and 5, Yena began posing many questions to him, such

102 as “How can I make good friends with foreigners? (외국인 친구들 어떻게 만들어요?)” and

“What are some ways to interact more with foreign students? (외국인이랑 어울리는 방법 같은

거 있어요?)” By Week 6, she had made up her mind to apply to an exchange student program to keep pace with other jobseekers in the market, and she began preparing for application letters and

English interviews with Haewon and me in the PS sessions.

Yena’s change of plans demonstrates the ways in which peer pressure is exerted.

Competition on the job market is always relative, meaning that jobseekers need to be relatively better than other candidates. Although the absolute majority of entry-level posts do not explicitly require study-abroad experience, the prevalence of study-abroad experience led her to feel as if she were lagging behind or had less of a competitive edge than others. Because of the pressure, she decided to go abroad despite the high cost.

While Hani’s and Yena’s applications were for short-term, academic exchange student programs, Jiwon planned to go abroad for a relatively longer term (one or two years) on a non- academic working holiday program. Based on her previous experience of working as an au pair in the United Kingdom and traveling around Europe, Jiwon planned her sojourn carefully, already knowing that it would not be as rosy and romantic as expected. She elaborated, “I don’t have any romantic imagination about living abroad. It’s already all shattered up (외국에 사는 환상 같은

거 없어요. 이미 다 깨졌어요).”

However, her plan came under criticism from the others, even in this small program of 12 participants. Compared to Hani’s and Yena’s plans, her plan was more long-term and did not involve spec-building activities (e.g., completing a white-collar internship or attending a language school). For this reason, Joon perceived her plan as “having a free time,” as briefly mentioned in

Section 5.2.1; Byungwoo, too, thought that there was no guarantee of obtaining a decent job in

103 Korea upon return and that it was easier to live in Korea than abroad. Jiwon came to me privately to complain, “They are just few years older than me (저보다 몇 살밖에 안 많은데).”

The incident illustrates the prevalence of pressure to participate in the gongchae rite of passage. Even though Jiwon thought that “there is not a correct answer (정답이 있는게

아니니까)” and sought alternative ways to imagine her future, she still perceived pressure to follow the mainstream way of life, as she said: “I feel the pressure to keep up with others (in this country), both consciously and unconsciously. It is suffocating (다른 사람 계속 따라가야 할 것

같고, 의식적으로도 무의식적으로도. 숨막혀요).”

The pressure led Jiwon to want to leave the country. Jiwon saw that the patriarchal system would prevent her from developing her career because of the reasons mentioned in

Section 5.3.1; she thus concluded that finding her future abroad would be more conducive to her.

Her perception is showcased in Excerpt 5-6 below. Jiwon asked me if I also wanted to live in

Korea (line 1) and recognized that living abroad is different from traveling abroad (line 6); at the same time, she perceived that she would face less social pressure during her working holiday period despite the difficulties associated with working and settling in a foreign country (lines 6–

8).

Excerpt 5-6. Jiwon’s opinion about settling in a foreign country

1 W: Do you wanna live in Korea?

2 M: I don’t know ((laughs))

3 W: ((laughs)) If I get a chance to live in (.) another country, I would,

4 I would speak them [the social issues that we were discussing before]

5 M: But well, if you go to other country for traveling, all things seem so good ((laughs))

6 W: Ah, yeah, but it’s different (.) getting a job and living in (.) settling in there

7 M: Settling in there permanently

104

8 W: But, I: I can’t be sure, but there would be less social pressure.

The theme illustrates that resentment toward Korean society (Hani and Jiwon) and peer pressure (Yena and Jiwon) were the main reasons underlying the female participants’ decisions to study or work abroad. While previous literature on Korean young adults’ sojourns abroad has mainly highlighted the impact of traveling abroad for developing specs and enhancing social mobility (cf. I. C. Jang, 2015; K. Yoon, 2014a, 2014b, 2015), the data presented in this section suggest that the decision to go abroad, particularly in young women’s cases, can also be motivated by a desire to liberate oneself.

5.3.3 Passion expanded: Neoliberalism and passion on a global scale

Jobseekers’ passions are inseparable from neoliberalism in Korean society and beyond.

Section 5.2.3 reported on the mixed implications of passion for jobseekers with strong job motivations: passion could be either self-fulfilling or self-exploiting. Compared to the male participants, the female participants were more inclined to use their passion to fulfill their own desires and dreams, rather than to exploit themselves to meet external requirements.

The female participants’ passion to go abroad was intertwined with the transnational mobility afforded by neoliberalism. Neoliberalism, on the one hand, intensifies competition on the Korean job market; on the other hand, it contributes to mobility across borders. While the male participants’ passion was geared toward engaging in spec-building activities to succeed in the gongchae process, the female participants’ passion was centered on taking full advantage of transnational mobility to leave Hell Joseon.

Hani’s and Yena’s transnational mobility could be attributed to their socioeconomic status and their schools’ globalization policy. First of all, the two participants were able to access

105 transnational mobility. In a discussion of Hell Joseon, Ryu (2016) succinctly described the stratified access to Tal Joseon by presenting three groups: “Those who can leave, those who dream to leave, and those who cannot dare to dream.” The former two groups can prepare to go abroad, while the last group of people cannot even dare to dream. Hani and Yena belonged to either of the first two groups; therefore, their plans were “dream-able.” While both of them acknowledged that the cost would be a burden to them, they could earn enough money for a semester abroad by working part-time at local stores (Hani) and tutoring middle schoolers (Yena).

To feed their passion to go abroad, they had to have a certain level of socioeconomic status.

Second, their transnational mobility was supported by their universities’ pursuit of globalization and higher rankings. The number of inbound and outbound exchange students determines 10% of the “educational condition” section of the national university ranking index

(JoongAng Ilbo, 2018), as calculated by JoongAng Ilbo, arguably the most referenced university ranking list in Korea. Accordingly, both universities actively provided resources to encourage students to apply for exchange student programs and ultimately help the universities increase their rankings. For instance, although Hani did not have the standardized English test scores required to be eligible for the exchange student program, Hani enrolled in a TOEIC program sponsored by her university to obtain a high enough score to be eligible. She succeeded in earning a high score and was finally accepted to her chosen program. Yena, too, was able to benefit from an exchange student buddy program sponsored by her university to interact with and gain information from the exchange students who came to her university. She narrowed down her search based on this information and applied to her chosen program (the result was pending at the time of data collection).

In contrast to Hani and Yena, Jiwon planned to apply to au pair and working holiday programs, which are typical examples of young women’s low-skilled migration. An au pair provides childcare and housework to a host family in exchange for room, board, and a small

106 stipend. A working holiday grants an individual permission to work in a foreign country for a short term, usually in a low-skilled job. In the case of Australia, the visa-holder must work in farming, mining, construction, fishing, or plant and animal cultivation for 88 days to obtain a second visa to stay one more year (Australian Government Department of Home Affairs, 2018).

Both au pair stays and working holidays are precarious, temporary, low-skilled, and poorly compensated types of employment that are unpopular among the citizens of the destination countries.

Despite the working conditions, Jiwon perceived living abroad to be more liberating than living in Korea, in the sense that she could be free from the pressure to compete and undergo the gongchae rite of passage. It is important to note that her imagination was not a mere romanticization of living abroad, as she already had had an au pair experience in the United

Kingdom and described it as “unfavorable.” She was well aware that she might experience discrimination against foreigners, a language barrier, and negligence as she had in her previous au pair work; however, she believed that such struggles would be less difficult than experiencing the discrimination against women in the Korean workplace.

While Section 5.2 showed how neoliberalism shapes competition in the Korean job market, the theme showcases another facet of neoliberalism: the borderless flow of merchandise, investments, and humans. The international exchange student programs and working holiday agreements across the globe afforded the female participants the transnational mobility they needed to feed their passion abroad. However, it should be noted that the mobility was only accessible to those who already had sufficient material resources (Hani and Yena) or those who were ready to undertake precarious and low-skilled jobs and bear discrimination (Jiwon).

107 5.4 Chapter summary

This chapter explored how Korean jobseekers interpret and negotiate the neoliberal norms of competition in the job market. The male jobseekers interpreted the competition as a legitimate rite of passage into adulthood, trying their best to mold themselves into injaesang with passion, which could be self-exploitive. In contrast, the female participants interpreted the competition as something suffocating, daunting, and possibly discriminatory. They explored alternate ways of life beyond the gongchae process, and they decided to go abroad by taking full advantage of the transnational mobility afforded to them by neoliberalism.

Chapter 6

The reasons for studying for standardized English tests and developing oral proficiency

The chapter presents findings with regard to the second research question, “For what reasons do the Korean jobseekers study for the standardized English tests and develop oral

English proficiency?” Like the previous chapter, this chapter begins by providing descriptions of all six participants’ English learning backgrounds in Section 6.1. Then it presents two overarching themes: “English for job purposes” and “English for studying or working abroad” in

Sections 6.2 and 6.3, respectively. In each section, I present two subthemes with regard to the participants’ reasons for studying English.

6.1 The participants’ English learning background

All of the participants learned English in Korea from Grade 3 to Grade 12 in public elementary and secondary schools, which use a standardized national curriculum designed by the

Ministry of Education in Korea. In college, they took mandatory basic English courses and a few courses taught in English. Therefore, all of them had taken courses that had been designed using the principles of CLT and EMI, as discussed in Section 3.4.

All of them voluntarily joined the program to develop their English skills for three reasons. First, they thought that they had not had sufficient exposure to authentic English and opportunities to practice speaking English in the elementary, secondary, and tertiary classrooms.

Despite the availability of CLT and EMI courses, public education alone was unable to provide the participants with sufficient opportunities to develop satisfactory English skills.

109 Second, they felt that test-oriented learning is not enough to develop English skills. All of them had experience in studying English for taking high-stakes exams, including TOEIC, TOEIC

Speaking, and OPIc. All participants except Hani had attended hakwons, but the hakwons aimed at helping students obtain as high of scores as possible by drilling into them how to produce responses in the test formats. Thus, the participants felt that they needed more opportunities to use English for expressing themselves, not for scoring highly on the tests.

Lastly, none of them had had the opportunity to live in an English-speaking country for an extended period. While each of them had travelled overseas or participated in a short-term exchange student program sponsored by their college, they had no experience studying or living in English-speaking countries. Young Koreans who are able to afford expensive jogi yuhak (early study abroad) or eohagyeonsu (study abroad focused on language learning) in English-speaking countries have more extensive exposure to English, as discussed in Section 3.4. However, the participants in this study had no experience with such expensive opportunities, so they wanted to further develop their English skills in this program.

The six jobseekers began participating in the program for these three primary reasons.

However, the data analysis revealed more complex reasons behind their desire to participate in

English learning activities. Section 6.2 reports on the male participants’ more specific reasons for studying for the tests and improving their oral proficiency while participating in the gongchae process. Section 6.3 explains the female participants’ reasons for improving their oral English proficiency in conjunction with their aspirations to go abroad.

6.2 English for job purposes: Male participants

This section argues that the three male participants, all of whom were actively engaged in job-seeking activities, found hidden reasons for studying for the English tests and improving their

110 oral English proficiency while on the job market. In other words, the male participants gradually realized what went into the black box of English in the gongchae system. English functioned like a black box because while the participants had a superficial understanding of the importance of

English, they did not know exactly how English was used in the gongchae process at the beginning of the program. As they actively participated in the gongchae process, they had the chance to observe the real reasons for studying English, which were contained in the black box.

This point is elaborated on in Sections 6.2.1 and 6.2.2.

6.2.1 English for the standardized tests

In Sections 2.3 and 3.3, I discussed the importance of English in the neoliberal job market and its localization in the Korean job market, respectively. The ability to speak English is an essential skill for competent human capital in the globalized world, and thus Korean corporations ask entry-level white-collar jobseekers to demonstrate their English proficiency. To make their

English proficiency legible, the jobseekers are generally asked to present two pieces of evidence: their test scores (TOEIC, TOEIC Speaking, and/or OPIc), and a demonstration of their oral proficiency during the interview process.

All participants worked hard to achieve the highest scores possible, even though they acknowledged that the test scores did not bear significant relationship to their actual English proficiency. Even worse, immersing themselves in test-preparation activities created side effects, such as stunting their progress toward higher communicative proficiency. Despite the side effects, the participants worked on improving their scores because they realized that the scores could play two roles in the black box of the gongchae process: (1) a spec to outperform those who had studied or lived abroad, and (2) a way to demonstrate their effort and perseverance. This section

111 first describes the three jobseekers’ perceptions of test scores and English proficiency, as well as the two roles of English scores on the job market.

As Byungwoo, Haewon, and Joon were highly motivated to obtain jobs, all of them had exceptionally high scores on the standardized tests even before the program began. According to an official survey released by YBM Korea TOEIC Committee (2018), Korean jobseekers’ mean scores on TOEIC and TOEIC Speaking are 690 and Level 5, respectively; the participants’ scores far exceeded the means (see Table 4.1). Nevertheless, the participants kept saying they needed to increase their scores. Byungwoo aimed at achieving full marks on both tests, Haewon tried to increase his scores without mentioning a specific target score, and Joon aimed for 950 on TOEIC.

One example is Joon’s first picture narrative, shown in Excerpt 6-1. It reports the problems associated with preparing for different tests. Joon learned English primarily through test preparation, and he perceived his knowledge as a series of disjointed pieces, as indicated by his statement that “all of [his learning experiences] were discrete objects because I studied only for the tests” in the excerpt below. This prevented him from using English for communication.

Excerpt 6-1. Joon’s first picture narrative

Prompt: What does English mean to you? Put a picture that illustrates your meaning and compose one- or two-

paragraph narrative.

7 This image is not the original picture used by Joon. The copyright holder of the original image could not be identified, so I purchased this image that best resembled Joon’s meaning.

112

“English is like an elephant.”

Visually impaired people touch different parts of the elephant and describe it all differently. Even though I have studied English for a long time, English has always been like an elephant that I touch as a blind person. I have studied Korean Scholastic Ability Test, TOEIC, TOEIC Speaking, and English literature so far, but all of them felt like disjointed pieces. As I have studied English only for the tests for which I have prepared, I did not feel like it is being built into one complete object. As a result, I was brought away from natural English conversation. I would like to take this opportunity to complete one elephant to use English well.

"영어는 코끼리 같습니다."

장님들은 제각각 코끼리의 신체 부위를 만지며 모두 다른 묘사를 합니다. 오랫동안 영어를 공부했지만, 항상

영어는 제게 장님인 채로 만지는 코끼리와 같았습니다. 수능,토익,토익스피킹,영미문학 등을 지금까지

공부했지만, 모두 따로 노는 느낌이 강했기 때문입니다. 지금까지 준비 했던 영어 시험의 성격에 맞게만

공부하다보니 하나의 완성체로 쌓아지는 느낌이 들지 않았습니다. 그러다보니 자연스럽게 영어를 구사하는

회화에는 점점 멀어지게 되었습니다. 이번 기회를 통해서 하나의 코끼리를 완성시켜 써먹을 수 있는 영어로

거듭났으면 좋겠습니다.

Why did the participants work so hard to achieve near-perfect test scores, even though they were aware that the test-preparation activities did not meaningfully increase their proficiency? Byungwoo found that beyond their superficial importance, English test scores could help him to outperform those who had obtained diplomas overseas and were colloquially called haewaepa (literally translated as “overseas faction,” which means Koreans who had lived overseas). It was generally believed that a diploma from an Anglophone developed country such as the United States or Canada constituted a higher spec than a domestic diploma. Even though

Byungwoo had extensive experience living in Uzbekistan and Russia, this experience did not make him a haewaepa, because the countries are non-English-speaking and not as developed as the North American countries. Byungwoo instead was classified as guknaepa (literally translated as “domestic faction,” meaning those who had stayed in Korea), because he had no experience with studying English in an English-speaking country. This perceived lack had propelled him to

113 work to outperform his haewaepa competitors by presenting perfect scores on both the TOEIC and TOEIC Speaking tests (for a more detailed description of the rivalry between haewaepa and guknaepa, see J. Cho [2016]). Although perfect test scores may not have been sufficient to demonstrate that Byungwoo spoke more fluent English than the haewaepa candidates, the scores could at least testify to the effort and diligence he had put into preparing for the different jobs.

While Byungwoo aggressively aimed at outperforming haewaepa candidates, Haewon and Joon sought to meet social expectations to achieve a score of at least 900 on TOEIC. They reported that 900 on TOEIC was the baseline for liberal arts and social science majors (called

문과 moongwa in Korean). Accordingly, Haewon tried to increase his TOEIC score from 850 to

900. Joon sensed the pressure, too, writing (see Figure 6-1 below): “Moongwa (liberal arts and social sciences). - Engineering majors are relatively free (from the pressure to achieve a high score on TOEIC), but there is social perception that Moongwa majors must achieve higher than

900 in TOEIC and possess good enough English conversation skills. I’m sad that I don’t satisfy the latter.”

Figure 6-1. Joon’s response to the motivation self-assessment worksheet

114 The pressure that Haewon and Joon perceived could be attributed to three causes. First of all, the pressure to achieve exceptional TOEIC and/or TOEIC Speaking test scores is pervasive in undergraduate students’ life, as the scores are necessary to fulfill university graduation requirements, earn merit-based scholarships, and demonstrate eligibility for the majority of entry- level, white-collar, and well-respected job posts in South Korea (YBMNET, 2018b). Second, the jobseekers were propelled to achieve as high of scores as possible because of the “score inflation” phenomenon, which means that the mean score of jobseekers was steadily increasing due to intensified competition (M. Kim et al., 2018). Lastly, TOEIC scores could be a means of signifying the jobseekers’ effort and perseverance in preparing for the jobs (M. Kim et al., 2019).

This section illustrates that each of the male participants used test scores for a different purpose than demonstrating their English proficiency. According to the official TOEIC scoring descriptors, a high score means that the test takers should be able to “interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party.” (Educational Testing Service, 2012, p. 2) However, the efforts put into test preparation were not directed towards developing the fluency and spontaneity, as shown in

Joon’s metaphor of an elephant. Rather, the test scores were used as a tool to outperform haewaepa candidates who were thought to have better English skills. High test scores were also thought to constitute a spec needed to meet social expectations and keep up with the other jobseekers on the market.

6.2.2 English for the interview process

While all of the male participants were experienced in and familiar with English tests, they felt nervous and anxious about speaking English. This hesitation motivated them to join this eight-week program to practice their English interviewing skills. This section presents two

115 themes based on the participants’ data: (1) the importance of integrating Korean norms with

English skills, and (2) deep concern and trauma regarding English interviews. Byungwoo’s data illustrate the first theme, and Haewon’s and Joon’s data speak to the second theme.

Byungwoo initially felt anxious about speaking English in an interview setting because he did not have much experience in speaking and his competitors were mostly haewaepa, who were thought to have more competence in speaking English than he and the other guknaepa candidates. He had mainly applied to international sales representative positions where eight out of ten candidates held a degree from an English-speaking country. He was one of the few guknaepa, which made him nervous about his upcoming English interview.

However, as Byungwoo navigated the English interview process, he realized the importance of using Koreanized English and cultural norms during the interview. He was invited to English interviews almost every other week, so he consistently rehearsed for the English interviews while attending the program. In the Week 3 PS, when Byungwoo was preparing for an

English interview for a sales position, he asked me how to gesture during the interview. I could not understand his point at first, so Byungwoo elaborated, “When I get to the (English) interview, one case is to have it in front of Koreans and the other case is to have the interview in front of foreigners who were employed by them. But there is attitudinal difference, well in the interview with Koreans, you have to greet them formally and there are some cases like that, so is it right to do it differently in front of foreigners? (면접을 보게 되면 한국인 앞에서 면접을 보는 경우가

있고 그 거기서 고용한 외국인 앞에서 면접을 보는 경우가 있잖아요. 근데 그 태도 차이가,

아무래도 한국 면접은 좀 어쨌든 들어가도 인사도 딱딱하게 해야 되고 그런 경우가 있는데

외국인 앞에서는 아무래도 다르게 하는게 맞는 거겠죠?)” My immediate response was that acting naturally and being friendly would be the norm in English interviews; however, Byungwoo pointed out that it was common for Korean interviewers to assess Korean candidates in English

116 interviews, and it would thus be better to follow Korean norms because Korean interviewers are strict about nonverbal as well as verbal communication. Byungwoo described some Korean norms: “I have to sit like this [sitting upright] in the interview with Koreans (한국 사람들끼리

면접 볼 때는 앉는 자세부터 이렇게 하잖아요)” and “If there is a table, we have to do like this no matter what [putting his two hands on his lap under the table] (만약에 테이블이 있다면

우리나라 같은 경우 이렇게 해야 하잖아요 무조건).”

Byungwoo tried to use Korean norms in his written English as well. For the Week 4 PS, he brought his English résumé and asked for my advice. I noticed that he kept using “learned” in the résumé, such as in the statements indicating that he had “learned how to navigate cultural and linguistic barriers” and “learned how to become a global leader.” I advised using action verbs instead of “learned” to mention specific achievements. Byungwoo replied that he was aware that actions and achievements should be mentioned in an English résumé but that Korean recruiters prefer to know more about what a candidate has learned from an experience. He thus decided to keep the expressions as they were. These two examples indicate that even though he was asked to speak and write in English, he felt it was important to keep Korean ways of speaking and writing, since Koreans were likely to have the power of selecting candidates in the English interviews.

Byungwoo’s strategy to play to the norms of Korean interviewers was also powerful for beating out haewaepa candidates in the interview process. His experience contradicted the common belief that haewaepa had a competitive edge because of the symbolic capital of the foreign diploma. In Weeks 5 and 6, Byungwoo shared stories of two English interviews he had done during those weeks. In Week 5, he had participated in an interview at a multinational noodle company, and he had been the only guknaepa in the interview room. The other two interviewees had graduated from universities in the United States. Excerpt 6-1 below is Byungwoo’s narration of the experience:

117

Excerpt 6-1. Byungwoo’s explanation about his interview experience

Byungwoo: The two people (the other interviewees) did undergraduate studies in the US. One lived in the US for

seven years and the other graduated a university there. So, well, yesterday, after it (the interview) was finished, we

all went out of the room, and went to take an elevator. One interviewee said to me, “how was your English

interview?” She asked me because I am Hankookpa (the other name for Guknaepa). She asked it in a little despising

manner.

Miso: Oh, that’s not good.

Byungwoo: She asked like, wasn’t the English interview difficult for me, and was it okay to me. I said something

like “I responded to all questions.” Then, she was, like, to me, it seemed like she wanted to despise me. So well, I

asked, how was the English interview, and she said it was easy. So I said I responded to all questions. But I felt like

she wanted to despise me. She asked me “then how well do you speak Ukraine?” I said I worked as an interpreter

and translator and she shut up. But my performance was the best in the interview among the three candidates.

병우: 근데 이 두 사람이 다 미국에서 학부를 다 나왔더라고요. 어떤 사람은 미국에서 7 년 거주했고 어떤

사람은 대학교는 다 그쪽에서 나왔다고 하더라고요. 그래서 제가 근데 어제 약간 같이 이제 끝나고

나가잖아요, 엘리베이터 타러 가는데, 저한테 그러는 거에요, “영어면접 잘 보셨나요?” 저한테

물어보는거에요 왜냐면 저는 한국파니까. 약간 무시하듯이 물어보는거에요.

미소: 어머 좀 싫다.

병우: 영어면접 어렵지 않으셨냐고 괜찮으셨냐고 이런 식으로 물어보는 거에요. “질문에는 다 답했어요”

이런식으로 얘기했거든요. 그랬더니 약간 저한테, 저를 좀 무시하고 싶으셨나봐요 그래서 뭐, 제가

여쭤봤죠 영어면접 어떠셨어요 물어봤더니 쉬웠어요 이렇게 얘기하시더라고요. 그래서 저는 질문에만 다

답했다고 얘기했거든요. 근데 무시하려고 저한테 하는 느낌이 있더라고요. 저한테 물어보더라고요 “그럼

우크라이나어 얼마나 잘하세요?” 하더라고요. 저 통번역사로 일했는데요 하니까 아무말도 못하더라고요.

그런데 면접은 제가 제일 잘 봤어요 세 명 중에.

Byungwoo’s narration reveals his disdain for the guknaepa candidates and his confidence that he could beat out the haewaepa in the selection process. Byungwoo felt that the haewaepa candidate’s question implied disdain for him, because the question connoted that Byungwoo must

118 have found the English interview difficult and must not have performed as proficiently as the haewaepa candidate herself. However, Byungwoo felt confident that he had outperformed the haewaepa candidate. He thought he had responded to the English questions well and that his proficiency in Ukraine constituted an outstanding spec.

Byungwoo’s tension with haewaepa continued during another interview in Week 6, in which three out of four candidates had graduated from foreign universities. Some of them had graduated from well-known public universities, such as Michigan State University. While

Byungwoo thought that the haewaepa candidates might have a competitive edge, he found that the interviewers asked challenging questions to haewaepa candidates, such as “Why did you come back to Korea?” and “Why didn’t you get a job there?” The questions suggested that the interviewers perceived the candidates as unable to compete on the overseas job market and thus those candidates were not evaluated favorably. In addition, Byungwoo thought that their responses to the English questions were not as well-practiced as his.

Throughout his job market experience, Byungwoo realized a few things that went into the black box of English: (1) the privileged variety of English in the Korean job market was

Koreanized English, which helped him impress the interviewers by simultaneously showing working fluency in English and adherence to Korean hierarchical cultural norms; and (2) although it seemed like the haewaepa candidates had an advantage in terms of their diplomas from English-speaking countries and their English proficiency, they may not have had such a competitive edge. Based on this experience, Byungwoo felt that he could be more confident about his specs and he did not fall into the trap of self-blaming.

While Byungwoo gradually learned the mysteries of the black box and worked hard to outperform haewaepa candhidates, Haewon and Joon were unable to glimpse into the box and thus blamed themselves for their inability to speak fluent English. They reported that they were suffering from “English interview trauma.” As mentioned briefly in Section 5.2.1, Haewon said

119 he was “all beaten up (탈탈 털리다)” during one English interview in which he was not able to respond to the first question, could not keep the interviewers’ attention, and ultimately was rejected. He used the word “trauma” to describe the experience, as seen in Figure 6-2, which reads, “short term – English interview – one of the reasons I applied to this session at the beginning was my English interview trauma.” The traumatic experience led him to try to avoid

English interviews as much as possible. However, his dream corporation, AAA Department

Store, required him to sit for four interviews on a single day: (1) an interview with managers, (2) an interview with executives, (3) a presentation interview, and (4) an English interview. Although he had intensely prepared for the English interview questions from Weeks 1 to 4, he came to the

Week 5 WS with a devastated look, saying that he had completely failed at the English interview.

The interviewer had asked candidates to read a passage about the relationship between sleep and productivity and summarize it in English. He tried but finished his response without coming to a conclusion. He reprimanded himself for the mistake for the entire session that day, saying that he was too pathetic to succeed. Although he admitted that the other interviewees were no better than him, he blamed himself for not performing as fluently as he wanted.

Figure 6-2. Haewon’s response to a worksheet in Week 2

The English interview was also a nightmare for Joon. In the first week of PS, Joon, his PS partner, and I were practicing icebreaker questions. Joon’s PS partner asked Joon, “What was a crisis you have faced in your life?” Joon shared his experience of an English interview at a

120 securities firm. While attending the three-day interview8, Joon initially felt at ease because he had been told that there was no English interview. However, he was walking down the hallway at his hotel when an interviewer suddenly approached him and asked, “How would you persuade your customer?” in English. He described the “crisis” in this way:

Excerpt 6-2. Joon’s description of the interview at a securities firm

1 J: They told, told me that they do not ask about (1.6) something in English.

2 But when I get, get in there↑, uh, interview, they ask about (2.9) what is your (4.0) ask

3 about something in English, like, >what is the best< (3.0) method to persuade others?

4 And the easy thing is what is your (.) habit, habit?

5 M: Habit what?

6 J: Habit of my free time? >Actually< I do not, I do not prepare, the, English interview,

7 so I, I, I cannot speak (2.7) answer in English well. So I feel, felt very nervous↑

8 and result very bad. (laugh) […]

9 But I said, first, question↑, is really really stupid, I said really stupid (.) answer↓.

10 Like, I speak again and again and again, ((laughs)) but I really want to, about,

11 and, and, they (.) reacted, ah they know, reacting?

12 M: They did not react?

13 J: They did not react about what I answered. So, then, then, then they asked (.)

14 easy question, like (2.5) uh second question, what do you do in the free time.

15 I usually go to the gym↑ to °improve my ability, running and lifting.°

16 It is easy but after that they, they told me that this English interview is not,

17 is not going to interrupt your result↑

18 M: Ah it is not graded?

19 J: It’s not graded yes. But at that time, my crisis.

8 When recruiting entry-level employers, large-sized corporations host a two or three-day interview in a nearby city with all other candidates and interviewers staying in the same hotel. The applicants have to navigate a series of tasks, which typically include a presentation, negotiation, debate, discussion, and English interviews.

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Instead of criticizing the interviewer for his off-the-cuff English question, Joon blamed himself for not performing well enough. The words he used to describe his response to the first question in Excerpt 6-2 are “very nervous” (line 7), “very bad” (line 8), “really stupid” (line 9), and “speak again and again and again” (line 10). All of the words are about his (perceived) inability, not the interviewer’s mistake. The corporation had announced that an English interview would not take place, but the interviewer failed to abide by this provision. Even though Joon could have attributed his clumsy response to the interviewer’s whim, he reprimanded himself and called it a “crisis.”

He thought he had not gotten the job because of his response, although the interviewer had assured him that the response was not going to influence the result (see Excerpt 6-2, lines 16–

17, “this English interview is not, not going to interrupt your result”). Similar to Haewon, Joon recalled this experience as a “trauma.” The trauma motivated him to practice English interviewing skills intensively, but at the same time, it increased his anxiety about speaking

English. On the one hand, Joon was highly committed to performing well in English interviews, devoting six PSs to preparing for them. On the other hand, Joon suffered from anxiety and insecurity associated with speaking English, as he kept saying, “I can only say what I prepared and I cannot speak what’s in my head, so I feel pathetic (준비한 것만 말할 수 있고 그냥 머리

속에 있는 말들을 하지 못한다는 것이 안타깝다).” Even though Joon had prepared for the

English interviews intensively, the anxiety did not decrease. It ceased only after he obtained a job at a finance firm through an application process that did not include an English interview.

Joon’s and Haewon’s cases show the intense anxiety young Koreans experience when using English due to the mysteries of the black box recruiting process. From the participants’ point of view, English interviews are high-stakes. However, their English proficiency does not

122 necessarily play an important role in their outcomes, as Haewon obtained a job despite his (self- evaluated) sloppy performance and Joon’s interviewer told him that Joon’s response to the informal English question did not count toward his evaluation. Nevertheless, the participants did not have access to detailed evaluation criteria, they were not in a position to challenge the interviewers’ or corporations’ policies, and they had been only one (Joon) or two (Haewon)

English interviews. For these reasons, Haewon and Joon had intense anxiety about speaking

English in an interview setting, whereas Byungwoo was able to have a glimpse into the black box and worked hard to outperform haewaepa candidates.

This section described two themes related to the male jobseekers’ reasons for learning

English: (1) achieving high scores and (2) succeeding at English interviews. Section 6.2.1 showed that the participants’ reason for studying standardized English tests was not to demonstrate their

English proficiency; instead, the reason was to build a “spec” to outperform others (Byungwoo) or to meet social expectations (Haewon and Joon). Section 6.2.2 showed the participants’ reasons for practicing English interviewing skills: suppressing their anxiety and trauma (Byungwoo,

Haewon, and Joon) and outperforming haewaepa candidates (Byungwoo).

6.3 English for studying or working abroad: Female participants

This section discusses the female participants’ reasons for studying English. The female participants were not as invested in earning high scores on standardized tests as the male participants were, because the test scores are less important when going abroad. Rather, the female participants were more interested in practicing English for enjoyment and freedom. The following sections introduce the various themes.

123 6.3.1 English for enjoyment

While two of the male participants were frightened of speaking English, the female participants found enjoyment in speaking English. This is because the male participants practiced

English for high-stakes job purposes, whereas the female participants used English to interact with people from diverse language backgrounds. To them, English was not a mysterious black box but a source of enjoyment.

Previous studies have conceptualized enjoyment in second-language (L2) learning in diverse ways. First, theories of L2 motivation consider enjoyment as part of language learning motivation, be it an inherent tendency to learn more (intrinsic motivation) (e.g., Noels, 2001;

Noels, Clement, & Vallerand, 2000) or the willingness to be integrated with the target language community (integrative motivation) (e.g., Gardner, 1985; Gardner & Lambert, 1959). Second, psychological studies on individual differences in L2 learning regard enjoyment a learner-internal variable that plays a role in L2 proficiency (e.g., Dewaele, Witney, Saito, & Dewaele, 2017;

Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015). Third, studies on Japanese female learners use the term akogare (desire or longing) to refer to learning English for leisure and romantic purposes (e.g., Bailey, 2007;

Kubota, 2011a; Motha & Lin, 2014; Piller & Takahashi, 2018). The learners enjoy practicing

English conversation for interacting with idealized white male native speakers of English

(Kubota, 2011a).

However, none of the frameworks accounts for the female participants’ English learning for enjoyment, because the enjoyment was derived from their feelings of liberation from the

Korean society and culture that suppressed them. They found learning English enjoyable because it provided a means to connect them with the broader world where they could be liberated from the constraints of Korean society discussed in Section 5.3.2, such as unjust and unethical practices (Hani), pressure (Yena), and gender-based discrimination (Jiwon). This section first

124 introduces each female participant’s story of enjoyment and then discusses the reasons to expand the framework of English-learning enjoyment.

This section primarily draws on the female participants’ picture narratives in which the participants used metaphors to illustrate what English means to them. The metaphors in the narratives succinctly capture how the participants saw English in relation to their social contexts and how they found enjoyment in learning English.

In their first picture narratives, Hani, Yena, and Jiwon likened English to an airplane, a bridge, and a road, respectively. All of the metaphors suggest that English is a means to connect one place to another. However, there are slight differences in directionality and connection. The differences are briefly summarized in Table 6-1 below.

Table 6-1. Summary of the female participants’ metaphors

Hani Yena Jiwon

(Metaphor: an airplane) (Metaphor: a bridge) (Metaphor: a road)

Directionality Unidirectional (Korea Bidirectional (Korea ↔ Bidirectional (Korea ↔

→ Foreign countries) Foreign countries) Foreign countries)

Connection English connected her English connected her English connected her

to foreign countries and to foreign countries and to temporary overseas

friends friends work opportunities

First of all, Hani’s first picture narrative (Excerpt 6-3 below) connotes unidirectionality and connection from Korea to foreign countries and friends. It is unidirectional because her narrative focuses on traveling abroad for her happiness but does not presuppose returning. The last line of her picture narrative says she wanted to “take off” from Korea to her happiness. Her happiness is “to travel (abroad) and talk with good people while listening to good music,” which

125 she felt she could not find in Korea because Korean society was “killing” her, as discussed in

Section 5.3.1. In addition, her narrative connotes connection, because the airplane (i.e., English) allows her to be connected to “good people” abroad. In short, the narrative reveals a tripartite relationship among conversation in foreign countries, English, and her happiness: English brings happiness to her because it enables her to go to foreign countries and interact with new people.

Excerpt 6-3. Hani’s first picture narrative

Prompt: What does English mean to you? Put a picture that illustrates your meaning and compose one- or two-

paragraph narrative.

Since my first travel to foreign countries, the biggest shock was not my lack of speaking skills but the frustration

that I could not communicate well enough with others. If I were more experienced in English speaking, I would

have been able to share deep conversation with the people I met there, and I felt sad about that. I decided to study

English conversation, but the tuition was a burden to me and I had no person to talk with in English. So I could not

give it a try, although I have been thinking about it a lot. For me, it is great happiness to travel and talk with good

people while listening to good music. The basic requirement for this is English, the world language. So, English is

my preparation for traveling abroad and a take-off to my happiness.

처음 여행갔을 때부터, 지금까지 저에게 가장 큰 충격을 주었던 것은 저의 부족한 스피킹 실력도 아닌,

소통에 대한 아쉬움이었습니다. 내가 만약 스피킹에 익숙했다면, 여행에서 만났던 분들과 더 좋은

이야기, 더 깊은 이야기를 더 할 수 있었지 않을까 하는 마음이 항상 슬프게 남았습니다. 귀국 후 영어

9 The image is not the original one used by Hani. The original could not be included because of copyright issues. She had Googled a clipart image and included it her narrative, but the original artist could not be identified. Instead, I purchased an image that best resembled her image.

126

말하기 공부를 해 보자 다짐했지만, 스피킹 학원비에 대한 부담도 있었고 무엇보다 주변에 가까이 영어로

소통할 분이 없어서 매번 생각만 한 채 시도를 하지 못했습니다. 저에게는 여행에서 좋은 사람과 좋은

음악을 들으며 대화하는 것이 큰 행복입니다. 그리고 그 여행에서 가장 기본적인 준비물은 세계공용어인

영어라고 생각합니다. 즉 영어는 저에겐 여행의 준비이자, 저의 행복으로 다가갈 수 있는 이륙이라고

생각합니다.

The topics Hani wanted to talk about with “good people while listening to good music” were mainly philosophical, humanistic, and thought-provoking in nature. These kinds of topics are not usually welcome in Korean everyday conversation. She was deeply interested in philosophy as she felt that it liberated her from the here-and-now constraints and deepened her value system. Therefore, using English, Hani practiced talking about philosophical topics during

PSs. While the male jobseekers used practical, job-oriented materials, Hani brought short movie clips and philosophical discussion questions.

One example of her materials is shown in Excerpt 6-4. In Week 6, she brought an activity on love. The activity was divided into “Before the session …” and “In Group Session.” A few days prior to the session, she shared it with her PS partner and me and encouraged us to watch the clip and read the article written by her and published in her university newspaper. In the PS, she gave a synopsis of the movie and presented two discussion questions, as indicated in the excerpt below.

Excerpt 6-4. Hani’s materials and activities in Week 6

[ Before the session ... ]

Becuase this week's movie has very unusual backstory and directing, I would recommend you see the preview or article below to further discuss our questions.

( It is okay you don't see these if you don't have much time! )

127

Preview : https://youtu.be/pZ9v_1iK_Y8

Article : http://www.AAA.net/mobile/index.aspx?sid=00000&pageno=0010

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

[ In Group Session The lobster ]

Clip ( 0:00-4:00) : https://youtu.be/qTrg3F8mGoY

1. What animal/plant you would like to be if you are in that situation?

2. How do you think about 'we should love same spieces or similar person like us'? ( = In your life, what have made you love someone? )

Hani was highly enthusiastic in leading the discussion. For instance, Hani asked her PS partner the second discussion question and clarified it by introducing the question in the parentheses. The partner said that it was familiarity that makes him fall in love with someone.

Hani first demonstrated agreement with his opinion but then began expressing her own view in

English. Citing a novel by the famous Korean writer Yeonsu Kim, Hani said in English, “He saying that the love is the road of we walking. And through the agony. Agony to understand other person.” What she meant was that love is walking together with one’s partner and sharing the agony so as to better understand the partner. She further elaborated that love was not only sharing similarities but also experiencing frequent arguments and overcoming difficulties. Throughout the dialogue, Hani was able to equip herself with the English expressions she wanted to use and clarify her thoughts.

Throughout the program, Hani brought philosophical movies and discussion questions.

She genuinely enjoyed leading the sessions and picking up new English expressions with which to express herself. To continue the enjoyment, she joined a language exchange group after the eight-week period concluded. In the group, she met new people from around the world,

10 The web address of the article in the excerpt was modified to protect her identity.

128 befriended some of them who had interests similar to hers, and spoke English when discussing these topics further.

Hani’s enjoyment of learning English can be summarized by the metaphor of the airplane she had used. English was truly an “airplane” to her—she practiced how to “take-off to her happiness” in the program by discussing philosophical topics with her PS partner and me, and she

“took off” to the language exchange group to talk about the topics with diverse people from around the world. Her ultimate plan was to depart for Canada or a European country where she could participate in an exchange student program. She enjoyed learning English because English could take her from Korea to the broader world, like an airplane does. However, she did not wish to return, which shows her skeptical attitude toward Korean society. This point distinguishes her from the other female participants whose metaphors embodied bidirectionality (Yena and Jiwon).

Indeed, Yena’s metaphor of English was a bridge, which signifies bidirectionality and connection. In her first picture narrative (Excerpt 6-5), she explained that English was a bridge to her because it connected her to new people from around the world. While both Hani and Yena were aware of negative aspects of Korean society (discussed in Section 5.3.1) and enjoyed using

English to communicate with foreigners, Hani wanted to leave Korea and find her future abroad, whereas Yena did not assume a permanent separation from Korea. The difference is shown in the metaphor: Yena’s picture, the Seongsan Bridge in Seoul, crosses the Han River and connects the busiest parts of Seoul. Thousands of cars and people cross the bridge every day. Moreover, Yena wanted to use English as a bridge to connect her with new people and go back and forth, rather than cut herself off from Korea.

Excerpt 6-5. Yena’s first picture narrative

Prompt: What does English mean to you? Put a picture that illustrates your meaning and compose one- or two- paragraph narrative.

129

English is a bridge that enabled me to meet new things. When I first met a foreign teacher, I felt s/he was very

amazing and I wanted to talk with the teacher who looked different from me and who used a different language. I

didn’t learn English as a school subject, so I liked learning English and after I began college it was most enjoyable

to talk with foreigners while traveling overseas. My favorite part is that I can talk with everyone by using English

and it is one feature of English, so English is a bridge for communication for me. I am trying hard. Through this

program, I want to develop my English conversation skills more systematically and achieve positive outcomes by

getting a position in a company I want to and talking deeply with the people I meet at the job.

제게 영어는 새로운 것을 만날 수 있게 해준 다리입니다. 영어를 처음 배울때 만났던 외국인 선생님이 정말

신기했고 나랑 다른 모습, 언어를 쓰는 이 사람과 얘기해보고 싶다는 생각을 했습니다. 학문으로만

접하지않았기 때문에 영어를 배우는 것이 좋았고 대학에 와서도 해외여행을 다니며 외국인들과 대화를 할

수 있다는 것이 가장 즐거웠습니다. 영어를 통해서 누구하고나 말을 할 수 있다는 점이 가장 좋고 영어의

특성이라 생각하기때문에 제게 영어는 소통의 다리입니다.노력을 하고 있습니다. 이번 프로그램을 통해 좀

더 체계적으로 영어회화 실력 향상을 통해 앞으로 제가 가고싶은 회사와 직무, 또 그것을 통해 만나는

사람들과 깊은 대화를 통해 긍정적인 결과를 이뤄내고 싶습니다.

Despite her deep interest in interacting with others in English, Yena found few opportunities to do so in Korea. She attended a TOEIC Speaking hakwon, but the hakwon provided her structures to formulate a response rather than giving her actual opportunities to interact in English. Instead, Yena found some foreign friends at her church with whom to interact.

At first, she could not help asking short and closed questions such as “How are you?” and “Where

130 do you live?” She consulted me about this problem, so we jointly practiced initiating a conversation with longer and deeper questions related to Yena and her friends’ interests. We agreed that it would be better for Yena to practice everyday conversation.

As she was motivated to speak English for conversation, Yena was passionate about learning colloquial and informal expressions popular among young women. She was not interested in producing fixed and structured responses as the male participants were; rather, she was enthusiastic about building her colloquial communicative repertoires. For instance, from

Weeks 3 to 6, she brought YouTube cosmetology videos recorded by Korean-American or British makeup artists, and she took note of phrasal and colloquial expressions that were not usually listed in vocabulary books in Korea, such as “pair it up with,” “move on over,” and “blend in.”

Moreover, when I introduced different types of online vocabulary and expressions resources in the PS, Yena showed interest in Urban Dictionary (a wiki-like online dictionary for looking up neologisms and slangs) to learn more about hipster-like expressions and popular slang, while her

PS partner, Haewon, was interested in using SkELL (a corpus-based online tool for looking up collocations and example sentences) to construct formal responses to job interview questions. By building up her informal communicative repertoires, Yena was able to talk more naturally with her foreign friends in church and became more confident about her speaking proficiency.

At the end of the session, in her second picture narrative (Figure 6-3 below), Yena described how English was like throwing a party. She elaborated: “I wanted to express that I get excited whenever I get to speak English. In the past, it was a bit scary, though (영어를 사용하는

시간이 오면 신나는 마음을 표현하고 싶었습니다. 예전에는 두려운 마음이 조금 있는

상태였는데).” She used English as a means to communicate casually with international friends, and speaking English brought her enjoyment, as if she were throwing a party.

131

Figure 6-3. Yena’s second picture narrative

The final female participant, Jiwon, created a picture narrative in which she likened

English to a road11. In the first line, she stated, “English is a means to an end,” to emphasize that

English was an instrument for her to achieve her goals. English was like a road that connected her to her goals, including major corporations, graduate schools, and other jobs. She had once failed to reach a goal because of her test score. She was at Level 6 of TOEIC Speaking at the beginning of the program; however, the international sales representative positions she wanted required a minimum of Level 7. Because of the requirement, she could not even file an application. In the narrative, she described the event by saying, “The road was a bit twisted,” and “I had to take a detour.” She described the failure as a “twist” and a “detour,” which is markedly different from word “trauma” used by Haewon and Joon. The difference in metaphors shows that Jiwon

11 This is not the original picture uploaded by Jiwon. The original could not be included here because Jiwon had Googled an online picture posted by an unknown artist and attached it to the narrative. I drew this picture myself to reflect what she had meant in using the original picture.

132 perceived learning English to be a long-term journey that would take her to her destination, rather than a short-term outcome.

Excerpt 6-6. Jiwon’s first picture narrative

Prompt: What does English mean to you? Put a picture that illustrates your meaning and compose one- or two-

paragraph narrative.

English is a means to an end, not an end in itself. My goal is to do internationally valuable things and live happily.

To do so, English is like a road to my destination. I think that my English skills should be ready not only for getting

a job in major corporations but also for seizing other opportunities like graduate schools or other jobs. But I could

not even file an application to international sales representative positions in major corporations during this

Gongchae season because my English speaking scores were not high enough. I know that the road was a bit twisted

(i.e., the things didn’t turn out well), but I decided to chart my own course to my destination even though I had to

take a detour. I have been practicing English speaking skills alone, and I saw the advertisement. I was wandering

alone, but I think this opportunity will help me to go to the right path or take a shortcut.

저에게 영어는 그 자체가 목적이 아니라 수단입니다. 제 목표는 국제적으로 가치있는 일을 하면서 행복하게

사는 삶입니다. 그러기 위해서 영어는 목적지로 향하는 길과 같습니다. 현재 대기업을 들어가기 위해서만이

아니라 그 후에 대학원을 가던지 다른 이직의 기회를 갖게 되던지 하더라도 제 영어실력이 준비되어 있어야

가능하다고 생각합니다. 하지만 이번 하반기 공채에서 가고 싶었던 대기업들의 해외영업 부문에

영어스피킹 점수가 모자라 지원조차 하지 못했습니다. 길이 조금 꼬였지만 조금 돌아가더라도 목적지로

133

향해야겠다는 마음으로 혼자 영어스피킹 공부를 하던 찰나에 이 공지를 보게 되었습니다. 이 기회가 혼자

헤매던 길을 올바른 길 혹은 지름길로 갈 수 있는 기회가 될 것 같습니다.

Jiwon was different from the other female participants in that she found enjoyment by seeking opportunities to work abroad based on her previous experience. While the other two female participants sought opportunities to communicate, Jiwon looked for temporary work opportunities. Two examples of her previous experiences include her au pair experience in the

United Kingdom and her time backpacking in Europe. By using English and earning a small amount of money independently, she could move across boundaries despite a limited budget.

Although she said that her English proficiency was “worse than the two kids (whom she babysat at the au pair home),” she did not cease exploring work opportunities that would allow her to use

English. After the au pair experience, she wrote emails to hostels and homestays to see whether she could stay for a low cost by doing housekeeping or babysitting work. In Week 4, she described the experience as part of a worksheet (Figure 6-4 below). She wrote: “I would say I’m a fast learner. and good at finding a cost-effective way. I had been wanting to travel for few months like staying one place while I’m at college. But my budget was tight and didn’t want to get free money from parents. I googled to find out any hosts who probably want to have me over their home. I stayed about one month in every host limited budget.” The black letters in Korean was written by her peer and mean, “The structure of the story made me to fall into it. I’m jealous.”

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Figure 6-4. Jiwon’s response on the worksheet in Week 4

The au pair and backpacking experiences motivated Jiwon to seek more opportunities abroad after she realized that she did not want to hunt for a job in Korea anymore. In Week 6, she presented her plan for the upcoming year and recounted her memory of working in the home where she was an au pair. She recollected that au pair experience was difficult but helped her increase her English proficiency the most and declared she would try a working holiday in an

English-speaking country again because she believed “the best way (to improve English) is to be immersed in the English-speaking environment.”

Jiwon’s story, as indicated on the worksheet and in her decision, suggests that she enjoyed speaking English because it paved the way for her to access diverse opportunities. She explored different pathways, including international sales representative positions, au pair experiences, backpacking trips, working holidays, and many others. As a traveler explores

135 different pathways and takes a detour when faced with obstacles, Jiwon used English to chart her own course for reaching her goals.

In accounting for the female participants’ enjoyment in learning and speaking English, the previous frameworks discussed in the beginning of the section are not sufficient. Enjoyment cannot be fully explained by intrinsic motivation (e.g., Noels, 2001; Noels, Clement, &

Vallerand, 2000). In fact, in this study, the participants gained enjoyment from extrinsic motivations, such as learning English to go abroad. An integrative orientation (e.g., Gardner,

1985; Gardner & Lambert, 1959) also cannot account for their enjoyment because the participants did not postulate a specific target language community into which to be assimilated; rather, they interacted with a number of different speakers of English worldwide. Their enjoyment cannot be framed as a fixed internal trait (i.e., learner-internal variable) (e.g., Dewaele, Witney, Saito, &

Dewaele, 2017; Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015), since their enjoyment depended on social motivations

(e.g., leaving Korea, interacting with foreigners, and having new opportunities). Lastly, desire or longing (akogare) (e.g., Bailey, 2007; Kubota, 2011a; Motha & Lin, 2014; Piller & Takahashi,

2018) is not sufficient for explaining their enjoyment because their English learning did not presuppose romantic encounters with idealized white males, although their understanding of of foreigners and foreign countries might have been idealized to some degree.

The analysis indicates that the female participants’ enjoyment was linked to freedom from the social pressure in Korean society. While the male participants had to learn English to keep up with the social pressure to obtain decent jobs, the female participants learned English to avoid the pressure and find better lives abroad. The female participants’ enjoyment came from this key difference. They felt that speaking English was enjoyable because English afforded them opportunities to imagine or explore countries where they could be liberated from the pressure and discrimination they perceived at home. These feelings of freedom are key to understanding their enjoyment, as discussed in the following section.

136 6.3.2 English for freedom

Previous literature in applied linguistics has indicated that English learning can be liberating for Asian women, as English allows freedom from the gendered linguistic features of their L1s (Ryan, 2009) and helps them to fulfill their desires (Motha & Lin, 2014). While the liberating effect resonates with the female participants of this study, their senses of liberation extended beyond gendered linguistic features or the fulfillment of their desires. Rather, their senses of liberation were intricately linked with the social pressure they faced and the opportunities they could access by speaking English.

First of all, Hani felt learning English could be liberating for her because it allowed her to move from the suffocating Korean society to another place. As shown in her first picture narrative in the previous section, Hani viewed English as a “take-off” to her happiness. It was as if she were taking an airplane from a place where she felt insecure (i.e., Korea) to a better place (i.e., a foreign country). English afforded her opportunities to move away from the ethical and social problems in Korea that she felt constrained her. By speaking English with diverse people around the world, she felt she could be liberated from the pressure of Korean society and become her true self.

However, the liberating feeling was tempered by her apprehension about speaking

English. Figures 6-5 and 6-6 show the mixture of liberation and apprehension. Picture 6-6 illustrates her motivation for speaking English in a four-frame comic strip, beginning from the bottom right frame and reading clockwise. In Week 4, she explained what the strip meant. The first frame, mentioned in Section 5.3.1, emphasizes that she finds living in Korean society challenging. She had two options: moving to a better place (“Hope to better place”) or making

Korea a better place (“hope to make better”). She wished to choose the latter, because the former looked impossible. The second frame (bottom left) suggests that the world is becoming “flat

137 earth” and the borders are being destroyed. The third frame (top left) shows that the “power of

English” was getting “bigger” in this “flat earth.” The last frame (top right) illustrates the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis and humans falling from the tower. Hani explained she felt as if

English were the tower and she were one of those who were falling. Her comic strip and explanation represent her mixed feelings about English; it was both liberatory and insurmountable at the same time.

Figure 6-5. Hani’s motivation self-assessment

However, the feeling of freedom outweighed Hani’s apprehension. This is clarified in her proficiency self-assessment worksheet presented in Figure 6-6 below. According to Hani, the picture means as follows: Her vocabulary is buried under the tomb (“Mr. Words” in the drawing), her speaking proficiency (“Mr. Mouth”) is dead and has become a ghost, her grammar (“Mr. grammar”) is barely functioning on a wheelchair, and her listening proficiency (represented as an

138 ear at the bottom) is about to be buried. However, all objects follow the road (the two lines beginning from “Mr. Words” are a road) to the fireworks on the top right, which signify “joy.”

Figure 6-6. Hani’s proficiency self-assessment worksheet

Ultimately, even though Hani was struggling with her perceived incompetence in speaking English, she felt that the language still brought her freedom because it helped her move away from the toxic Korean society and provided opportunities for her to interact with diverse people overseas. This feeling of liberation is not directly represented in the previous literature, which has attributed liberating feelings to linguistic features (e.g., Ryan, 2009) or the fulfillment of one’s desire (e.g., Motha & Lin, 2014). Rather, her feelings of freedom stemmed from the mobility of English, which allowed her to move beyond Korean society.

139 Yena also felt English was liberating in the sense that she could escape from her current self (i.e., an incompetent speaker of English who was suffering from peer pressure) and construct an ideal image (i.e., a globally competent marketer in the beauty industry). As discussed in

Section 5.3.2, Yena felt as if she had been left behind because her current specs were not as impressive as those of others who had been abroad. Therefore, she imagined her ideal self, wrote a fictional English résumé, and performed it by using English, whereas other participants used their own résumés and application documents as prompts for discussion. Her fictional résumé presented her as an experienced marketer in charge of exporting Korean beauty items. In Figure

6-7, she wrote: “worked at 아모레퍼시픽(Amorepacific),” “launched New Skin Protection Line”

“associated with 조지오 아르마니(Giorgio Armani), 샤넬(Chanel),” and “exported Cushion

Foundation.” Using this fictional résumé as a basis, she performed the ideal self. For instance, in the Week 2 PS, she introduced herself as a marketer for Amorepacific (a large-sized multinational cosmetics firm in Korea) who was in charge of developing and exporting cushion foundations in collaboration with name-brand cosmetics companies overseas. She introduced different shades of eyeshadows in Week 5 and explained how to design a new lipstick in Week 6.

Figure 6-7. Yena’s fictional résumé

140 Yena felt that it was liberating to use English to perform her ideal self, because English helped her envision her ideals vividly and allowed her to move beyond her current self. In Korea, she was an intermediate-level learner of English with no work experience in the beauty industry; however, in the PS, she could use English as a tool to transgress the here-and-now constraints and envision a future competent self.

Like Hani, Jiwon found English to be liberating because it would allow her to move to different places where there was more respect for cultural diversity and less gender discrimination. As explained in detail in Sections 5.3.1 and 5.3.2, Jiwon changed her focus from job-seeking to applying to working holiday programs and began bringing materials that criticized prevalent gender and family-related ideologies in Korea. For example, her material in Week 7 was a newspaper article in English that reported on a Korean pop star’s, Yoo Ah In’s, Instagram post (M.-S. Yoon, 26 November 2017). Yoo self-identified as a feminist but others labeled him as a misogynist because of his misogynistic Instagram post. After skimming this article, Jiwon criticized Yoo’s action, arguing that “I also read another articles about him. The article said he isn’t a feminist because he treated the people who was sarcastic to him differently. A guy, I don’t know who he is, a guy mentioned in the post, and Yoo Ah In replied in calm manner, but a woman also criticized him, and he was very sarcastic to her. So that is one of the reasons why he isn’t the real feminist in that article I read.” What she meant was that she did not regard Yoo as a feminist because Yoo had responded kindly to a male critic but not to a female critic.

Jiwon cited a poem to further emphasize the discriminatory feeling she had. The poem was written by Moon Chung-Hee, a poet whose works give voice to silenced women in Korean society. The poem is titled “그 많던 여학생들은 어디로 갔는가 (“Where Did That Many Girls

Go”). It laments the reality of girls who are well-educated but are subservient to their male partners, as demonstrated by their cooking soups, doing dishes, caring for children, and serving tea. Citing this poem, Jiwon emphasized, “They (i.e., males) don’t understand the background

141 (i.e., the reality of females),” and further criticized celebrities like Yoo, who used the term

“feminist” to fashion himself as a progressive man while engaging in implicitly misogynistic actions.

The experience of criticizing gender discrimination in English was liberating for Jiwon.

The topic is usually taboo in everyday conversation in Korean, and as such, Jiwon had never had such a conversation in Korean. Women who speak about gender issues have been, and still are, stigmatized in Korea. However, in using English, she was able to bypass the taboo, criticize the celebrity’s misogyny, and share her thoughts on gender discrimination. As she practiced English with her own materials, she had more opportunities to transcend the taboo and express herself, at least in the classroom.

For Jiwon, English allowed her to be liberated from the social expectations of femininity in Korea. The liberation entailed rejecting the pressure to follow the predetermined rite of passage for young college-educated women: landing a white-collar job after participating in endless spec- building, sacrificing her life for the sake of work, saving money to get married, giving birth to children, and caring for her husband and children, as illustrated in the poem mentioned above.

English represented liberation from the pressure to follow this route, as it afforded possibilities to find a future abroad. Indeed, Jiwon left Korea eight weeks after the program had finished and began living and studying abroad in Vietnam, where she could use English as a lingua franca to communicate.

In sum, the female participants’ reasons for learning English were twofold: enjoyment and liberation. Their enjoyment cannot be fully explained by previous frameworks of L2 learning enjoyment. While previous studies have identified Asian women’s liberatory feelings toward learning English (cf. Motha & Lin, 2014; Ryan, 2009), the female participants’ liberatory feeling was different from those noted in the previous studies. Their reasons can only be fully understood

142 with an in-depth exploration of the social pressure they faced and the new opportunities they felt that they could access by speaking English.

6.4 Chapter summary

The aim of this chapter was to explore the second research question: “For what reasons do the Korean jobseekers study for the standardized English tests and develop oral English proficiency?” The chapter found that English tests and oral English proficiency comprised a sort of black box for the male jobseekers, because the jobseekers had few means of determining the influence of test scores and English proficiency in hiring decisions. The male jobseekers studied for the tests even though they were aware that the tests had little connection to real-life English skills, because they realized that high test scores could help them compete with haewaepa candidates and the jobseekers had to manage intense social pressure. They tried hard to develop

English speaking skills for English interviews because these skills could provide a competitive edge; however, if they thought they failed to perform well, they blamed themselves for their perceived incompetence, even though the incompetence may not have been attributable to them.

In contrast, the female participants found it enjoyable and liberating to study English, because English allowed them to communicate with a variety of people around the world and to be liberated from social pressure and expectations. For this reason, the female participants did not explicitly study for the standardized English tests. Neither did they blame themselves for what they perceived as their insufficient command of English. Instead, they focused on developing their English speaking skills so that they might study or work abroad.

143 Chapter 7

Developing ways of improving English skills

Whereas the two previous chapters addressed the descriptive goal of this study, this chapter focuses on the pedagogical goal, which is to explore how the jobseekers develop communicative English skills with their own tools and resources. In this chapter, I address the third research question: “If opportunities can be provided to study English in a flexible setting, how do the Korean jobseekers, who have had little experience speaking English, create their own ways of developing their English speaking skills to achieve their goals?” As discussed in Section

3.4, I adopt the ecological perspective to explore their ways of practicing English skills.

Compared to the two earlier chapters, this chapter includes more description of my involvement, because I was one of the participants’ tools and resources. As discussed in Section

4.6, the participants found it helpful to draw on my expertise in English and experience studying and living abroad. I provided feedback, gave advice on improving English skills, and directed the participants to other resources. For this reason, my involvement is more salient in this chapter.

This chapter consists of three sections. The first section introduces each participant’s situation and goals at the onset of the study. The second section tracks the male participants’ use of tools and resources to achieve their goals of succeeding in English interviews and improving their on-the-job workplace English skills. The third section investigates the female participants’ use of tools and resources to pursue their goals of studying and working abroad.

7.1 The beginning point

This section lays out the participants’ situations and goals at the beginning of the study. It also serves as a background for exploring how the participants used their tools and resources to

144 achieve their goals, which is discussed in Sections 7.2 (male participants) and 7.3 (female participants). The participants’ general English learning backgrounds were discussed in Section

6.1; the present section elaborates on the participants’ individual backgrounds to understand their personal goals and progress.

The section provides a summary of the self-assessment worksheet and interview #2 (see

Table 4-8 for an explanation and Appendix H for the worksheet) that the participants completed.

The worksheet was designed for the participants to use in diagnosing their current situations in detail. It also allowed me to observe their evaluation of each participant’s current situation and their goals. Using the worksheet as a prompt, in the interview #2, each participant and I discussed their current situation and goals. We then decided which tools and resources to use in the PSs and set realistic plans to work on during the eight-week period.

As mentioned in Section 3.4.2, the worksheet had four components: (1) one’s self- concept as a learner of English, (2) the tools and resources available, (3) the English skills one desired to practice, and (4) personal goals. The first three components were presented with arrows pointing toward the last one, signifying that each of the first three contributes to the achievement of the goals. The worksheet had two pages, the first one prompting the participants to draw and the other asking them to describe their drawings in writing. In this way, the participants were able to visualize their current situations and goals at a glance on the first page and describe them in more detail on the next page.

Tables 7-1 and 7-2 below summarize the pictures the participants drew on the first page of the worksheet and the explanations they provided on the second page and in interview #2. The length and format of the summary varies because the participants’ responses to the worksheet and their explanations varied. Some preferred to provide long, first-person responses, while others gave short answers covering only the main points. The summary below captures each participant’s tone and voice as they were.

Table 7-1. Summary of the male participants’ self-assessments

Self-concept Tools and resources Skills

Glee (an American sitcom), foreign news and articles, tests (TOEIC, OPIc, and TOEIC Speaking), interacting with foreign friends in I am an active learner who enjoys diverse social media I want to achieve the followings: To be able to

activities and learning. I’m good at express what I mean, to be able to express my grammar, listening / bad at writing / opinion on a wide range of topics (e.g., occasionally I confuse English with my culture, science, society, economy, and other second languages. I prefer experiential politics), and do not get stressed with Byungwoo and participatory learning. I have a lot of speaking English experience in English tests, but not much experience in speaking English. Goals

Short-term: Getting a job (Test preparation and interview preparation) Long-term: having a multilingual family

146

Self-concept Tools and resources Skills

A learner who memorizes all expressions YouTube channels, TED, TEDx, and repeats the same expressions over and American shows, popular songs, (He drew nothing) over. I always have to use Korean to EBS English, English lounge, and

translate English. books on English conversation and OPIc I want to speak about everyday topics

naturally and express my meaning Haewon spontaneously. Goals:

Short-term: Passing English interviews. One of the reasons I applied for this session at the beginning was my English interview trauma. Long-term: Being able to chair a business meeting in English.

147

Self-concept Tools and resources Skills

TED, TOEIC, YouTube, Talks on the Internet

An interviewee who only spoke “ahh~ Casual talks with foreigners, business blabla~~ Ah~~” to the interviewers

English (starred), and English interview Joon Goals

Short-term: English interview Long-term: Business English (explaining financial products to buyers in English)

I summarized the participants’ responses to the worksheet and their explanations by using the visual format below (Figure 7-1). The rationale for using the visuals is that they present a large sum of qualitative data in a systematic, condensed, and organized way (Miles et al., 2014, p.

108).

Figure 7-1. The visualization template for the participants’ use of tools and resources

For each participant, on the left side, I summarized the participant’s self-concept with an icon that best resembled what the participant meant in their response to the worksheet and explained their responses briefly. The small arrows at the top and bottom indicate the tools and resources that were available to the participant that could be helpful for practicing the desired skills. The participant’s desired skills are summarized on the large, right-facing arrow. The right side represents the goals that the participant could achieve by developing the skills. On this side, I added an icon that best represented the participant’s goals and explained the goals. In the following sections, I lay out each participant’s situations using this visualization template.

Figure 7-2 below is Byungwoo’s initial diagnosis. The left side of the figure, a person holding a TOEIC book, represents what he drew in response to the worksheet, as shown in Table

149 7-1. It shows he saw himself as an active and outgoing learner with extensive experience in standardized English tests but that he was concerned about interacting in English due to his lack of experience speaking it. To remedy the weakness, he tried to read English news and review test- related materials, watch American sitcoms, and interact with foreign friends using social media, which are the resources he mentioned on the first page of the worksheet (Table 7-1) and represented with small arrows on the second page of the worksheet (Figure 7-2). He wanted to develop his skills to talk about various topics in depth and to feel at ease when speaking English.

He believed that real proficiency meant that he would be able to talk about a diverse range of topics with a local taxi driver. When he had studied in Ukraine, he had enjoyed taking a taxi to talk about culture, science, society, economy, and other in-depth topics with a driver, and he realized that this type of conversation constituted “real” development. In terms of his English skills, he wanted to achieve two goals: getting a job and ultimately starting a multilingual family.

Figure 7-2. Byungwoo’s beginning point

After the diagnosis, Byungwoo and I discussed two gaps: (1) while he wanted to practice interaction, his tools and resources did not afford him opportunities to interact; and (2) while he

150 wanted to succeed in English interviews and obtain a job, he did not have tools and resources to practice interviewing. Therefore, we agreed to seek more materials on English interviews related to his field (i.e., international sales) and practice them by interacting in the PSs.

Haewon (Figure 7-3) saw himself as an inefficient speaker of English who always had to use Korean as an intermediary language to understand and produce English. In other words, he had to translate English utterances into Korean to understand English and translate Korean thoughts into English to speak English, which took a long time and made natural interactions more difficult. To save time, he kept using simple structures, so his foreign friends gave him the nicknames “that’s-right-man” and “so-good-man” because he kept repeating “that’s right” and

“so good.” To expand his English repertoire, he made efforts to practice English by speaking aloud some lines he had learned from consuming YouTube, TED, TEDx, and American shows and songs; watching educational content aired by EBS English (a Korean national broadcasting company) in his spare time; practicing spontaneous English conversation in the English lounge at his school, where international students at his college provided one-hour opportunities to talk casually in English; and trying to use expressions in the books on English conversation. In doing so, he hoped to increase English skills to speak about everyday topics and convey his meaning spontaneously. With these skills, he sought to succeed in English interviews and overcome the trauma he had about the interviews so that he could become confident (discussed in Section

6.2.2).

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Figure 7-3. Haewon’s beginning point

After the diagnosis and interview #2, Haewon and I agreed on two gaps: (1) although he had tried to expand his repertoire by repeating lines from the video clips, the only chance he had to practice English interactively was in the English lounge; and (2) while formal ways of speaking are required to succeed in English interviews and chair business meetings, the only interactive opportunity available to him (i.e., the English lounge at his school) provided casual and informal speaking activities. To address these gaps, we decided to focus on expanding

Haewon’s repertoires of formal, spoken English by practicing interview questions during the PSs.

Lastly, Joon’s figure is presented below (Figure 7-4). Joon was unique in that that he described himself as an incompetent interviewee who was only able to repeat “Ahh” and

“Blabla,” which showed his deep trauma about participating in English interviews (discussed in

Section 6.2.2). Joon stressed that his reason for speaking English was almost exclusively to succeed in interviews and obtain a job, while the two other male participants were interested in other aspects of language use as well (e.g., speaking English to discuss a variety of topics

[Byungwoo] or everyday topics [Haewon]). Joon had two main resources for learning English: studying the TOEIC test books and watching inspirational talks by successful businesspeople on

TED and YouTube. He was highly motivated to develop his English speaking skills so that he

152 could have casual conversation and succeed in English interviews. He ultimately wanted to succeed in the interviews and talk with foreign buyers about financial products.

Figure 7-4. Joon’s beginning point

The self-assessment and interview #2 revealed that Joon had one major gap. Even though he wanted to develop English skills to interact, his resources for learning English did not involve any opportunities for face-to-face human interaction in English. Unlike Byungwoo and Haewon,

Joon lacked foreign friends and access to the English lounge. To address this gap in the eight- week program, Joon and I agreed to use English interview questions as resources and practice interacting using the questions in the following PSs.

In sum, all of the male participants saw themselves as inexperienced speakers of English because they had learned English with an eye towards the tests and using test-oriented materials; moreover, they had not had extensive opportunities to speak English aloud. Even though they desired to develop spontaneous and stress-free speaking skills to succeed in their English interviews and business contexts, they had limited access to opportunities to speak English.

Table 7-2. Summary of the female participants’ self-assessments

Self-concept Tools and resources Skills

1) I want to express my meaning easily and quickly. I speak the words that come up in 1) Papers and books related to my major my mind only, so my level of speech is that

I’m not a good learner. I primarily (not effective) of an elementary school student.

used writing as a means of 2) Movies and dramas 2) I want to use English to communicate. I (I watched Dr. Who since Grade 1) Hani expression, so it is difficult to speak want to speak about my favorite books and something out (not only English, but 3) Traveling abroad interests. also Korean). Whenever I speak 4) Music 3) English is like LTE (not Wi-Fi). Wi-Fi is English, I feel like I’m drowning bound to one place, but LTE isn’t. So I want under the water and have to catch any to learn English to communicate across word that pop up in mind. different regions. Goals

In a short-term, I want to have English skills good enough to do part-time jobs. I wish to enjoy speaking English. In a long-term, I want to live abroad. I want to live in different countries, not Korea. To do so, English speaking skills are essential.

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Self-concept Tools and resources Skills

I love speaking English and using I usually use YouTube. I like to watch videos

English as a language. I have many on beauty. I also occasionally watch some clips by British YouTubers to practice things to say and I want to express I want to be good at using chunks (e.g., them in colloquial expressions, but I pronunciation. Sometimes I play “turn in the

Yena reduce your money -> save your money) and am not good at them and I don’t have radio.” Also I interact with a native-speaker colloquial expressions (e.g., Hi how are access to an English-speaking friend. you? -> Nothing special~). I want to practice environment. English skills needed for speaking about both casual and serious topics with foreigners. Goals

Short-term: Getting a good score on TOEIC and OPIc (TOEIC Speaking Level 7) Long-term: Becoming fluent in English conversation, and developing English skills to study in overseas graduate schools without major problems

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Self-concept Tools and resources Skills

YouTube, movies, books on English conversation, close friends who lived abroad, and English clinic

OPIc, English interview, business talk, and I understand 70% of everyday

Jiwon business e-mail English conversation. My TOEIC Speaking scores is not high enough. Goals

Being fluent in all four skills

Table 7-2 above is a summary of the female participants’ data. First, Hani’s self-concept

(Figure 7-5) was that of a desperate learner who lacked confidence to succeed in English. In interview #2, she described how speaking English felt as if she were drowning under water and desperately trying to grasp onto whatever word came within her reach. Her drawing, which is presented in Table 7-2 under “self-concept,” shows this more vividly: She is drowning and trying to grasp onto any object (apple, mug, or paper), but the onlookers keep doing what they are doing. Despite her (perceived) incompetence in English, she truly enjoyed using tools and resources including movies, dramas, international travel, and good music to develop her skills; she found that papers and books related to her major were not helpful. By using her resources, she hoped to learn English skills with which she could express herself spontaneously in diverse regions. In the aforementioned drawing, she likens English to long-term evolution (LTE), a wireless internet connection method that reaches everywhere. She thought that by using English, she could reach everywhere. Her ultimate goal was to possess the English proficiency to be able to work part-time jobs abroad and live in different places around the world (Paris, Los Angeles, and London, as indicated in her picture in Table 7-2) with great happiness.

Figure 7-5. Hani’s beginning point

157 In Hani’s situation, there was one major gap: She did not have low-cost tools and resources to practice speaking English. International travel was the only resource she had to practice speaking English, but it was too costly and not readily available. Therefore, we agreed to use her other tools (i.e., movies, dramas, and music) to practice speaking in the PSs, so that she could have at least eight weeks of low-cost opportunities to interact in English.

Second, Yena emphasized that she loved speaking English and wanted to use more natural, colloquial expressions, but she evaluated her level of competence as poor. The multiple question marks in her picture (Table 7-2) show the awkwardness she felt when speaking English.

She regularly watched YouTube clips, listened to a radio station, and interacted with foreign friends at her church. In doing so, she hoped to become adept at using chunks (e.g., not “reduce your money” but “save your money” in Table 7-2) and colloquial expressions (e.g., replying to

“how are you” with “nothing special,” not “I’m fine, thank you, and you?” in Table 7-2). By developing her English skills, she hoped to achieve good scores on standardized tests and have sufficient English proficiency to attend graduate school abroad.

Figure 7-6. Yena’s beginning point

158 Although Yena was enthusiastic about using her resources, all of the resources she had available to her—with the exception of her native-speaker friends—did not involve real-time interaction. She met the friends only on Sundays for a limited amount of time, so while she tried to initiate conversation with them, the interaction did not last long. This suggested two gaps: (1) while she was highly enthusiastic about practicing colloquial expressions, none of her resources provided such an opportunity; and (2) although she wanted to talk in English about topics of interest to her, she could not find someone who was interested in cosmetics like she was. We discussed these issues in interview #2, and we agreed to use YouTube beauty clips as prompts and to practice talking about them using colloquial expressions.

Lastly, Jiwon described herself as an unsophisticated learner of English who understood approximately 70% of everyday conversation in English and who did not have sufficient scores to pass the initial screening involved in the gongchae process (Figure 7-7). She identified video clips, movies, and books as her primary resources for practicing English conversation and reported that she occasionally met up with close Korean friends who had lived abroad. She also consulted with native speakers of English in the English clinic provided by her college. Using these resources, she hoped to achieve adequate scores on OPIc (she switched from TOEIC

Speaking to OPIc because OPIc’s test format was relatively more open-ended than that of TOEIC

Speaking), and develop skills to excel in English interviews and business communication. She broadly defined her goal as to “be good at all four skills of English.”

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Figure 7-7. Jiwon’s beginning point

To assist Jiwon in achieving her goals, we had to address two issues: (1) although Jiwon wanted to practice business communication, her resources were not related to business English; and (2) her goals were too broadly defined, so it was difficult to set up a plan for the eight-week program. We discussed these issues in interview #2. I asked what it meant for her to be good at all four skills, and she responded that it meant understanding American television shows better and participating in conversation with greater spontaneity. While her explanation was still not very specific, we reached the conclusion that we would practice business English using her résumé and cover letters.

This section introduced the results of the self-assessment sheets and interview #2. These results serve as background for understanding how each participant developed throughout the eight-week program. Sections 7.2 and 7.3 explore how the male and female participants, respectively, used their available tools and resources to improve their English skills.

160 7.2 Developing ways to achieve business-related goals: Male participants

This section analyzes the male participants’ use of their tools and resources to achieve their goals. This section is divided into two parts, because all of the male jobseekers worked toward English interview goals in the first five to six weeks and adopted different goals after they received job offers. Section 7.2.1 focuses on the former goals, and Section 7.2.2 discusses the latter goals.

7.2.1 Developing English interview skills

As shown in Figures 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3, each male participant’s imminent task was to succeed in their English interviews and obtain a job. All of them perceived that they had several resources to improve their English skills, but they were largely limited to test-related materials and video clips, neither of which involved spoken interaction. They searched for more tools and resources and brought them to the classroom to utilize them with me.

Each of the male participants designed a different pathway to achieve their interviewing goals. Byungwoo’s data showcase how he used his Korean-language application materials and his previous interview experience to practice his English interview skills. Haewon’s case shows how he strategically and repeatedly used different sets of tools and resources before, during, and after each PS. Lastly, Joon’s data illustrate how he connected a number of different resources and rediscovered the values of tools and resources he had used prior to joining the program.

Byungwoo wanted to have more resources that he could use to succeed in English interviews for international sales positions, as mentioned in Section 7.1. Byungwoo’s strategy was to repurpose his Korean-language application materials (i.e., résumé, one-minute speech scripts, and personal statements) as resources for English interview preparation. He had originally

161 prepared the documents in Korean and used them to complete the initial stages of the gongchae process (i.e., document screening and/or a Korean interview). He then translated them into

English by himself and brought them to the PSs as materials for practicing English interviews. In the PSs, he always took the initiative and asked me to review his translated documents and answer questions he had about the documents. From Weeks 3 to 6, we followed this format.

For instance, in Week 5, Byungwoo brought his personal statement for an international sales representative position at a food company (the name and product of the company are anonymized to protect his identity). Excerpt 7-1 is taken from the statement. He said that he would be interviewed the following day and wanted to use the content of the statement to answer the question, “Why did you apply to this position at this company?”

Excerpt 7-1. Byungwoo’s personal statement (English)

1 Achievement and pride are the driving force of my life.

2 so i want to work at the company where i can feel fulfilled and pride.

3 BBB company fits my view on occupation.

4 first of all, BBB’s product is exported more than 100 countries.

5 It means that not only products but also korean taste are exported to foreign countries.

6 so i will be able to feel pride.

7 and i believe that i will feel fulfilled when i contribute to expanding BBB company world.

8 so i really want to work at BBB company.

Holding his smartphone in his right hand and fixing his eyes on the phone, he began reading the statement aloud. He paused several times to ask for my feedback on his language and content. After line 2, he asked, “Is it okay? (괜찮아요?),” so I responded that “feel a sense of achievement and pride” would be better than “feel fulfilled and pride.” After line 3, he paused and asked which one was better: “fits my view on occupation” or “fits my perspective on

162 occupation.” I responded that the latter is better; however, he further clarified, “I wanted to talk about work values; does it sound right? (직업관이라는 얘기를 하고 싶었는데 괜찮아요?)” In response to his question, I suggested “BBB provides most suitable job for me” might be a better alternative. He did not like it and elaborated, “How can I say it coincides with the things I pursue?

(내가 추구하는 바랑 일치한다라는 의미는요?)” I said, “BBB provides the job that I pursue.”

He accepted this suggestion, took out his laptop, opened up his personal statement file, took notes on the laptop, and sent me the file via a messaging application. I opened up the file on my laptop, which was in the middle of the table. While he was taking his laptop out, he asked me another question, the text of which is abridged in Excerpt 7-2 below.

Excerpt 7-2. Byungwoo’s question about how to describe his job motivation in an English interview

In foreign countries, how do people respond to the question on motivation for applying to the job? The majority of

the Korean people, they say their abilities, and I don’t like it […] a candidate who lived in America said he had a

global mind, so the interviewer asked what was a global mind, but he couldn’t say what it was. He used it just

because it sounded nice. According to him, he described that communication itself was a global mind, but it actually

wasn’t, he just had no thoughts. I don’t want to do something like that. […] It is too cliché. Everyone says my

strengths is blah blah. […] To avoid that, I said, the things I pursue are achievement and pride. In this company, I

can feel achievement from blah blah and I can feel pride from blah blah. So I really want to work at the company.

Does it sound alright?

“근데 외국에서는 지원동기 물어보면 뭐라고 해요 도대체? 대부분 우리나라 사람들이 […] 저는 그런게

싫은데, 자기의 능력을 이야기해요. […] 어떤 미국에 산 사람이 자기는 글로벌 마인드가 있다고 했단

말이에요, 그래서 글로벌 마인드가 도대체 뭐냐 물어봤었어요 면접관이, 그런데 그 사람도 명확하게 글로벌

마인드가 뭔지 이야기를 할 수 없는 거에요 그냥 말이 좋아 보이니까 하는 건데, 본인 말로는 그냥 의사소통

하는 거 자체를 글로벌마인드라고 표현을 하긴 했는데 그게 사실 그게 아니잖아요 생각 안하고

글로벌마인드라 한 거잖아요. 그런걸 안하고 싶어서요. […] 너무 뻔하잖아요 다들 자기 장점은 뭐뭐다,

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이렇게 얘기하니까, 그걸 피하고자 제가 추구하는 거는 achievement 와 pride 니까 이 회사에서 나는, 땡땡한

점에서 achievement 를 느낄 수 있고 땡땡한 점에서 pride 를 느낄 수 있다 그래서 나는 이 회사에서 정말로

일하고 싶다. 괜찮나요?”

In this long-winded question, Byungwoo first asked how job candidates overseas respond when asked about their job motivation but shifted to sharing a story about a haewaepa candidate he had met who had emphasized “a global mind,” which Byungwoo perceived to be a vapid phrase. He then explained why he had mentioned the two more clearly articulated values in his statement (i.e., achievement and pride) and ended with asking for my approval of his statement.

This question illustrates how he learned from the failure of a haewaepa candidate and used it to his own advantage in drafting his personal statement.

I said, “It looks great,” in response to the question he had asked, and Byungwoo moved on to read line 4 aloud. In line 4, he asked if the word “export” should be used with a to- infinitive, and I looked up the word in a dictionary on the laptop to double-check and said yes. I further suggested using active voice: “BBB exports its product to more than 100 countries.” After line 6, I suggested a revision: “be proud of” instead of “feel pride.”

After revising all of the phrases on his laptop, Byungwoo silently read the whole statement again and asked me if there was anything else to correct. I said no. Then Byungwoo tried delivering the response again without looking at the script, but he stumbled over some of the revised expressions (e.g., “feel a sense of achievement and pride,” “be proud of”), so I suggested practicing with the script several times to become familiar with the expressions and then moving on to speak without the script.

The interaction is summarized in Figure 7-8 below. During the interaction, Byungwoo saw himself as a job candidate preparing to compete with haewaepa candidates for the position of international sales representative. He drew on his Korean-language personal statement and

164 previous experience of observing a haewaepa candidate in an English interview, both of which he brought from outside of the classroom. He used them to frame his English-language personal statement to outperform haewaepa candidates by drawing on the electronic devices in the classroom. The facilitator’s role was limited to providing language assistance, because Byungwoo was highly self-directed and clearly requested what he wanted me to do. All of the tools and resources provided him affordances to practice responding to job-interview questions, and he indeed successfully landed a job at the company.

Figure 7-8 Byungwoo’s use of tools and resources for English interviews

While Byungwoo’s strategy was to use his personal statement, Haewon’s strategy was to develop a routine for before, during, and after the sessions. Haewon’s use of tools and resources was situated in three repeating time periods: pre-session, in-session, and post-session. Before coming to each PS, Haewon watched EBS English clips on his digital devices and shadowed the

165 expressions introduced in the clips (shadowing is a language-learning technique popular in Korea; it refers to orally repeating the utterances in a clip word-for-word as quickly as possible). Haewon said, “Personally, I like shadowing a lot, I feel like it relieves the tension of my tongue. […]

Especially before coming to the session, there is a really big difference between doing shadowing before the session (i.e., the PS) and not doing it. Every time I watch them (i.e., the clips) I say to myself, let’s speak well, let’s speak well in the session (저는 개인적으로 섀도잉 하는걸 좀

많이 좋아해요 입이 풀리는 느낌이 든다고 해야하나 […] 섀도잉 많이 하려고 하는데 특히

쌤이 하는 세션 하기 전에 EBS 이거 보면서 섀도잉 하고 오냐 아니냐에 따라서 진짜 많이

차이나요 예 이걸 볼때마다 가서 잘 말해야지, 세션가서 잘 말해야지).” By using this shadowing technique with the English-language learning clips, Haewon reduced his anxiety and familiarized himself with English expressions.

During the session, Haewon used a book specifically designed for succeeding in the gongchae process of the AAA Group12. He brought a section of the book titled “AAA Group –

The formula for success.” The section had tips for the English interview and practice questions.

The questions were poorly edited, as shown in “Could you possible tell us something about yourself?” and “What salary do you think deserve?” Regardless of the errors, Haewon asked me to ask him one of the questions in the section, and he tried to respond to it spontaneously in

English. The practice followed this sequence: (1) I picked a question from the book and asked it,

(2) Haewon responded to it, (3) I gave feedback on his performance, and (4) Haewon tried responding to the same question again. By repeating this sequence, Haewon developed his communicative repertoire for responding to the interview questions listed in the book. Haewon

12 Every year, publishing companies produce books on succeeding in the gongchae process. These books are targeted to specific conglomerates (e.g., Samsung gongchae book, LG gongchae book, Hyundai gongchae book). AAA Group is one of the top-ten biggest conglomerates, so there is also a book targeted to the group’s gongchae process.

166 audio-recorded the entire sequence. Throughout the process, I came to play the role of a dream coach as described in Section 4.6, because he found he was getting closer to his dream by repeating this sequence.

After the PS, Haewon listened the audio-recorded file on the subway on his way home and memorized all of his responses and my feedback in the PS. At home, Haewon tried delivering the responses while looking at his reflection in a mirror. He said he did so to move past his interview anxiety and prepare for his upcoming interview with the AAA Group: “I do it by myself at home by looking in a mirror, it is a trauma-like experience, and I occasionally feel like I am too miserable, AAA group has a number of applicants who have overseas experience because it tries to extend its business abroad. So I feel much pressure that I have to speak well (집에서 거울

보면서 스스로 하게 되고, 트라우마 같은 제 경험이고, 스스로 초라하게 생각 들때도 있고,

외국 경험이 있는 지원자들이 되게 많아요 AAA 는 해외진출을 많이 하려는 기업이니까.

그래서 좀 압박감이 많이 들어요 잘 말해야 하는데).”

Haewon’s strategic routine is summarized in Figure 7-9 below. It is divided into pre-, in-, and post-sessions, all of which are interconnected. Before the session, he accessed the EBS

English clips on his digital devices to practice shadowing, which prepared him for speaking

English better during the session. During the session, he used the AAA Group book and the facilitator to practice responding to the interview questions, all of which were audio-recorded.

After the session, he revisited his performance and my feedback by playing the file on his recording device and repeating the lines. All of the efforts contributed to building the communicative repertoire he needed to capture his meaning in the AAA Group interview and finally achieving his dream.

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Figure 7-9. Haewon’s use of tools and resources for English interviews

Like the other participants, Joon integrated tools and resources from both inside and outside of the classroom to practice his English skills. However, what distinguished Joon from the other participants was that in the course of practicing his interview skills with me, Joon came to reevaluate the value of the resources he had had before beginning the program. Here, I illustrate how Joon used the tools and resources in this program and analyze Joon’s reflection to show how he reevaluated his pre-existing tools and resources.

From Weeks 3 to 5, Joon used a list of English interview questions he had found on a job consulting website called 잡이룸 Joberum. He picked a tab called “통계로 보는 면접기출 (past interview questions by statistics)”13. The consulting website calculated the frequency with which particular English interview questions appeared by surveying job applicants and showed the most frequently asked questions. The list of questions included ones focused on introducing oneself,

13 It can be approached at: https://www.joberum.com/interview/zocbo/zocbo01.asp, retrieved 01/04/2020.

168 speaking about hobbies, explaining job motivation, describing international experience, and discussing strengths and weaknesses.

Joon had written responses to the most frequently asked questions at home by referring to the model answers and interview tips on the website and using an online Korean-English dictionary. He printed his responses out, brought them to the PSs, and asked me to read a question aloud. He responded to the question and requested feedback. Excerpt 7-3 below is one example of such an interaction, which occurred in the Week 4 PS. In the excerpt, Joon tries to respond to the question, “Introduce yourself.” He takes out his script, puts it on the desk, and begins to respond, all while trying to avoid looking at the script.

Excerpt 7-3. Joon’s response to “Introduce yourself”

1 J: My name is Joon, and I was born in AAA city and live, living: (.) in AAA city: until now.

2 ((looks at the script)) (1.4) I: I’m person >with many concerns.< I wondered how, how::

3 I could change the negative perception of stocks↑ >while I was doing ((looks at the

4 script))<, doing stocks. I wanted to >make a lot of wealth↑< from (.) my childhood.

5 Then I, (.) I beca, became acquainted with stocks↑ and confident in (.) stocks.

6 ((looks at the script)) (3.0) By the way the stock market was not ((looks at the script)),

7 ah, (3.2) ((moving his two hands back and forth)) and was not meant for me (.)

8 to work hard alone. ((looks at the script)) (.) So, as, as the stock market become

9 more active↑ and investors (.) become more numerous↑

10 M: numerous? Nu…일단[for now] let’s just go along

11 J: °become numerous, numerous°, 많아지다[the number increases]

12 ((spreads his two hands apart))

13 M: 그거는 보통 명사 앞에 와서 얘기하거든요[it usually comes before noun].

14 Investors become more diverse? Investors increase in number?

15 J: Ah, °increase in number° ((nods)). Become increased 하면 안 맞나요

16 [does “become increased” make no sense]?

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17 M: 아니요[no]. Investors increased.

18 J: °Investors increased.° ((looks at the script)) I could↑, could have↑ a lot of wealth (welf)

19 M: A lot of…

20 J: wealth (welθ)

21 M: Yeah

22 J: Hm (3.0) However, but the vast majority of people have (.) have negative,

23 >negative (.) thoughts< about stocks. I want to change this. ((looks at the script)) (2.0)

24 Like the 401K implemented, that was implemented (.) by USA long ago, (.)

25 I, I ((looks at the script)) (3.8) I would like to increase, ((looks at the script))

26 >I would like to increase wealth< of other people (.) and grow together.

27 If I can put, If I can put this my concerns into my work↑, ah, I think that

28 not only myself and >not only myself< but also our customers and company

29 live a better life. (.) Thank you.

Note. J = Joon, M = the facilitator (me)

The intended meaning of Joon’s language in the excerpt above can be summarized as follows. Joon had dreamed of accumulating wealth since his childhood (lines 5–6), so he studied the stock market and became confident about his ability to analyze it (line 5). However, he realized that if the stock market involved more investors, he could accumulate more wealth (lines

6–20). Therefore, he wanted to change most people’s negative assumptions about stocks and help them accumulate more wealth, so that both the investors and Joon could have better lives (lines

22–29).

To deliver this response, Joon relied on a number of resources. He read the model answers and interview tips on the Joberum website and wrote the script prior to the PS by using a

Korean-English dictionary. While he was delivering his response, he had to revisit the script eight times (lines 2, 6, 8, 20, 25, and 27) to recall the next sentences. He also needed two other-initiated repairs (lines 9–18 and 19) to prevent confusion.

170 After Joon gave his response, I provided feedback on his script before directly addressing the response. This was because I recognized the problems of using the Korean-English dictionary.

Although he had consulted the dictionary carefully, the dictionary became a problematic source of awkward expressions, including “concern” in lines 2 and 27 (mistranslation of “관심사,” which means “interest”); “doing stocks” in line 4 (mistranslation of “주식을 하다,” which means

“trading stocks”); and “numerous” (mistranslation of “많은,” which means “a lot”) in lines 9 and

11. The dictionary yielded multiple English words for a single Korean search term, so Joon had to choose one expression without fully understanding the use of each of the alternatives. This resulted in some awkward expressions in these lines.

To resolve the problem, I directed Joon to a collocation website called SkELL and had

Joon look up “stock” to choose appropriate collocates by himself. The website showed frequent collocates for “stock,” such as “trade,” “rise,” “plummet,” “soar,” and “fall”14. Joon played with the collocation website by navigating to different tabs (“Examples,” “Word Sketch,” and “Similar

Words”) and looking up the words he used. He then corrected himself, wrote down several words and expressions, revised his script, and tried to deliver his response again.

Joon was unique in that he reevaluated the roles of native English-speaking teachers and the TOEIC preparation materials he had had before joining the program. Shortly after the interaction in Excerpt 7-3, Joon shared his reflection on practicing English with his own materials and my feedback, as presented in Excerpt 7-4 below. First, Joon stressed that he had already tried practicing English with native English-speaking teachers through video calls by enrolling in

Engoo (an online-based English-language education service provider in Korea). However, he soon found that the native English-speaking teachers did not provide feedback on how to

14 The collocation website can be accessed at: https://skell.sketchengine.co.uk/run.cgi/wordsketch?lpos=&query=stock (retrieved 01/23/2020)

171 construct better sentences. By comparing his previous experience with his experience in this program, Joon realized that native English-speaking teachers were by no means superior to non- native English-speaking teachers; rather, a non-native English-speaking teacher like me was able to give more detailed feedback on how to restructure sentences by drawing on online resources.

Second, Joon rediscovered the value of TOEIC preparation materials. He had already earned a high score on TOEIC by rote-memorizing a number of English words; however, he was not able to use them in speaking because he only knew the Korean meanings of the English words.

Throughout this program, Joon learned how to use TOEIC words like “diverse” by using online resources and listening to my feedback.

Excerpt 7-4. Joon’s reflection on practicing English with native English-speaking teachers and

TOEIC materials

It is my first time to do something like this. No foreigners [i.e., native speakers of English] do this, they just say

yes~ and that’s all, even though they are paid. They just understand me and let it pass. I asked them but they didn’t

do that to this extent. To them, good is just good. They don’t do this, they don’t do this to this extent. Engoo. They

never do this […] This is what I needed the most. I was never able to use difficult TOEIC words so I always used

easy ones, but if you restructure like this, more quickly, of course I know what diverse is because it always appears

in the TOEIC […] I wish it [i.e., the program] were three-month.

근데 이렇게 하는거 처음 해봤어요. 어떤 외국인도 이렇게 안해주고 응~ 그러고 말더라고요. 돈 주고 하는

애들도. 그냥 이해하고 넘어가더라고요 대부분 제가 해달라고 해도 이 정도로 잡지를 못하더라고요. 굿이면

굿이니까 지네들한테도. 안 그러더라고요 이 정도까지 안 해주더라고요. 엔구. 걔네들도 이렇게는 절대 안

해주더라고요. […] 제가 딱 필요한 게 이거였던 거 같아요. 제가 토익을 어려운 단어라 해도 그걸 절대 쓸

수는 없으니까 맨날 쉬운 단어만 썼는데 이렇게 잡아주시면 그때서야 조금 빨리, diverse 알죠 맨날 토익에서

나오는 건데 […] 세 달 했으면 좋겠어요.

172 Joon’s use of tools and resources is summarized in Figure 7-10. Joon worked hard to connect all of the available resources so that he could develop his competence to interact well in

English interviews, both practice and actual. Before coming to the classroom, Joon prepared responses by referring to the tips on the job consulting website and consulting the Korean-English dictionary. In the classroom, Joon used the job consulting website as a prompt, the script as a reference, and the collocation website as an additional resource. He used the facilitator as a language assistant, as he already brought all contents and asked for language-related help only.

Figure 7-10. Joon’s use of tools and resources for English interviews

All three male participants designed different pathways to achieve their interview goals.

Byungwoo’s data highlight how Korean-language application materials and previous interview experience can facilitate the practice of English interview skills. Haewon’s case captures how a strategic routine that involves using different sets of tools and resources before, during, and after

173 each PS can be beneficial. Lastly, Joon’s data illustrate the importance of linking resources and rediscovering the value of tools and resources already at hand.

7.2.2 Developing on-the-job workplace English skills

While all of the male participants began by practicing their English interviewing skills, they succeeded in securing their desired positions in Weeks 5 and 6 and no longer had a reason to practice interviewing. Byungwoo and Joon switched to practicing on-the-job workplace skills, and Haewon simply gave up and turned himself into a resource for Yena, who was preparing to apply for an exchange student program in France (to be discussed in Section 7.3.2). In what follows, I analyze how Byungwoo and Joon designed their own ways of practicing on-the-job

English skills and what discouraged Haewon from doing similarly.

Byungwoo went to an interview at a transportation company on the day of the Week 6

PS, received an offer right after the interview, decided to accept the offer, and attended the orientation for new employees before coming to the Week 7 PS. In the Week 7 PS, Byungwoo asked me to review some of the tasks we had completed in both WSs and PSs (e.g., small talk, elevator pitch, interview, and negotiation). In reviewing these tasks, he adopted his new identity as an international sales representative at the transportation company. For each task, I played the role of a foreign buyer, and he played the role of sales representative. The Week 7 PS followed this sequence: the facilitator asked a question about the company, Byungwoo responded to it by using the English website, and the facilitator provided feedback if he needed any.

Furthermore, in Week 8, Byungwoo requested a demonstration of how to use online

English-learning resources (e.g., the collocation website, Oxford Learners’ Dictionary, thesaurus websites, Corpus of Contemporary American English, and others) so that he could mobilize all of them on the job without my help. I demonstrated how to use the resources first, passed the laptop

174 to Byungwoo, and had him try each resource out and create sentences related to his job by himself.

Excerpt 7-5 shows how Byungwoo used the tools and resources in Week 7. The excerpt is a transcription of performing a small-talk task. Prior to the task, we opened the English website of the transportation company to learn about different technologies used in the card, so that

Byungwoo could readily explain the technologies to foreign buyers while on the job.

Excerpt 7-5. Byungwoo’s explanation of the transportation technology

1 M: ((looks at the company website)) Would you please introduce what it means? AFC?

2 B: Umm, which is stands for uh ((looks at the website))

3 Automa, Automated Fare Collection. (.) So, uh, so, ah, ((looks at his note))

4 AFC stands for 로 해야 하는구나[I have to say “AFC stands for”], ((looks at the website))

5 >AFC stands for< Automated Fare Collection. So you can use it, (.) ((looks at his note))

6 Uh you don’t need to calculate ((looks at the facilitator)) of passenger,

7 the transportation, transportation passengers, ah passenger of transportation.

8 ((looks at the website)) So it is a automated system↑, so they can calculate (.)

9 ((looks at the facilitator)) ah automatically, and they will also uh follow,

10 ah they also provide the raw data of transportation. >So you can easily plan<

11 the budget (.) of transportation.

This interaction involved: (1) the English website of the company (lines 1, 2, 4, and 8);

(2) Byungwoo’s notes that he had previously used to prepare for the English interview at the company (lines 3 and 5); and (3) the facilitator. First, the English website of the company was used as a resource to prompt small talk about the company’s key technology, AFC (line 1).

Byungwoo also used the website to quickly recall what AFC stood for (lines 2 and 4) and refresh his knowledge of the automated system (line 8). Second, Byungwoo’s notes, which contained a

175 set of scribbled expressions, provided a hint as to how to correct his error “is stands for” (line 2) to “stands for” (line 4). Lastly, the facilitator provided the prompt for the interaction (line 1).

Byungwoo’s use of tools and resources in Weeks 7 and 8 is summarized in Figure 7-11 below. He was enthusiastic about learning the technologies of his prospective company, which motivated him to use the English website as a resource while in the classroom. He strategically used his previous notes to improve his speech as well. He used the facilitator as a language assistant and also a provider of further resources in Week 8. Upon his request, I taught him how to use online English-language leaning resources so that he could access them on the job without my help. His case can be summarized with an old proverb: he taught himself how to fish (i.e., using the online resources by himself), so that he could feed himself for an extended period of time (i.e., using the resources on the job). In sum, he expanded his linguistic repertoire as well as his strategic repertoire.

Figure 7-11. Byungwoo’s use of tools and resources for on-the-job English skills

176 Unlike the others, Haewon chose to stop practicing on-the-job English skills and instead turned himself into a resource for Yena (his PS partner) (to be discussed in Section 7.3). The

AAA Department Store was known for attracting thousands of foreign customers; thus, he recognized the need to practice on-the-job English skills to provide quality service to foreign customers. He also mentioned he had some resources, such as phone English, traveling, and mobile applications. Nevertheless, he ceased practicing English skills and came to the Weeks 7 and 8 PSs to help Yena.

The disconnect is mainly attributable to uncertainty. While Byungwoo and Joon were offered specific positions (international sales representative and financial analyst, respectively) at small and mid-sized companies, Haewon was offered a position in general management. The

AAA Department Store is one of the biggest corporations in Korea, with a number of branches throughout the country. Haewon was not able to foresee what tasks he would be responsible for; neither did he know in which branch he would be placed. This uncertainty led him to give up practicing English skills in the seventh and eighth PSs.

Haewon’s case is illustrated in Figure 7-12 below. He was excited to begin working at the department store and he perceived that he had several English-language learning resources available to him; however, he did not take advantage of them, because he had no idea how the resources would be related to his future work.

177

Figure 7-12. Haewon’s use of tools and resources after obtaining a job

Compared to Byungwoo and Haewon, Joon found the Weeks 6, 7, and 8 PSs much more exciting than the previous PSs, because what he genuinely wanted to do was to talk about finance in English. Joon received several job offers around Week 5; thus, he no longer had to pursue his short-term goal. He moved on to pursuing his long-term goal. To do this, Joon brought a finance presentation and video clips on finance and blockchain technology in Weeks 6, 7, and 8. To illustrate how he drew on these resources, this section presents Joon’s Week 6 PS as an example.

In the Week 6 PS, Joon brought a presentation file written in Korean. The presentation was about a simulated investment using Robo Advisor (a compound of robot and advisor), an artificial intelligence service for managing assets and providing financial advice. Joon said that he had already delivered the presentation during a competition held by Samsung and had received a satisfactory result. The result showed that he had professional content knowledge in finance; therefore, he wanted to practice how to deliver the knowledge in English so that he could communicate with a wider range of customers at work.

The first two slides of the presentation are shown in Figure 7-13 (the originals were in

Korean; the English captions were written by me). In the first slide, “Analysis of the

178 environment,” Joon wanted to emphasize that the domestic economy in Korea was experiencing uncertainty, a low growth rate, and a low interest rate, as supported by three graphs: GDP growth rate, standard interest rate, and current balance. All of the graphs show figures that were either stagnated or declining. In the second slide, Joon sought to explain that the Korea Composite

Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had been boxed in15 for a long time, and even though it had broken its previous record, its increase had been unstable. Moreover, Samsung Electronics alone had contributed to the rise of KOSPI, which meant that risk was too concentrated. By presenting the market analysis result, Joon stressed that it was necessary to turn away from investing in the domestic market and that it was highly important to invest in foreign emerging markets by using the reliable technology of Robo Advisor.

15 “Boxed in” is a jargon used in finance. He used this expression to mean that the ups and downs of KOSPI are stable.

179

Figure 7-13. Joon’s PowerPoint slides

Joon first tried to convey the market analysis result without any preparation, relying solely on the Korean-language PowerPoint slides, as presented in Excerpt 7-6 below. His performance had a number of pauses, repairs (both self- and other-initiated), and vocabulary and grammatical errors. For instance, he had to pause for more than three seconds to come up with the expressions in lines 2, 5, 15, 16, 23. He had several self-initiated repairs (e.g., line 3, “down ah downsized” and line 4, “grow, growth rate”) and other-initiated repairs (e.g., line 6, “interest rate,” lines 11–15, “it is stagnated,” and lines 19–21, “unstable”), one of which he explicitly requested (lines 23–26, “steady growth”). Errors were very frequent (e.g., line 3, “went to down,” line 4, “remaining 2 percent,” and line 7, “going to downsized”). All of these indicate that he lacked the finance-related repertoire necessary to explain his content knowledge fluently at this stage.

180 Excerpt 7-6. Joon’s simulated investment presentation (1st attempt)

1 J: I want to explain about uh (0.6) simulated (.) investment↑ by Robo advisor. (0.9)

2 °Let me start°. (2.0) This is ah: (.) the index of presentation↑ (6.5) Actually, (2.8)

3 in Ko rea uh GDP? rate is uh uh went to down ah downsized ah from 2011

4 and now it is ah it is ah, it is remaining 2 percent (.) of GDP grow, growth rate.

5 And the standard (3.4)

6 M: Interest rate

7 J: Ah ah >the standard interest rate< is going (.) to downsized↑ and it,

8 it is remaining 1.5 percent. And (1.6) the [laugh] (2.1) trade, ah trade index ah

9 has, has been (1.2) up from 2011 to 2013↑,

10 but (.) it is, it is, till? Now?

11 M: Till?

12 J: Still?

13 M: Ah it is still now? Still 은 부사라서 그렇게 쓸 수는 없는데[Still can’t be used

14 in that way because it is an adverb], it is stagnated.

15 J: Ah it is stagnated. °Stagnated° (8.8)

16 Our, our KOSPI index is, (3.0) our KOSDAQ, ah KOSPI index, (1.3)

17 did not (.) uh raise, and it is um (1.7) captivated in box, like box, (1.7) something

18 like that ((drawing a box on the screen)) and these days the KOSPI index

19 uh go up but it is understable

20 M: It is understable?

181

21 J: It is unstable.

22 M: Ah

23 J: Because uh there is two reasons, first is, (3.9), this, 상승세를 뭐라고 하죠?

24 [How do I say ‘uptrend’?]

25 M: Steady growth?

26 This steady growth ah was lead by

27 M: led by

28 J: Ah was led by Samsung Electronics,

29 and something like IT, IT.

30 M: IT industries

31 J: IT industries.

Even though Joon’s repertoire was inadequate, he showed uptake to every correction I provided (line 7, “standard interest rate”; line 15, “stagnated”; line 21, “unstable”; line 26,

“steady growth”; line 28, “led by”; and line 31, “IT industries”), which indicates that he viewed the new expressions not as passing knowledge but as long-term resources to expand his finance- related repertoire. Taking a step further, Joon jotted down the new expressions and key terms in his notes (e.g., “standard interest rate,” “stagnated,” and “steady growth”) and murmured them to himself after this initial attempt. To support him, I Googled “English expressions charts and graphs” on my laptop to look for a summary of expressions for explaining charts and graphs. I showed the search results to Joon. Joon read them over by himself, took some notes, and murmured some of the expressions to himself to practice them. Several minutes later, Joon volunteered to present the same topic again. Excerpt 7-7 is his second attempt.

182

Excerpt 7-7. Joon’s simulated investment presentation (2nd attempt)

1 J: I want to explain about (.) simulated (.) investment↑ by Robo Advisor.

2 This is the index↑ of presentation, and (.) these days, uh in Korea,

3 GDP growth rate↑ is steadily decreased from 2011 and it is remai:ning 2 percent.

4 And the standard uh (1.7) interest rate is, is steadily decreased also and it is

5 remain, remaining one percent. And the current, current, current balance has, (2.5)

6 has risen? (.) from 2011 to 2013 but it is, ah, it is stagnated.

7 And (2.3) I want to explain (1.4) the stock market analysis↓.

8 Um, for a long time, the Korea stock market (.) is, was fixed in the box. (1.4)

9 But these days, (2.3) the, it is, it was, ah ah it broke, it broke the highest record

10 but it is unstable↓. This because (3.1) the Korea, ah the, highest record↑,

11 ah led by Samsung electronics. And it is, it is all based on IT companies.

The second attempt shows how Joon integrated what he had learned from using his resources into his performance. He used vocabulary he had learned from the earlier interaction with me, such as “stagnated” in line 6 (previously “till” and “still” in Excerpt 7-6) and “unstable” in line 10 (previously “understable” in Excerpt 7-6). He picked up new expressions from the website and integrated them, including “steadily decreased” (lines 3 and 4), “current balance”

(line 5), “has risen” (line 6), “fixed in the box” (line 8), and “broke the highest record” (line 9).

Figure 7-14 below summarizes Joon’s use of tools and resources. As a prospective financial advisor, Joon was highly motivated to practice talking about his financial knowledge in

English. He used his Korean-language PowerPoint slides and video clips as prompts to practice

183 delivering his knowledge in English. Google search results, the laptop, his notes, and the facilitator supported him in expanding his English repertoire to talk about finance. In this way, he also learned how to use different strategies (e.g., using Google search results) to communicate professionally.

Figure 7-14. Joon’s use of tools and resources for on-the-job English skills

In sum, the male participants developed their own ways to improve their English skills to communicate their expertise, if they were able to see the connection between their expertise and prospective on-the-job tasks. Byungwoo and Joon, who saw the connection, tried their best to learn how to communicate their expert knowledge in English and expanded their linguistic repertoires as well as strategic repertoires. Haewon, who did not see the connection because of his uncertainty about his future job tasks, did not try connecting the resources he perceived as available.

184 7.3 Developing ways to find their futures abroad: Female participants

This section discusses the female participants’ use of tools and resources to learn English to find their futures abroad. Like the male participants, the female participants drew on a number of tools and resources to practice their speaking skills.

This section does not have two divided subsections as the earlier section did. The male participants had a sharp transition from interview practice to on-the-job skills practice, whereas the female participants kept practicing how to communicate their own interests and developing the language skills necessary to go abroad. For this reason, this section discusses each participant individually.

What distinguished Hani from other participants was her thirst for sharing her interests in

English and her strong willingness to seek more resources and connect them with the resources in this program. Before joining this program, Hani had struggled with finding opportunities to share her interests in English despite her strong motivation. She found it difficult to afford English conversation hakwons, and even if she had been able to do so, hakwons were not an appropriate option for her because they were mostly teacher-directed and did not provide opportunities to speak about her topics of interest. She joined this program with strong thirst, and she fully capitalized on the program by drawing on a number of tools and resources.

Hani always brought her favorite movie clips and one or two discussion questions. The clips were from Doctor Who, Her, The Lobster, and Carol. Her questions were always deeply philosophical and humanistic, as discussed earlier in Section 6.3.1. For instance, she asked, “If you can go any space and time only once in your life, where would you go first?” (Doctor Who);

“What is love (In love, do you think there is any ‘suitable category’ or ‘accepted rule’ about object and relationship?) (Her); and the questions in Excerpt 6-4 in Section 6.3.1 (The Lobster).

All of the philosophical and humanistic discussion questions were derived from what Hani had

185 been thinking about; therefore, she easily extended what she discussed in the class to the outside world. She made connections in three ways: (1) using what she learned in the PSs in her exchange student application package (i.e., self-introduction essay and interview); (2) talking about what she had discussed in the PSs in the language exchange session; and (3) using what she learned in the PSs to take the practice and actual TOEIC tests.

The Week 7 PS discussion of the movie Carol is an example of the first way of making connections. Hani’s use of the movie clip and related materials stretched from her exchange student application document, the PS, and the exchange student interview. She first cited a line of

Carol in the document, then brought the movie clip to the PS and expanded her discussion, and finally interwove all of her resources on Carol and used them in the exchange student interview.

Carol is a romantic film about a story of a young, insecure, and indecisive girl (Therese, played by Rooney Mara) and an older, established, and strong woman (Carol, played by Cate

Blanchett) who are having affairs. Hani strongly empathized with Therese because she saw herself as a similarly indecisive and ambivalent girl; at the same time, Hani was fascinated by

Carol, emphasizing that Carol had “alluring dignity.” Hani tried hard to persuade me and her PS partner to pay attention to Carol’s “chic, sexy, and elegant” eyes while watching the clips.

One of the clips was of a short scene featuring Therese and Carol having lunch together at a restaurant. Carol is treating Therese to lunch because Therese found Carol’s gloves and mailed them to her. In the scene, Therese says, “I barely even know what to order for lunch,” and

Carol replies, “What a strange girl you are. Flung out of space.” Hani identified with Therese and initiated the conversation presented in Excerpt 7-8 below.

Excerpt 7-8. “I want to talk about this”

1 H: I want to talk about this, this, line from Therese.

2 M: Which one?

186

3 H: ((looks at the laptop screen and points to it)) This. I barely know what to order for lunch

4 Because exactly, I use this this sentence in my today’s ((taps the table with two hands))

5 자기소개서[self-introduction essay]

6 M: Today’s self-introduction essay

7 H: Today’s self-introduction essay. So how about, I wonder about other persons.

8 M: Yeah, well, other people’s opinion

9 H: Yes. I really, in this time I’m getting better and better, but I was really don’t know

10 what to order for lunch or what I feeling, what’s is my feeling ((looks at the facilitator))

11 M: What am I feeling?

12 What am I feeling.

Note. H = Hani, M = the facilitator

What Hani meant in the exchange shown in Excerpt 7-8 above was that she liked

Therese’s line so much that she even cited it in a self-introduction essay to apply to the exchange student program (lines 3–5) (her self-introduction essay is in Figure 5-8, Section 5.3.2). She liked the line because she, too, felt it difficult to recognize her feelings and make independent decision, even though she was getting better at it (lines 9–12). She shared how much she empathized with

Therese and how deeply she was attracted to Carol because of her strong charisma and glamour.

We resumed playing the clip, which had turned to focus to the marital status of Carol.

Carol said, “I’m technically divorcing.” We paused and talked about what that status meant and what Carol and Therese would ultimately want to do. We Googled types of relationships and marriages around the world, including civil unions, domestic partnerships, same-sex marriages, polyamorous arrangements, and others. We found a Wikipedia page on same-sex marriage

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage), clicked on a map showing the legislative status of same-sex marriage, and shared our opinions about it.

187 Two months after the eight-week program ended, Hani sent me an update about how the exchange student application had gone and how she had used what she had discussed in this program. Excerpt 7-9 below is taken from her update. In the excerpt, she uses the same-sex marriage map to emphasize the cultural inclusion and diversity that she imagined existed in

Canada and made her want to go there. Hani’s passion impressed the Canadian professor who taught at her university and who was conducting the interviews for the exchange student program.

Not only did Hani succeed in the interview, but she also received warm encouragement from the professor, which she truly needed to feel confident about herself.

Excerpt 7-9. Hani’s update

In the English interview, I was able to fluently talk about the things I prepared without being anxious, which I think

was possible because I practiced saying something out of my mouth in our speaking meetings. Especially, to the

question on why I wanted to go to Canada, I recalled the map of same-sex marriage law by country you showed me,

so I could respond to it with great satisfaction! Thank you very much. I responded to other questions without any

hesitation as well, maybe because I memorized what I practiced with you. Thankfully, the Canadian professor, who

was interviewing me, said that he saw my passion and he sympathized a lot about what I said about Canada and

other cultures, so he said I would do well wherever I go, as an exchange student. It is thanks to you. Once again,

Thank you.

영어 면접에서도 떨지 않고 준비한 것들을 술술 말할 수가 있었는데, 이는 스피킹 모임에서 어떻게든 말을

꺼내는 연습을 할 수 있었기 때문에 가능하였던 것 같습니다. 특히 왜 캐나다에 가고 싶냐는 질문에, 미소

선생님께서 보여주셨던 각 나라 별 동성애 결혼 법 지도가 떠올라서 정말 뿌듯하게 대답할 수 있었어요!

너무나도 감사드려요. 나머지 질문들도 미소 선생님과 함께 연습했던 것들 달달 외우고 가서 그런지

막힘없이 대답했고, 덕분에 감사하게도 면접 보시던 캐나다인 교수님께서 마지막에 제 열정을 알 것 같다고

제가 말했던 캐나다에 대한 것들, 다른 문화에 대한 것들을 많이 공감하고 그래서 교환 학생으로 어디를

가든 잘할 수 있을 것 같다고 말씀해 주셨어요. 미소 선생님 덕분이에요. 다시 한번 감사드려요.

188 All in all, Hani’s use of the clip Carol in the exchange student program application illustrates how she interwove different tools and resources to achieve her goals. She first cited the clip in the self-introduction essay, then brought it to the PS to practice discussing the film in

English, afterward used the knowledge on same-sex marriage that she had gained in the PS to emphasize her motivation to go to Canada in the interview, and finally was accepted to her first- choice exchange student program.

Hani’s second way of making connections was to connect what she had practiced in the

PSs to her language exchange sessions even after the program had finished. The update also included information about how she had continued practicing her English speaking skills. Section

6.3.1 briefly introduced the language exchange program that she had joined at the completion of the program. Regarding this language exchange experience, she described how she used the films on fear and love we had discussed in our PSs to talk with her international friends in the language exchange program. She narrated: “Especially on fear, love, and other stories I want to stitch together, the other people understand my speech better and they understand my story and empathize with me, thanks to the practice we did (특히 공포에 대한 것들, 사랑에

대해서나 제가 짓고 싶은 이야기들에 대해 말할 때 그 연습 덕분에 상대방도 더 잘 알아

듣고, 더욱 제 이야기를 이해해 공감하고 좋아해 주는 것 같아요 )” and “not just practicing

English speaking, but it helped me substantiate my thoughts and preferences which floated around in my head through language. I got the structure, so I could express my thoughts more consistently when I got opportunities to speak later on (단순히 말하는 연습 뿐만이 아니라,

평소에 머리 속에서 구름처럼 떠다녔던 저의 생각과 기호들을 언어로 실체화할 수 있게

도와준 것 같아요. 한번 이렇게 구조가 잡히니까 시간이 지나더라도 다시 말할 기회가

생겼을 때 더 안정적이게 생각을 전달할 수 있게 되었어요).” The update shows that the tools and resources she had used in the program helped her: (1) clarify her cloudy thoughts, (2) tell

189 stories related to her interests, and (3) be understood by and experience the empathy of her international friends.

The third way that Hani made connections was by attributing her improved TOEIC scores to the practice she did with her tools and resources in this program. During Week 3, Hani took a mock TOEIC test for the first time in her life, received her score report, and brought it to the PS with a frustrated look. The score was 775 out of 990, and Hani said she felt as if the score report was saying, “Your grammar is terrible!”, which she could not help but acknowledge.

However, during Week 7, she took the TOEIC test again without completing any targeted test preparation and received 865 out of 990. She emailed me with a thrilled tone, saying, “The words

I learned in the speaking class were in the TOEIC test!!!!! My score increased so much maybe because I was exposed to English more!!! […] It is thanks to you and the session. I think I became more familiar with English more naturally in the speaking meetings even though I myself haven’t realized, hehe 저 스피킹 수업 하면서 알게 된 단어들도 토익 시험에 나오고!!!!!

평소보다 더 영어를 자주 접해서 그런지 점수가 많이 올랐어요!!! […] 정말 선생님과 세션

덕분이 커요 스피킹 모임 하면서 스스로 깨닫지 못했을 정도로 자연스럽게 영어랑 친해진

것 같아요 헤헤.”

Hani’s use of tools and resources is represented in Figure 7-15 below. She was eager to express her opinions on topics that truly mattered to her: the philosophical and humanistic topics.

She interwove different tools and resources from within and outside of the program in three different ways. She brought the tools and resources related to her interests, practiced speaking

English using them in the classroom, and finally took the tools and resources beyond the classroom—talking about same-sex marriage in her exchange student program interview, sharing her stories of fear and love in the language exchange sessions, and earning a higher score on the

TOEIC. Throughout this process, the facilitator’s role was mainly twofold: a discussion partner

190 for her deep topics and a study-abroad advisor for her application package and interview. The facilitator’s involvement with Hani was deeper than the male participants, partly because I shared interest in her topics and I had experience in studying, living, and working abroad. The facilitator’s background provided a rich resource for Hani to achieve her goals.

Figure 7-15. Hani’s use of tools and resources

What characterized Yena was her unique way of integrating YouTube clips with other physical resources in the classroom and borrowing her peer’s expertise to achieve her goals.

While the other participants typically used YouTube clips as a prompt to initiate discussion, Yena used the clips to learn the colloquial expressions used in the clips. From Weeks 3 to 6, Yena brought makeup or fashion clips in English to the PSs, asked questions about the colloquial expressions and phrasal verbs used in the clips, and practiced using them in the PSs. As she was aware of my interest in cosmetics, she could bring the clips without the pressure to explain them.

For instance, Yena brought a video clip titled “Sultry Makeup for Fall”

191 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnMLnW3J268&feature=share), which had been uploaded by a Korean-American makeup artist. In explaining her makeup, the artist said, “I paired it (a foundation) up with some nice coppery eyes.” Yena asked a question about the phrase “pair it up with” and wanted to practice using it. I gave her a prompt, “Describe your outfit,” and initiated the interaction below.

Excerpt 7-10. “Pair it up with”

1 M: Describe your outfit. Ah you first ((points to Yena))

2 Y: °Me first?° Um, (.) I, I pair with my earrings ((touches her earrings)) and my sweater↑

3 because today I want to: be: more:: so, sophisticated?

4 M: Sophisticated. Okay yeah (laughs)

5 Y: A little bit, so I choose this earring↑, and I pair with my: pink sweater.

6 So (.) that makes me look (laughs) more sophisticated ((bursts into laughter))

7 M: Okay I see I see yeah. Paired with 중간에 들어간 거 보이세요?

8 [do you see the thing between ‘paired’ and ‘with’?] ((points at the caption of the video))

9 Paired this earring with 이렇게[this way]? Paired 뒤에 다시

10 해보시겠어요? [Would you try the part after “paired”?]

11 Y: Paired this earring with my pink sweater?

12 M: Yeah yeah.

13 Y: ((takes notes))

Note. Y = Yena, M = the facilitator

In this interaction, Yena tries using the phrasal verb “pair something up with” to say that she had paired her earrings with her pink sweater to make a sophisticated outfit. She failed to use the correct tense and word order in lines 2 and 5 and did not notice it. The facilitator pointed at the caption (“I paired it up with some nice coppery eyes”) displayed on the laptop (line 8), provided a model answer (line 9), and suggested delivering the response again (lines 9–10). Yena

192 finally succeeded in creating a correct sentence (line 11) and wrote it down to remember (line

13). In this way, Yena learned a new colloquial expression.

Excerpt 7-11 below is another example of Yena’s learning. It was initiated when she heard the makeup artist in the clip say, “Start putting it outer corner again even closer to the lid.”

The artist said it to explain how to apply eyeshadow on the outer corners of the eyes to create gradation. Yena wondered why the word “lid” was used in this context and initiated the interaction. The interaction involved a bottle and a plastic cup on the table, shown in Figure 7-16.

Excerpt 7-11. “lid”

1 Y: 어 왜 lid 에요? lid 라는 의미가 눈꺼풀 의미하는 거에요?

2 [Uh why lid? Does lid mean eyelid?] ((points to her eyelid))

3 M: 네[Yes].

4 Y: ((points to the lid of the water bottle)) 그럼 얘는 왜 lid 에요? [Then why is this lid?]

5 M: ((points to her eyelid)) 얘도 뭔가, 눈을 덮잖아요? [this is like, it covers the eye?]

6 ((points to the lid of the water bottle)) 얘도 병을 덮잖아요? [It covers the bottle?]

7 ((points to the lid of the cup)) 얘도 컵을 덮으니까 [and it also covers the cup]

8 Y: 덮는 거 [something that covers] ((touches the lid of the cup))

9 통을 덮는 게 lid. [something that covers is a lid] ((takes notes))

193 Figure 7-16. The lids in the classroom

The meaning negotiation above shows the process by which Yena expanded the semantic field of the word “lid” by mobilizing objects in the classroom. Yena first asked a question about the meaning of “lid” in the video (line 1), which referred to “eyelid.” This meaning was different from the prototypical meaning of “lid,” like the lid of a water bottle. She pointed to the lid of the water bottle and asked a question (line 4). The facilitator pointed at three different lids (i.e., the eyelid, the water bottle lid, and the coffee cup lid) in the classroom to illustrate the semantic field of “lid,” and afterward Yena touched her coffee cup lid to show understanding and took notes.

The interactions in Excerpts 7-9 and 7-10 above show how Yena and the facilitator collaborated to expand Yena’s repertoire of colloquial expressions by drawing on a YouTube beauty clip and objects in the classroom. Yena asked multiple questions about other colloquial expressions used in the video as well, including “might as well,” “crease,” “mind,” “went through a creative block,” “move on over,” “blend in,” and “brighten up.” She volunteered to create sentences using the new expressions and took notes to practice them further.

In the Weeks 7 and 8 PSs, Yena began using a different set of tools and resources to finish her exchange student application documents. Yena had made up her mind to apply to an exchange student program in France and began composing a self-introduction essay in English.

This task coincided with the time when Haewon (Yena’s PS partner) received his job offer from the AAA Department Store. Since Haewon had already been to France as an exchange student, he volunteered to become a resource for Yena (as briefly mentioned in Section 7.2.2). Therefore, she put the beauty video clips away and worked on composing her self-introduction essay in the two

PSs.

During Week 7, Yena brought a very rough handwritten draft. Figure 7-17 shows part of its first paragraph. The main points of the paragraph are: (1) she has been interested in cultural art

194 since childhood, because her parents always brought her to art exhibitions and music concerts; (2) she has experience in performing Waacking (a dance genre) and directing dance performances; and (3) as part of the directing experience, she learned how to plan and organize an event and communicate with people better.

Figure 7-17. Yena’s self-introduction essay (first draft)

195 During the Week 7 PS, Yena, Haewon, and I together read over the draft and exchanged opinions on revising the draft. While I was reading through the draft, I suggested beginning the first paragraph with a compelling art-related story that showed her genuine motivation to go to

France, rather than crowding too many main points into the first paragraph. Haewon immediately provided a highly detailed suggestion on how to restructure the paragraph, shown in Excerpt 7-12 below. In the excerpt, he explicitly suggests mentioning the Musee d’Orsay because it has works from a number of Impressionist artists. Mentioning the Louvre Museum, Haewon said, may not be a wise move because it is very big. Furthermore, Haewon devised a storyline for Yena to use in the very last sentence of the excerpt: beginning the essay with artworks and connecting it with her childhood and her previous trip to France.

Excerpt 7-12. Haewon’s suggestion for revising the self-introduction essay

To me, if you choose one art museum, Orsay is good. Orsay has many impressionist artists, well now I can’t remember, Monet and Manet, that side of artists, or when I went there I fell in Cezanne, Cezanne is really rough but,

I felt something coming up from my heart, so I asked artists if this is the inspiration of art. Something like that.

Louvre is too big. […] So make a story like, you felt something from these artworks since you were young and you also went there during your trip.

제가 봤을 때는 미술관을 하나 뽑는다면 오르셰 뽑는게 괜찮아요. 오르셰 약간 인상주의 화가 많잖아요

이젠 기억도 안 나네, 모네 마네 그쪽 작가들 아니면 저는 그때 갔을 때 세잔느에 완전 빠져서, 세잔이 진짜

투박한데 진짜, 확 올라오는게 있었어가지고 이게 미술적 영감이냐고 미술가들한테 물어보고 그랬었는데,

약간 그런 거 있잖아요. 루브르는 너무 대형적인거 같고 […] 어릴 때 그런거 보면서 느꼈고 여행까지 가서

또 봤다 이렇게 해서 쭉 스토리를 잡아서.

Yena jotted down the advice, revised the essay at home, and brought the revised, typed essay in Week 8 (Figure 7-18 below). Based on the feedback from Haewon and me, she decided to mention Vincent van Gogh’s painting, “Starry Night Over the Rhone,” in the Musee d’Orsay

196 (lines 3–4). She connected the painting with the interest in cultural art she had had since her childhood (lines 1–2) and her previous trip to France (lines 4–5). Furthermore, she cited van

Gogh’s painting style changes to emphasize her motivation to go to France (lines 5–9).

Figure 7-18. Yena’s self-introduction essay (second draft)

Not only did Haewon help improve Yena’s self-introduction essay, but he also shared his experience of living in France as a novice speaker of English. While Yena was revising the essay, she threw out questions related to France, such as how to get along well with classmates in

France. Haewon responded that it was really difficult to get along with other foreigners because of his lack of English skills. Haewon suggested that Yena join team projects in her classes, so that she would have opportunities to talk in English.

Yena’s use of tools and resources is summarized in Figure 7-19 below. She was eager to use colloquial expressions and phrasal verbs to talk about cosmetics and art, which motivated her to use YouTube beauty clips in the classroom to learn relevant expressions. She was also clever at using physical objects and her PS partner’s experience in France. I could assist her use of tools and resources because I shared interest in cosmetics and makeup and had previous study-abroad experience. Using these resources, she tried hard to achieve her new short-term goal of going to

France.

197

Figure 7-19. Yena’s use of tools and resources

Unlike Hani and Yena, Jiwon’s goals kept changing over the eight-week program

(discussed in Sections 5.3.1 and 5.3.2), as did her tools and resources for learning English. All of the materials she brought were linked to what she wanted to achieve at the given time. Table 7-3 below is a summary of her goals, as determined from my field notes and the tools and resources she brought to each PS. Jiwon was interested in competing in the gongchae process from Weeks

1 to 5, although she began thinking about the possibility of a working holiday in Week 3. She first brought Love Actually clips and scripts to help reduce her anxiety about speaking English; she then switched to more serious topics, like writing a résumé and talking about her job-related experience in Weeks 4 and 5. During Week 6, Jiwon resolved not to participate in the gongchae process any longer and moved forward with preparing for her working holiday applications.

Therefore, from Weeks 6 to 8, Jiwon used materials related to cultural differences (i.e., dating culture, marriage, and family around the world in Week 6); criticizing Korean culture (i.e., fad

198 fashion and gender bashing in Korea in Week 7); and negotiating cultural differences and stereotypes (i.e., YouTube clips in Week 8).

Table 7-3. Jiwon’s goals and changes of her tools and resources

Her goals (as described in the Tools and resources

field notes)

Week 1 Jiwon said she wanted to speak

better, not only for getting a

good score to get the job she

missed because of her score,

but also for participating in

English conversation better

Week 2

199

Week 3 Jiwon said that she was Love Actually clips and scripts on YouTube –

thinking about applying for watching the clips together and practicing some

working holiday in Australia, of the English expressions

because she believed that the

best way to learn a language

was to live in where the

language is spoken. She said

that she may not try to get a job

because she thought she was

still young and she did not want

to sacrifice her life to the

company. She wanted to enjoy

her life a bit more.

Week 4 Resume 1 – how to write an English resume

Week 5 Resume 2 – how to talk about the experiences

mentioned in her resume

200

Week 6 She said that she was going to Discussion – Cheating in dating, dating culture,

save money in the few months family issues, marriage, and different types of

and get a working holiday visa families around the world (Having a free

to become more proficient in discussion in English on these topics)

English. She said she wanted to

be more fluent, and she did not

want to do anything she didn’t

want to do (like, getting a job

and working all day long).

Week 7 She said that she was going to Discussion – Newspaper articles on fad fashion

go to Vietnam 10 days at the and gender bashing (http://me2.do/5tVB7WN3,

end of December, come back, http://me2.do/55DTn2uJ)

and file application to a (Reading the two articles and discussing current

working holiday program in feminism issues in South Korea)

Australia in January.

Week 8 Discussion – YouTube clips on cultural

differences and stereotypes

(https://youtu.be/Igk4XvzwOCw

https://youtu.be/boqC57RYVIU

https://youtu.be/g0Y1lI0fQGU

https://youtu.be/oQ_Nz9NRwwc)

(Watching the four clips and talking about her

previous experience on cultural difference and

stereotypes on Asian women)

201

To provide a closer look at how Jiwon used the tools and resources in the classroom, I present two examples: one on job-seeking and the other on stereotypes. The first, Excerpt 7-13, focuses on Jiwon’s use of her résumé to practice how to market herself, just like the male participants did as part of their English interview preparation. She wanted to explain her international sales experience at a small-sized company. In her English résumé, she describes the experience as “CCC communications, C.O., Seoul, South Korea, worked at a overseas marketing team. Contacted new buyers and promoted company’s items. Exported items to a new buyer.”

She first explained the process of obtaining advice on international sales from trade organizations including the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and Korea International

Trade Association (KITA); she then told a story about how she had followed the advice, as shown in the excerpt below:

Excerpt 7-13. Jiwon’s description of her international sales experience

1 W: The advice, the advice, I followed the advice, ((looks at the laptop screen and

2 touches keys)) followed the advice, so I searched, I googled where, which,

3 which countries have big markets↑, and, and it was, (.) uh UK↑, or

4 Hong Kong↑, Singapore↑, or North America↑

5 M: North America.

6 W: So I:: participated in every (.) session::, °like,° which was, which were

7 hold by,

8 M: KOTRA?

9 W: And KITA↑ °So° one of the sessions, I could make, uh, (.) 상담? [consultation?]

202

10 (2.7) ((looks at the facilitator))

11 M: Consult? Or have a meeting with?

12 W: I, I, I, I could make, um 상담을 하다[have a consultation]?

13 M: 어, 어떤[uh, what]? Consult?

14 W: 네[yes].

15 M: Have a consultation?

16 W: I could, I could have consultation↑ with the, the presidents from KOTRA,

17 KOTRA:: um UF:: ((looks at the facilitator)) 영국[the UK]…

18 M: Branch? KOTRA-UK Branch?

19 W: KOTRA-UK Branch, and he allowed our company, he allowed us to submit

20 our products in the, to Birmingham

As this interaction indicates, Jiwon drew on her English résumé, an online collocation dictionary on using “advice” in context, and the facilitator. First of all, she used her English résumé as a prompt to speak about her international sales experience. Second, the collocation dictionary helped her construct the phrase “follow the advice.” In line 1, she repeated “advice” two times because she was not sure about its collocations. She came up with “follow” at the end of line 1, looked at the laptop screen and checked the online collocation dictionary to see if

“follow” was the right verb, and reiterated the construction “followed the advice” in line 2.

Lastly, she looked at the facilitator and switched to Korean to request appropriate expressions in

English: “have a consultation” from lines 9 to 16, and “branch” in lines 17 to 19.

203 Jiwon used a similar strategy for practicing the speaking skills that she would need to go on a working holiday in Australia. First, she used a YouTube clip on stereotypes to prompt discussion. After watching the clip, Jiwon initiated a conversation to emphasize that not only racial stereotypes but also gender roles were problematic (line 1; Excerpt 7-14 below). Second, she used the facilitator to request vocabulary items from lines 4 to 5 by switching to Korean.

Excerpt 7-14. Jiwon’s discussion of stereotypes

1 W: I think there are also: sexual:: (.) stereotypes (1.4)

2 M: ((laughs))

3 W: In Western and in Korean, ((waves hands)) >ah in Western culture and Asian culture<.

4 °I mean° not about ((waves hands)) sexual in, like, 성역할[gender roles]

5 M: Sexual roles? Gender roles?

6 W: Gender role ((nods))

7 M: So, but what? Can you elaborate more?

8 W: Um (.) There is a (1.3) adverb, adverbs, campaigns like that (1.8) °I mean° girls get raised:

9 in certain ways. They should be (.) um (.) they should be not muschly or, they:

10 M: Muscular 근육질[muscular]

11 W: They should not (.) be mus, muscular and, (.) and, (1.8) ah, I, I forget from the movie clip

12 ((makes a rectangle with her thumbs and index fingers)) which Emma Watson

13 represented in UN as a UN ambassador↑, He for She

14 M: Ah yeah yeah the speech

15 W: Yeah the speech He for She. So I realize that, the gender role >the stereotype<

16 but gender role (.) is also serious problems in °western culture°

17 it’s worldwide not only in Korea

Note. W = Jiwon, M = the facilitator

Excerpts 7-13 and 7-14 above show the way Jiwon used different tools and materials to achieve her different goals. In Excerpt 7-13, Jiwon strategically talked about her global business

204 experience to present herself as a competent jobseeker. She emphasized her international market research experience (lines 2–4), her efforts to consult with high-ranking personnel in trade organizations (lines 16–17), and her success in trading (lines 19–20). In contrast, in Excerpt 7-14,

Jiwon talked about gender-related problems in Western and Asian cultures, because she felt that she had to be prepared for the problems she might face after moving to a Western culture. By citing Emma Watson’s famous He for She speech16 at the United Nations (lines 13 and 15), Jiwon twice stressed the problem was serious not only in Korea but also in Western countries (lines 3–4 and lines 15–17).

Jiwon’s use of tools and resources is summarized in Figure 7-20 below. By the sixth week of the program, she was ready to pursue an alternative to the gongchae process. She used two different sets of tools and resources before and after this determination. The first set focused on developing skills to obtain a high OPIc score and succeed in an English interview, and the facilitator’s role was limited to providing language assistance. The second set was related to improving conversation skills to live and work in Australia. In this set, the facilitator could be a discussion partner who also shares similar view on stereotypes, gender roles, and feminism.

Using the second set, she pursued her new goal of a working holiday in Australia.

16 He for She is a campaign for gender equality. It was prompted by Emma Watson’s (a British Actress) speech made at the United Nations in 2014.

205

Figure 7-20. Jiwon’s use of tools and resources

To sum up, the female participants created diverse ways to improve their English skills to achieve their goals. Hani was skillful at interweaving various tools and resources both within and outside of the classroom to achieve her goal. Yena drew on clips to familiarize herself with colloquial expressions; she also used her PS partner’s experience to draft her self-introduction essay. Both of these activities were related to her goal of going to France as an exchange student.

Lastly, Jiwon’s case is an example of using different sets of tools and resources to achieve different goals.

206 7.4 Chapter summary

This chapter analyzed how the participants developed their own ways of achieving their goals by drawing on their own tools and resources. At the beginning of the study, all of the participants had little experience speaking English and few opportunities to develop their English speaking skills. When they were given the opportunity to learn English in this program, they brought diverse tools and resources, even though some of the tools and resources did not fall into the traditional category of “English-language learning materials” and did not involve verbal activities (e.g., Byungwoo’s Korean-language personal statement and Joon’s Korean-language

PowerPoint slides). The diverse tools and resources provided affordances for the participants to practice the skills that they wanted to, whether those skills were for formal English interviews

(Byungwoo, Haewon, Joon, and somewhat Jiwon); on-the-job workplace tasks (Byungwoo and

Joon); philosophical discussions (Hani); casual talk about cosmetics (Yena); exchange student applications (Hani and Yena); or the negotiation of cultural differences (Jiwon).

207 Chapter 8

Conclusion

In this chapter, I conclude the dissertation by synthesizing and analyzing the main findings of this study, providing further discussion of each research question, and making closing remarks.

8.1 Summary of the main findings

The study began with two problem statements. First, young Korean jobseekers who wish to succeed in the neoliberal job market are expected to invest in earning high scores on English standardized tests and developing their oral English proficiency. However, little is known about how jobseekers interpret and negotiate the neoliberal norms, and in particular, how they prepare for the tests and develop their oral proficiency. Second, even less is known about how jobseekers can develop their oral proficiency without relying on expensive hakwons.

To address these problems, the study identified descriptive and pedagogical goals. The former was to examine Korean jobseekers’ interpretation and negotiation of neoliberalism and their reasons for learning English. The latter was to explore how, when given the opportunity to practice speaking English in a flexible setting, the jobseekers made use of the tools and resources available to them.

A case study method was used to collect qualitative data over the course of an eight-week exploratory program. Six participants brought tools and resources that they subsequently used to design their own ways of learning throughout the program. Employing thematic analysis (Braun

& Clarke, 2006), I coded and analyzed the data according to my three research questions. The main findings are summarized in Table 8-1 below.

208

Table 8-1. Summary of the main findings

Goals RQs Findings

RQ 1. How do the Finding 1-1. The male participants interpreted the gongchae

Korean jobseekers system, a neoliberal competitive recruitment process, as a

interpret and legitimate rite of passage for young adults. The female

negotiate the participants viewed it as a suffocating and daunting task to

neoliberal norms of avoid.

employability in the Finding 1-2. The male participants negotiated the neoliberal

job market? norms by choosing to marketize themselves and molding

themselves into injaesang. The female participants sought to

study or work abroad to pursue less competitive lives.

Finding 1-3. In the course of negotiating the neoliberal norms

of competition, the male participants pursued their passion to

adapt themselves to the demands of the corporations and the Descriptive

female participants took full advantage of transnational

mobility to move abroad.

RQ 2. For what Finding 2-1. The male participants studied for the standardized

reasons do the English tests to outperform others who had lived abroad or

Korean jobseekers demonstrate their effort and perseverance. The female

study for the participants who opted out of participating in gongchae did not

standardized English study for the tests as much as the male participants did.

tests and develop Finding 2-2. The male participants developed oral proficiency

to outperform haewaepa candidates or overcome their trauma

209

oral English of speaking English during interviews. The female participants

proficiency? developed oral proficiency to talk about topics that interested

them and study or work abroad.

RQ 3. If Finding 3-1. When opportunities were provided, the

opportunities can be participants used multimodal and translingual tools and

provided to study resources (e.g., movie clips, dramas, YouTube clips,

English in a flexible PowerPoint slides, job advice webpages, search engines,

setting, how do the collocation websites, online dictionaries, EBS English clips,

Korean jobseekers, corporations’ official websites, webpages on cultural

who have had little differences, job documents, application materials, interview

experience speaking scripts). Some of these tools and resources did not belong to

English, create their the category of traditionally defined language-learning

Pedagogical own ways of materials and did not involve verbal activities.

developing their Finding 3-2. The participants’ tools and resources, combined

English speaking with equipment in the classroom (e.g., the participants’

skills to achieve smartphones, laptops, notes, and voice recorders) and the

their goals? facilitator, served as affordances that allowed the participants

to practice the skills they wanted to and develop distinctive

pathways to their goals.

For RQs 1 and 2 (the descriptive goal), I present my analysis of the findings and my arguments based on the findings. For RQ 3 (the pedagogical goal), I evaluate the effectiveness of this eight-week program and discuss its pedagogical implications.

210 8.2 RQ 1: Analysis and discussion

In Sections 2.2 and 3.2, I discussed governmentality of the self and the homo œconomicus function in the neoliberal job market, and I explained how the gongchae system works. This section analyzes the findings based on these concepts and makes an argument for analyzing the influences of neoliberalism intersectionally.

8.2.1 Analysis of the findings

This section answers the following questions: Why did the male jobseekers interpret gongchae as a legitimate rite of passage? Why did they try to mold themselves into injaesang with passion? Why did the female participants perceive competition as suffocating and seek alternative routes? What led the female participants to decide to move abroad?

The male jobseekers interpreted gongchae as a legitimate passage into adulthood because they deeply internalized the logic of neoliberal self-development, presented themselves as marketable “bundles of skills” (Urciuoli, 2008, p. 211), and marketized themselves by following

Foucault’s (2008) concept of homo œconomicus, as discussed in Section 2.2. Byungwoo said it would be a “disaster” if the young people reject competition (Section 5.2.3) and Joon relegated

Jiwon’s working holiday plan to an instance of “having fun” (Section 5.2.1). These comments show how much the jobseekers had internalized the neoliberal logic of competition. The job market is a place wherein candidates compete with their skills and competences without intervention, and only those who survive the competition are thought to deserve decent jobs. As homo œconomicus and members of the spec generation, the jobseekers believed that they had a mission to invest in themselves to accumulate as many specs as possible, outperform other

211 jobseekers in gongchae, and continue to invest in endless human capital-building (Davies &

Bansel, 2007; Urciuoli, 2008; van Doorn, 2014).

However, it should be noted that the jobseekers’ human capital-building extended beyond the accumulation of specs for higher economic return. They tried hard to mold themselves into injaesang and they pursued their passion to the extent of self-exploitation. Two examples of this are Haewon’s effort to lose weight and his internalization of the AAA Department Store’s mission and Joon’s lament of a “slave-like working culture.” These examples show that for

Haewon and Joon, molding themselves into injaesang included not only self-disciplining and assessing their skills as homo œconomicus, but also changing their physical appearance, identifying themselves with particular corporations’ missions, and even sacrificing their passions and lives for the corporations. These actions may appear counterintuitive, as homo œconomicus is a rational subject who keeps investing in their own human capital to maximize profit; however, the participants seemed to pledge allegiance to particular corporations even if it meant sacrificing themselves.

To account for this contradiction, homo œconomicus should be understood within the ideologies of Korean corporate culture. According to Y.-H Cho and J. Yoon (2002), the underlying ideologies are familism and militarism, which together suggest that “Koreans have adopted a paradigm in which organizations are like families as well as armies” (p. 79). Korean corporations, as family-like communities, emphasize in-group harmony and solidarity (Rowley,

2013). As military-like organizations, they emphasize uniformity and hierarchy (Y.-H. Cho & J.

Yoon, 2002). Familism and militarism function as ideological apparatuses to encourage individuals to look and act like other coworkers in the corporation, prioritize the group over themselves, and respect hierarchy. The male jobseekers’ endeavors show their conformity to the local ideologies. In short, the male jobseekers in this study should be understood as rational homo

212 œconomicus who are sensitive to ideological expectations and able to manipulate them to their own advantage.

The female participants took a different path. The gender differences can be attributed to three factors: (1) gender discrimination in the job market, (2) the effect of ageism in Korean society, and (3) the transnational mobility afforded by neoliberalism. First, studies on neoliberalism and gender have found differential influences of neoliberalism. Drawing on

Brown’s (2015) work, H.-Y. Park (2018) argued that homo œconomicus is genderless, but care work is gendered. While individuals of every gender can participate in human capital-building as homo œconomicus, the burden of care work usually falls to women or is outsourced to domestic workers. This imbalance results in systemic discrimination against women in the neoliberal job market. As discussed in Section 3.2.2, the gender wage gap is serious (C. Kim & Oh, 2019;

OECD, 2017), women’s careers are interrupted by marriage and childbirth (Statistics Korea,

2017), and corporate culture is not favorable toward women (Y. Hong & Hellberg, 2017). These facts show why the female participants in this study had less anticipated return in participating in gongchae than their male counterparts and thus were motivated to find alternative routes.

Second, the female participants were younger than the male participants, which gave them more time for exploring different pathways. Although an age difference of 2–5 years may appear trivial, it can be crucial in Confucian East Asian societies where age-based social hierarchy is the norm and seniority is emphasized (Horak & Yang, 2019; Sleziak, 2014). A survey of 327 human resource managers in Korea (Saramin, 2019) reported that the ideal age for four-year university degree holders to begin entry-level jobs is 27.9 for men and 25.7 for women17. The recruiters surveyed thought that the hierarchy of a corporation might be disrupted if older candidates were employed. It is considered culturally awkward for younger managers to

17 The age difference by gender is due to the two-year period of mandatory military service imposed on Korean men.

213 supervise older subordinates. For this reason, candidates older than the appropriate age are not preferred. The female participants, who were 22 and 24 at the time of the study, had not yet reached the appropriate age. As Jiwon said, “I’m still young” (Section 5.3.1). They still had a few years to experiment with different options, whereas the male candidates, who were 26 and 27, did not have such time and had to go through the mainstream rites of passage discussed in Section

5.2.1.

Third, neoliberalism afforded the female participants transnational mobility. While the neoliberal internalization of higher education in Korea has come under heavy criticism (Piller &

J. Cho, 2013), it allowed Hani and Yena to apply to exchange student programs without spending as much money as they would have on a jogi yuhak or eohagyeonsu. The globalization of the labor market also allowed young women like Jiwon to find work opportunities abroad in the hopes of improving their lives. The minimum hourly wage in 2019 was 8,350 KRW

(approximately 7.21 USD) in Korea (Minimum Wage Commission, 2018) and 19.49 AUD

(approximately 13.44 USD) in Australia (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2019). The porous borders— afforded by neoliberalism’s transnational mobility—allowed the women’s diasporic movement with the aim of finding more lucrative opportunities. This new form of migration is gaining popularity, as Shen (2019) described: “In recent years, the working-holiday schemes, particularly in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, have also been popular among Korean young university students to get away from home, while subsequently finding their ways to stay as permanent residents. While these Korean young generations are not financially established, yet they are very determined to pursue their dreams abroad in any and every possible way” (p. 37). The transnational mobility afforded by neoliberalism allowed the female participants to move abroad.

In sum, the male participants’ cases indicate the need to expand the concept of homo

œconomicus to account for local ideologies, and the female participants’ data demonstrate how gender, age, and transnational mobility function in the Korean job market.

214

8.2.2 The need for intersectional analysis of neoliberalism

The findings show that there are multiple dimensions of neoliberalism. It is true that neoliberalism has negative consequences, as mentioned above; however, neoliberalism is not “a default epithet for all things that are despised as unjust” (Block, 2018, p. 51). On the one hand, neoliberalism turns jobseekers into bundles of skills and intensifies competition. On the other hand, neoliberalism affords jobseekers opportunities to cross national borders and improve their lives. Neoliberalism is multifaceted: While it originally was an economic theory, it has since been expanded to an ideology that infiltrates a variety of aspects of human life (Steger & Roy, 2010), as discussed in Section 2.1. Therefore, neoliberalism should not be treated as a single ideology but as a “variegated phenomenon” (Block, 2018, p. 51) that takes different forms in different contexts.

Neoliberal analysis should pay more attention to individual learners’ circumstances, including the pressures they face, the opportunities they have, and their interpretations and negotiations of their circumstances in light of the cultural context. While a number of studies have investigated the negative consequences of neoliberalism in the Korean context (J. S.-Y.

Park, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2018; J. S.-Y. Park & Wee, 2015; Piller & J. Cho, 2013), individuals’ different interpretations and negotiations of neoliberalism bring about markedly different outcomes. As Bacon and S. Y. Kim (2018) argued, learners are “not merely passive receivers of language learning in neoliberal contexts” (p. 17). For instance, Byungwoo interpreted the neoliberal pressure of intense competition as motivating and self-fulfilling. He negotiated the situation by further developing his specs and ultimately winning the competition. The very same neoliberal pressure, however, was perceived as suffocating and daunting by Hani. She negotiated

215 the situation by utilizing the transnational mobility afforded her by her university and decided to

(temporarily) leave the country. The findings of this study reveal individuals’ different interpretations and negotiations of neoliberal norms, thereby suggesting that neoliberalism is not a singular phenomenon and signaling the need for more individualized analysis.

Based on the findings of the study, I argue that neoliberal analysis in applied linguistics should be intersectional. Intersectionality, which is a theory derived from black feminism, is a metaphor to explain interlocking layers of privilege and oppression (Carastathis, 2014; Crenshaw,

1989; Nagel, 2019). Crenshaw (1989) illustrated the metaphor in this way: “Consider an analogy to traffic in an intersection, coming and going in all four directions. Discrimination, like traffic through an intersection, may flow in one direction, and it may flow in another. If an accident happens in an intersection, it can be caused by cars travelling from any number of directions and, sometimes, from all of them” (p. 149). Intersectionality underscores the multidimensionality of privilege and oppression and resists reductive analysis.

The effect of neoliberalism is also intersectional. Jobseekers are encouraged to invest in human capital, face social pressure to obtain decent jobs, experience familial and militaristic culture in local corporations, witness gender discrimination at work, and are affected by numerous other ideologies. They find ways to reach their goals by perceiving, interpreting, and negotiating these ideologies. As the findings of this study show, a single lens, neoliberalism, does not fully account for the participants’ negotiations. It is important to consider the existing local ideologies, how these ideologies overlap, how they create synergy or conflict, and how they are negotiated by individuals.

The intersectional analysis of neoliberalism can be extended to other contexts. For instance, millennials in East Asian countries suffer precarity, inequality, and insecurity caused by neoliberal economic restructuring. They are labeled with various neologisms that reflect their

216 reality: “spec generation” (Korea), “Satori generation” (Japan)18, and “(wild) strawberry generation” (Taiwan)19. To fully understand millennial young adults’ struggles to cope with precarity, inequality, and insecurity, it is important to simultaneously examine (1) the historical context in which the neologisms emerged, (2) the current ideologies influencing the young adults,

(3) their identities and aspirations, and (4) their negotiations of all ideologies. Analysis of these intersecting factors will help to answer the following questions about young East Asians’ precarity, inequality, and insecurity: Why do “spec generation” young adults heavily invest in their human capital to attain secure employment, whereas “Satori generation” young adults are satisfied with their current status and seek happiness in their everyday lives? What are the similarities and differences between Taiwanese millennials’ activities in the Sunflower Student

Movement in 2014 and those of Korean millennials in the Candlelight demonstrations in 2016–

2017? How do the young adults in each country accept, modify, or even subvert the labels attached to them? Why do East Asian millennials fall into the trap of NEET (Not in Education,

Employment or Training), and what are some solutions for them? All of the questions center on the issues of precarity, inequality, and insecurity caused by multiple factors. A multidimensional lens is necessary to analyze multidimensional phenomena. An intersectional analysis of neoliberalism provides the analytic lens.

18 Satori (さとり) is a Buddhist concept, meaning spiritual enlightenment. The term “Satori generation” refers to Japanese millennials who “no longer have any desire and hope and thus are said to reach the stage of enlightenment like a Zen monk” (Asahina, 2019, p. 4). They tend to be less interested in career, success, or achievement. They prefer to find happiness and satisfaction in their everyday lives. 19 Older generations in Taiwan have pejoratively labeled young millennials the “strawberry generation” because they are fashionable but vulnerable to external damage and pressure. The young people later added a new word, “wild,” to emphasize that they are strong and independent like wild strawberries (Murphy, 2018; Rigger, 2011). The youth’s political protest in 2008 was hence named the “Wild Strawberry Movement.”

217 8.3 RQ 2: Analysis and discussion

Section 2.3 introduced the concept of linguistic entrepreneurship, a manifestation of homo œconomicus. Section 3.3 summarized previous studies on English in the Korean job market that problematized the role of English for upward mobility. This section analyzes the findings of this study and shows how it builds on previous research. The analysis indicates that the study’s participants negotiated the pressure of neoliberalism and English learning in different ways than those previously reported in the literature on Korean students’ neoliberal English-language learning. This is because a small number of students are overrepresented in the literature.

Therefore, this section argues for the need to represent a more diverse group of students’ negotiations of neoliberalism and English learning.

8.3.1 Analysis of the findings

This section addresses these questions: Why did the male participants try to achieve near- perfect scores on TOEIC and/or TOEIC Speaking? Why did the male participants aim to outperform haewaepa candidates (Byungwoo) and feel traumatized by English interviews

(Haewon and Joon)? Why did the female participants find English communication enjoyable and liberating, whereas the male jobseekers did not?

First, on the surface, the male participants’ efforts seem to be explained by the concept of linguistic entrepreneurship. As discussed in Section 2.3, linguistic entrepreneurship refers to the phenomenon of using linguistic resources to increase one’s economic value (de Costa et al., 2016,

2019). The male participants actively sought to achieve higher standardized test scores and improve their English skills to add value to their skillsets and maximize their employability and competitiveness.

218 However, the study yields more complex findings. While it is easy to suppose that improved English proficiency adds value to one’s skillset and employability, it is crucial to ask what type of English proficiency adds value. So-called native-like English proficiency may be presumed to have higher value because native-speaker varieties of English are highly preferred in

Korea (Ahn, 2017); however, the findings of this study indicate that English skills have to be presented in particular forms accepted in the job market, namely standardized test scores and the ability to integrate English with local social norms. The male participants knew that the test scores were not indicative of their skills, and the recruiters in Korea were also aware of this fact

(M. Kim et al., 2018). However, the test scores continue to be influential in gongchae because the test scores are thought to index the diligence and perseverance the jobseekers have invested in applying for jobs (M. Kim et al., 2018, 2019). The scores may demonstrate that the applicants are ready to undertake challenging job tasks, which could be viewed favorably in the hard-working

Korean culture. Byungwoo’s strategy to use Koreanized English and cultural norms during the gongchae process is one example. By demonstrating his strength in using English fluently with cultural sensitivity, he outperformed haewaepa candidates. In sum, English indeed adds value to one’s skillset; however, a more careful calibration of what forms of English add value in what contexts is needed.

Second, Haewon’s and Joon’s traumatic experiences with English interviews may be explained by linguistic insecurity (Labov, 2006), or more precisely, junuk (J. S.-Y. Park, 2015).

Speakers who adopt “a standard of correctness which is imposed from without, and from beyond the group which helped form their native speech pattern, are bound to show signs of linguistic insecurity” (Labov, 2006, p. 318). Taking this a step further, the participants’ feelings may be also explained by junuk, a localized theorization of linguistic insecurity. J. S.-Y. Park (2015) defined junuk as “a strong sense of inferiority and inadequacy that paralyzes a person confronting a superior or powerful figure” (p. 63). Haewon’s and Joon’s feelings of trauma regarding English

219 interviews may reflect linguistic insecurity and junuk, as their responses, “탈탈 털리다 all beaten up (Haewon)” and “my crisis (Joon)” (Section 6.2.2), imply that their performances were judged negatively by the interviewers in high-stakes situations. In this regard, Haewon’s and Joon’s traumatic experiences can be explained simply as feelings of insecurity and inferiority invoked by the need to produce spoken English that meets externally imposed standards.

Nevertheless, juxtaposing Haewon and Joon’s data and Byungwoo’s data provides richer insight into their feelings. Haewon and Joon, who were not as experienced in English interviews as Byungwoo, did not have a chance to experience how Koreanized English may be evaluated positively in an English interview. Byungwoo, who had been going to English interviews every other week, had opportunities to realize that haewaepa candidates’ North American English may not be evaluated as favorably as his English. This means that Haewon and Joon might have felt differently if they, too, had seen that their English could be evaluated as legitimate and competitive by interviewers. Although it is difficult to determine Korean hiring managers’ evaluation criteria, speaking native-like English may not be as crucial as Haewon and Joon had originally thought, because Korea’s largest trading partner is China, followed by the United

States, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Japan (K-stat, 2020). This signals the need to examine what constitutes “good English” in transnational workplace communication in Korean corporations.

Third, how can the female participants’ data be explained? In contrast to the male participants’ data, neither linguistic entrepreneurship nor linguistic insecurity yields meaningful interpretations of the female participants’ enjoyment of English and feelings of freedom.

Linguistic entrepreneurship may provide some insight into why Jiwon invested efforts in developing her English skills to obtain temporary jobs abroad, like Filipino domestic workers did in Lorente’s (2018) study. However, it does not explain her or the other female participants’ joy and freedom.

220 To fully account for their feelings, it is necessary to refer to feminist studies on English- language learning. English has been criticized for a tool for imperialism (Phillipson, 1992); however, English can also be a tool for liberation for those who are colonized in male-dominant societies. Amongst feminist studies on language learning, of special relevance to this study is

Kobayashi’s (2002) research on young Japanese women’s attitudes toward English-language learning. Kobayashi suggested the possibility that “young Japanese women’s marginalised status in Japanese mainstream society and predictable readiness to look for a new, better life in a new community (temporarily or permanently) constitute one factor underlying their positive attitudes towards English learning, English language-related professions, English speaking people and

English speaking communities” (p. 192). This may hold true in the female jobseekers’ cases, as on the job market, they were marginalized compared to the male participants.

For the female learners, English was both liberating and controlling. On the one hand, the female participants saw English as enjoyable and liberating, because the female participants did not speak English simply to be evaluated by others like the male participants did. They used it to express themselves, fulfill their desires, and leave Korea in search of less competitive lives. On the other hand, English may also open individuals up to other forms of discrimination in foreign countries. For instance, working holidaymakers often face racial discrimination (K. Yoon, 2014b) and labor exploitation (Reilly, Howe, van den Broek, & Wright, 2018). Transnational domestic workers experience marginalization (Lorente, 2018). The two-sidedness of English calls for further feminist studies explaining women’s experience of English learning and migration.

221 8.3.2 Representation of diverse learners’ voices in the study of neoliberalism and language learning

From the lens of linguistic entrepreneurship, language learners are neoliberal subjects who seek English for increasing their value; however, close analysis of the participants’ voices in this study revealed more complex reasons. The participants, who did not have access to expensive opportunities to learn English, negotiated the pressure in many diverse ways that went beyond participating in jogi yuhak, hakwon, or study-abroad programs. The male participants strategically used standardized test scores and Koreanized English, and the female participants rejected studying English for upward mobility and instead pursued their dreams with English.

The findings imply the importance of analyzing the real voices of English learners from diverse socioeconomic groups. To date, the literature of neoliberalism and English has focused on students and families from relatively affluent backgrounds, like jogi yuhak parents and students

(Bae, 2013; Gao & J. S.-Y. Park, 2015; Lee, 2016; J. S.-Y. Park & Bae, 2009; S. J. Park &

Abelmann, 2004; H. Shin, 2014) or students who attend North American language institutions or universities (I. C. Jang, 2015; H. Shin, 2012). Overrepresentation of (upper-)middle-class students may result in a biased understanding. For example, when de Costa et al. (2016) proposed the term “linguistic entrepreneurship,” they used Korean jogi yuhak parents’ data collected in

2008. They argued that “this is precisely why jogi yuhak serves as an effective strategy for competition in Korean society—because its entrepreneurial motivations, in which acquisition of

English is pursued as part of a project to enhance the value of human capital in the body of the student, position the student as a good neoliberal subject” (p. 697). While their example might have held true for upper-middle-class students in 2008, it does not reflect the new trend among general Koreans that emerged in the mid-2010s. Since the mid-2010s, the weight assigned to

English in university entrance exams has declined and (upper-)middle-class haewaepa candidates have been looked upon less favorably in corporations because they tend to have difficulties

222 adopting to Korean corporate culture (Jeong, 2018; Kwon, 2014). As such, the importance of

English in gatekeeping has declined. Accordingly, the number of jogi yuhak students peaked in

2006 (38.0 students per 10,000 elementary and secondary students) and the number declined more than half in 2018 (16.3 students per 10,000 elementary and secondary students; Korean

Educational Statistics Service, 2019). The number of English hakwons targeting young students has decreased as well (Shim, 2015).

Given this context, jogi yuhak may no longer be an effective strategy for competition.

Rather, guknaepa students like Byungwoo, who are less represented in the literature, may have a competitive edge in Korean corporations. As the aforementioned statistics show, only 0.163% of students go to jogi yuhak (Korean Educational Statistics Service, 2019); however, until recently, they have continued to appear as examples in research on neoliberal English education (cf. J. S.-

Y. Park, 2016; Shin, 2016; H. Shin & B. Lee, 2019). Too much attention has been paid to a small number of affluent students; it is time to shed light on how other Koreans, like the participants of this study, cope with the neoliberal pressure to study English.

The investigation of diverse groups of learners would lead to more comprehensive findings on the interfaces between neoliberalism and language learning. Studying diverse groups of learners would allow researchers to go beyond the phenomena of English frenzy (J. S.-Y. Park,

2010), English fever (J.-K. Park, 2009), the English divide (M. Jeon, 2012; H. Shin & B. Lee,

2019), and linguistic entrepreneurship (de Costa et al., 2016). Scholarship has tended to look at

English language learning vertically, considering how English skills improve non-native speakers’ socio-economic status and intensify the disparity between English “haves” and “have- nots.” While this research is useful, it is necessary to broaden its scope and consider a horizontal perspective. In particular, it is imperative to investigate how different groups of learners develop

English skills.

223 In Korea’s neighboring country Japan, scholars have sought to represent diverse groups of English learners, including transnational office workers, women, learners in informal English learning contexts, local business leaders, and learners in rural areas. As a result, they have found diverse links between neoliberalism and English: Transnational border-crossing communication requires not only on linguistic means but also on personal qualities (Kubota, 2013); TOEIC scores are linked more closely with individual workers’ perceived importance than corporations’ requirements (Kubota, 2011b); English may be linked to nationalism (Kawai, 2009) and even xenophobia (Kubota, 2016); female learners use English for enjoyment, romance, and desire

(Bailey, 2007; Kubota, 2011a; Motha & Lin, 2014; Piller & Takahashi, 2006); and women who speak English may have less economic returns than men in the neoliberal job market and workplace (Kobayashi, 2018; Kubota, 2011b).

In Korea, addressing the following questions may contribute to diversifying students’ stories of English learning in the neoliberal era: How do guknaepa students overcome their

(perceived) disadvantages to outperform haewaepa candidates in the job market? How do transnational workers in Korean workplaces use English and other communicative resources?

Why do adult learners purchase informal English-language products, such as phone English tutorials, mobile applications, and online tutoring services? How do young Korean women, especially those who are influenced by the “feminism reboot”20 of 2015, use English to resist discrimination in neoliberal Korean workplaces and/or find better lives abroad? By listening to those learners who have yet to be represented in scholarship, researchers will be able to understand different facets of neoliberalism and English.

20 “Feminism reboot” is a term used by Sohn (2015) to refer to the dramatic surge of interest in feminism beginning in 2015 in Korea. Feminism had received not much attention by young women until 2015, but the “Feminism reboot” was sparked by an online website in 2015 and became intensified by the murder of a young woman in Gangnam in 2016 and #MeToo movement in 2018. The series of movements drastically increased young women’s awareness in feminism. The new generation of feminists has sought to challenge gender discrimination and dismantle the patriarchy.

224 8.4 RQ 3: Evaluation of the program and pedagogical implications

Section 2.4 identified the need to create spaces for negotiating neoliberalism at least at the classroom level, and Section 3.4 established the rationale for this eight-week program designed based on the ecological perspective. Based the previous discussion, this section evaluates the effectiveness of the program and provides pedagogical implications.

8.4.1 Evaluation of the program

The eight-week program began with this question: “Although it is not easy to reverse the influence of neoliberalism, how can we, as language educators and scholars, try to find workarounds at least at the classroom level?” In response to the question, this section evaluates the effectiveness of the eight-week program. In this section, I first make two notes of caution for interpreting the results of RQ 3. Then I lay out two strengths and two limitations of this program.

The evaluation serves as a reference for considering the pedagogical implications that are presented in the next section.

It should be noted that the evaluation focuses on the program’s effectiveness in helping students negotiate, not alter, ideologies. This program created implementational spaces

(Hornberger, 2002, 2005) in which the participants were able to experiment with their own tools and resources in response to neoliberal pressures. Ideological and implementational spaces open up when language and education policies are enacted. Discourses related to the policies are shaped and negotiated in ideological spaces, whereas the practices that ground the policies take place in implementational spaces. In this study, neither the participants nor I acted in ideological spaces, as this program was not designed to mobilize jobseekers to act against neoliberalism. In my view, the burden of transforming ideologies must weigh on those who are responsible for

225 them, not those who are affected by them. I was not in a position to persuade the young jobseekers to act against neoliberalism. What I was able to do was to carve out implementational spaces for my participants and me to negotiate the ideologies to our best advantage. Therefore, I evaluate the program in terms of its effectiveness in the implementational spaces, not the ideological spaces.

In addition, the data should be understood in conjunction with the research relationships.

I was asked to take on different roles than those I had expected when I designed the program; likewise, my involvement in the participants’ lives increased unexpectedly over the course of the program. On the one hand, the deep research relationships allowed me to collect rich data; on the other hand, the participants may have acted more actively in the program because of the relationships that they had with me. Recognizing this possible observer’s paradox (Labov, 1972),

I discussed my positionality, identity, and relationships in Section 4.6. This information should be taken into account when interpreting my evaluation of the program and its pedagogical implications.

The two strengths of this program should be understood in light of the aforementioned cautionary notes. The first strength of the program is that it provided the participants with opportunities to develop their own agentic ways of learning, rather than asking them to resort to familiar test-oriented learning methods. All participants perceived the pressure to develop their

English speaking skills, but they had little access to opportunities to speak English. They were able to create speaking opportunities as they interacted in the implementational spaces provided by the program. Van Lier (2000) said, “[T]he learner is immersed in an environment full of potential meanings. These meanings become available gradually as the learner acts and interacts within and with this environment” (p. 246). Indeed, the participants in this study were immersed in a rich environment with diverse artifacts. The participants gradually brought artifacts relevant to their learning to the program. The artifacts provided affordances for learning; through

226 perceiving, interpreting, and acting with and within the affordances, the participants practiced

English to achieve their goals. They learned how to create a sustainable network of learning tools and resources in the program, and some, like Byungwoo (Figure 7-8), Haewon (Figure 7-9), Joon

(Figure 7-10), and Hani (Figure 7-12), extended the network beyond the classroom. The results indicate that rather than relying on expensive opportunities, learners can use their own tools and resources to develop ways to practice the target language.

Second, this program provided spaces for the participants to take advantage of multimodal and translingual communication. Learners can utilize communicative affordances provided by diverse modes (Kress, 2015); they can also engage in translingual communication to use their verbal resources synergistically and create new meanings (Canagarajah, 2018a). This program did not follow the second language (L2) developmental sequence (Dulay & Burt, 1974;

Eskildsen, 2015) or the arboreal model of L2 learning that begins from learning grammar and extends to other aspects in the environment (Canagarajah, 2018b). Instead, this program opened up spaces for learners to experiment with multimodal and translingual L2 learning. The learners brought tools and resources that contained diverse modes and languages, and they creatively used them to facilitate learning. For example, Joon’s presentation in Excerpts 7-6 and 7-7 shows the way he integrated diverse modes and linguistic resources. To deliver his presentation, he drew from Korean (visual mode), a mixture of Korean and English (verbal mode), graphs and charts on the slides (visual mode), and Google search results (textual mode). In another example, Yena expanded the semantic field of “lid” by first hearing the word “lid” in the makeup tutorial video in English (visual mode), asking questions in Korean (verbal mode), and pointing to and touching different shapes of lids in the classroom (i.e., a cup lid, a bottle lid, and her own eyelids; kinesthetic mode) in Excerpt 7-11 and Figure 7-16. Real-world communication is multimodal and translingual; L2 learning should also be.

227 However, the strengths may not be transferrable to other contexts. The first limitation of this study is that the findings are not directly relevant to activism or advocacy against neoliberalism in the job market, even though the study takes a critical stance toward neoliberalism. This program offered a springboard for the participants to achieve their goals, rather than to resist neoliberalism. The male participants seemed to internalize the neoliberal logic of self-development more strongly than the female participants, and the female participants sought to leave the country for better lives rather than challenge the oppression and discrimination they faced in Korea. Therefore, the findings should be interpreted as individual jobseekers’ negotiations of neoliberalism, not systemic and organized activism against neoliberalism.

Other limitations include the technical aspects of this program. The program was able to offer a flexible and individualized curriculum because it was a short exploratory program unaffiliated with a formal institution. Such a level of flexibility and individuality may not be possible in other language classrooms because of the demands of different stakeholders and institutions. In addition, all participants were highly motivated to practice English speaking. This program was possible because all of them were goal-directed and prepared to exercise agency. It was not effective at all when a learner lost motivation to study further, as in Haewon’s case

(Figure 7-13). The findings of this study may not be directly applicable to other classrooms in which the students’ motivation level is insufficent.

8.4.2 Pedagogical implications: Learning English with learners’ own tools and resources

As discussed in Section 2.4, recent scholarship in applied linguistics has problematized the effect of neoliberalism on language education (Bernstein et al., 2015; H. Shin, 2016), arguing that English teaching has been reduced to helping students construct entrepreneurial personae.

228 Given the neoliberal context, this study aimed to explore alternative approaches to language learning. Although it is not possible to reverse the influence of neoliberalism, we, language educators and scholars, can try finding workarounds at least at the classroom level. This study began with this motivation. The findings of the study yield three pedagogical implications for how to make space for learners to negotiate the aforementioned problems based on the ecological perspective on language learning: (1) identifying influences of neoliberalism and deciding on one’s plan of action, (2) expanding the boundaries of language-learning materials, and (3) creating meaningful affordances for learning.

The implications are visually summarized in Figure 8-1 below. The learners (the innermost circle) interact in an environment with diverse ideologies. They perceive several tools and resources to be helpful for their learning and bring them into the classroom. These tools and resources include makeup tutorial videos, newspaper articles, PowerPoint slides, and a company website (the four icons from lipstick to monitor in the “classroom” circle, respectively). They turn them into learning materials in collaboration with the facilitator (the person icon). Furthermore, they expand their learning to the world outside of the classroom, such as by using voice-recorded classroom interaction after the class (the recorder icon) and joining language-exchange groups

(the conversation icon), both of which are affordances for their learning. Still, their environment is full of other tools and resources (e.g., radios, books, and TV shows, represented by the three icons in the outermost circle) that can be readily transformed into learning materials if they perceive their usefulness and align them with their goals. In what follows, I explain the figure in greater detail.

229

Figure 8-1. Summary of pedagogical implications

230

First, it is meaningful to help a potential learner (the innermost circle) to exercise their agency in identifying potential influences of neoliberalism and determining their own plan of action. The learner faces various demands depending on their goal and identity. Before imposing external learning objectives onto the learner, it is important to identify the demands and pressures the learner may confront on their way to the goal and to create a strategic plan for negotiating them. For instance, a female learner in an EFL setting may find that she is less fluent than others who have studied in ESL contexts and recognize some structural disadvantages as a female job candidate. The learner and teacher can collaboratively diagnose the situation, identify potential advantages and disadvantages, and establish a strategic and flexible plan for achieving the learner’s goals. There are creative ways to do this, such as by holding in-depth interviews, writing narratives, or using worksheets like the self-assessment used in this study.

This diagnostic process may be more important than a traditional aptitude test or learning style and strategy assessment. Studies on individual learner differences have identified many traits of successful L2 learners, such as aptitude, motivation, learning style, and strategies (e.g.,

Dörnyei & Skehan, 2003; Harley & Hart, 1997; O’Malley & Chamot, 1990; Skehan, 1991); however, in these studies, “success” has been defined by the researchers, not the learners themselves. Learners with so-called successful L2 proficiency may fail to obtain jobs, whereas others who are less successful at L2 learning may achieve their goals. Learners are not mere bundles of cognitive and affective variables; they are living people agentively interacting in society. Therefore, it is important to diagnose their social situations and map out a strategic plan to help them achieve their goals.

Second, the findings of the study imply that English-language learning materials can expand to include virtually any artifact that learners and teachers can link to the learners’ goals.

Language-learning materials (i.e., textbooks) have long been narrowly defined (Guerrettaz,

231 Engman, & Matsumoto, 2020). The participants of this study had used traditional materials such as TOEIC books. In this exploratory program, however, the participants challenged the traditional definition of materials and brought various tools and resources into the classroom that provided them with affordances for learning. Each participant and I worked together to turn the tools and resources into learning materials with which the participant could achieve their own goals. In what follows, I give three examples of expanding the boundaries of learning materials.

The first example shows that tools and resources that were not originally intended as language-learning materials can be meaningfully appropriated for learning. Yena’s YouTube cosmetology videos were originally intended to be makeup tutorials, and Jiwon’s YouTube clips and newspaper articles were designed to deliver information about social problems; however, the videos, clips, and articles provided affordances for Yena and Jiwon to connect them with their goals. Yena wanted to practice colloquial expressions and had an interest in the beauty industry.

The videos were rich resources for her to pick up expressions while watching informative tutorials that interested her. In this way, Yena reappropriated the videos as materials. Jiwon wanted to critically negotiate the problems that surrounded her, such as patriarchal ideologies and cultural stereotypes. The clips and articles provided Jiwon with affordances for practicing English expressions and tackling the problems that mattered to her in life. Encouraging students to find artifacts relevant to their lives and integrating them into regular classroom teaching would provide multiple affordances for creative language practices.

The second example indicates that the tools and resources do not even have to be in the target language for them to be useful. Joon’s PowerPoint slides were written entirely in Korean; by combining the slides with Google search results, a collocation website, and my language support, Joon turned the Korean slides into a translingual and multimodal material for practicing financial English. As long as the tools and resources are pertinent to the individual’s purpose, an individual can turn them into learning materials by connecting the tools and resources with other

232 tools and resources. The process of linking one artifact to other semiotic and linguistic resources provides valuable opportunities for learning.

The last example shows that turning tools and resources into materials can happen instantaneously. Byungwoo’s use of the corporation’s English website was not originally planned, but the website happened to be a rich source of the corporation’s latest technologies. He used the website as a prompt for talking about the technologies and improving his on-the-job

English skills. This suggests that ordinary objects always have meaning potential and provide affordances for practicing language skills on demand.

All of the examples above suggest the possibilities of expanding the boundaries of learning materials. Whereas traditional materials (e.g., published textbooks) provide carefully designed learning activities proofread by many experts, the materials mentioned above give learners opportunities to creatively connect their interests to English learning. The expanded boundaries of the materials allow learners to chart their own courses more flexibly.

Taking this a step further, the third implication is to help learners to construct their own affordances both inside and outside of the classroom. Language learning does not only happen in classrooms; it also takes place in learners’ lives. As van Lier (2000) said, “[T]he environment is full of language that provides opportunities for learning to the active, participating learner” (p.

253). The participants in this study, as active and engaged learners, searched for artifacts that provided opportunities for learning and designed their own ways of learning in their lives. Some participants voluntarily went beyond the boundaries of the classroom and sought more opportunities by using various strategies. Their data yield implications for connecting various tools and resources in students’ lives.

The first method is using classroom interactions as a starting point to connect more tools and resources in the environment. Haewon did it in a simple way. He realized that he needed further practice to develop his interview English skills. He found that shadowing EBS English

233 clips could help relieve the tension of his tongue, used the clips prior to class, practiced interview

English in class with less tension, audio-recorded his responses, and used the audio file as a resource for further practice outside of the classroom. Asking the simple question, “What do we need more of?,” can help learners and teachers connect more tools and resources outside of the classroom and create meaningful affordances.

The second method is actively looking for more opportunities outside of the classroom and interweaving them with in-class resources. Hani wanted to share what she had practiced in the classroom, so she sought more opportunities to use English with like-minded people. She joined a language-exchange group to share her philosophical and humanistic stories and talked with a Canadian professor about the different marriage systems around the world. Even though young Koreans have fewer chances to use English than those who go to jogi yuhak or eohakyeonsu, there are still low-cost opportunities for talking in English with friends from around the world, including Hani’s language-exchange group. Other participants also perceived opportunities, such as the English clinics and English lounges21 in their schools (Haewon and

Jiwon), mobile applications (Haewon), and international friends (Byungwoo and Yena). The environment is full of opportunities; teachers and students together can seek more resources, turn them into learning materials, and use them for the students’ own advantage.

In sum, the two pedagogical proposals can be helpful for learners who have similar difficulties as the “spec generation” jobseekers in Korea, who struggle with the lack of English- speaking opportunities. The six participants’ stories of creating their own ways of learning

English imply that there are ways of practicing oral English skills that do not rely on test-oriented learning at hakwons. By using the elements in their environment, the participants and I co-created opportunities to practice oral skills and expand the participants’ repertoires related to their goals.

21 These are university-sponsored English-language support systems. Usually international tutors with fluent English proficiency stay in the clinic or lounge and provide English consultation for Korean students.

234 Furthermore, some of the participants went beyond the boundaries of the classroom, acted on the affordances provided by the environment, and continued expanding their English repertoires.

8.5 Concluding remarks

In addition to the descriptive and pedagogical goals in Section 8.1, I introduced my personal goals in Chapter 1. In particular, I wished to (1) understand how my fellow “spec generation” Koreans manage the pressure to develop English skills for job-seeking and (2) support them with my expertise in teaching English. I designed and implemented the program fully aware of my own identity and positionality, as discussed in Section 4.6. Throughout the eight-week program, I learned that my fellow young Koreans were not mere subjects of neoliberal economic reform; they carved out their own paths to their desired goals based on careful analysis of their situations and the use of clever tactics. They used English to prepare for their future, appreciated the joy of learning it, and even felt a moment of freedom from the pressure of their home country. I had not expected these outcomes at all, partly because I had immersed myself in the studies that show the negative consequences of neoliberalism and criticize English for its role in stratifying Koreans and causing the “English divide.” Everyday interaction with my study participants in the classroom and the close analysis of their data taught me that my fellow Koreans are the architects of their own lives rather than passive subjects of neoliberal pressure.

To achieve my second goal, I sought to contribute my expertise to the group of jobseekers at the beginning of the course; however, I gradually realized that each participant already had a number of tools and resources that they could use for practicing English, and my role was limited to helping the participants assemble them and interacting with the participants as one of their resources. The teacher’s traditional role is to prepare all teaching materials and

235 transmit knowledge into learners’ brains; however, from the ecological perspective, I was the participants’ resource who co-created affordances for their further development.

To conclude this dissertation, I would like to reiterate the anecdote with Hani briefly introduced in Section 4.6. In our meetings, I could see her eyes twinkle every time she used her own tools and resources, including when she brought the movie Carol to one of our sessions. I mentioned this to Hani, and at the end of the eight-week program, she messaged me to say,

“Recently, I have been thinking that I was like a mirror reflecting someone else. So when you talked about my eyes and my ways of speaking, actually I was very surprised, and I felt like I was a living person 요즘엔 제가 그냥 어떠한 사람들을 비추는 거울 같다고만 생각하고

있었어요. 그래서 선생님께서 저의 눈빛에 대해서나 제가 말하는 방법 등을 말해 주셨을 때

사실 너무나도 놀랐고, 저도 무언가 살아있었던 사람이라는 느낌을 받았던 것 같아요.” The message implied the meaningful affordances she had built throughout the eight-week program.

She had transformed her favorite movies into materials for practicing English, imbued them with her passion, and shared them with me, the facilitator, who noticed that her eyes always twinkled.

Just one simple sentence—“your eyes twinkle every time when you talk about things you like”— made her realize that she was a living person, not a passive mirror. As an active living person with twinkling eyes, Hani continued to build meaningful affordances by seizing various opportunities to practice her English, even two years after finishing this program.

I sincerely hope that we, language educators and researchers, can create more moments like Hani’s, by interacting with students as their resources and helping them construct meaningful affordances. In today’s society, both students and teachers experience heavy pressure; however, I believe that we can still create implementational spaces in classrooms for negotiating this pressure, building supportive relationships, and co-constructing meaningful affordances for language learning. More experienced educators and researchers may be able to better carve out a

236 space for questioning, resisting, and transforming the neoliberal structure. To help them in doing so, this dissertation has provided exploratory insights into how Korean jobseekers negotiate the pressure, why they learn English (RQs 1 and 2), and how they create affordances with available tools and resources (RQ 3). Using this dissertation as a reference, language educators and researchers will be able to design their own spaces for negotiation and possibly make students’ eyes twinkle.

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Appendix A

Recruitment advertisement

Title: Business English Speaking Course

Who is the researcher?

Ph.D., Candidate, Applied Linguistics, The Pennsylvania State University

Instructor, Composition for American Academic Communication, The Pennsylvania State

University

Research Assistant, Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research

(CALPER)

What does this study do?

In this session, the researcher provides an 8-week business speaking course. The course goes beyond memorizing pre-planned script, and aims to develop genuine English speaking proficiency to express yourself clearly. Various activities and individual feedback will be provided. Take advantage of the course for developing English speaking proficiency.

How is this study organized?

The sessions will be held for 8 weeks. After the first whole-class session, the participants can sign up for small-group sessions. The sessions can be audio- and video-recorded for research purposes.

Where is the study being held?

264 A seminar room right next to Hongdae Playground. Subway line 2, Hongdae and Subway line 6,

Sangsu (“social factory”)

What is the cost of participating in this study?

Basically there is no cost for participating in this study, but you will be asked to pay for your portion of the seminar room rental fee (50,000 KRW a month)

How can I apply?

Please contact Miso Kim at 010-3051-0673 or [email protected].

265 Appendix B

Sample interview questions (from Interviews #1 to #4)

Interview #1

1) Would you please briefly explain your desired corporation and job position?

2) Why did you decide to apply for the corporation and pursue the position?

3) Could you explain why English is important to get the job you want?

4) Could you tell me how you have studied English so far?

5) May I ask your standardized English test scores? How have you prepared for each test?

6) Could you explain why you decided to participate in this program?

7) Would you explain your first picture narrative? In your opinion, why does this picture

mean English?

Interview #2

1) Would you walk me through your self-assessment worksheet?

2) Why did you describe yourself in this way in the “yourself” box?

3) What tools and resources do you like to use in the “tools & resources” box?

4) What English skills do you want to practice? What do you want to do with English?

5) What are your short and long-term goals for studying English? What is the most

important goal for you?

Interview #3

1) Could you walk me through the two worksheets?

2) What makes you to practice English?

266 3) What are the communities, groups, or expectations that motivate you to study English?

How do you feel about that?

4) In your opinion, what are English communication skills?

5) How do you evaluate your skills?

Interview #4

1) Would you describe the progress you have made in this program?

2) After this program, how do you want to continue practicing English?

267 Appendix C

Resume worksheet

1. Writing a resume Name, Address, Phone number, E-mail address Job objective

Education

Work Experience

Skills & Abilities

Awards and Certificates

268 Appendix D

Cover letter worksheet

1. Writing a Cover Letter

Dear,

Sincerely Yours,

269 Appendix E

Picture narratives #1 and #2 prompt

Picture Narrative Picture Narrative What does “English” mean to you? Please choose a photo/picture that best describes your meaning of “English.”

Please explain what English means to you by using the photo/picture above in one paragraph.

Appendix F

Motivation self-assessment worksheet and direction

1. What makes you to study English (particularly speaking)?

271

1 What makes you study English (particularly speaking)? (1) Please describe what communities, groups, or societies (e.g., small groups like family expectation and job-seeking study group students, and broad ideological societies like the social atmosphere that propels us to go abroad and social burden which pushes us to feel like we should speak good English) that makes you study English (particularly speaking), and

(2) Describe how you feel in the communities, groups, or societies. You can write and/or draw.

272

Appendix G

Proficiency self-assessment worksheet and direction

2. How do you evaluate your communication skills in English?

273

2 How do you evaluate your communication skills in English? (1) What are English communication skills? Please describe freely.

(2) How do you evaluate your skills? You can write and/or draw.

274

Appendix H

Self-diagnosis worksheet

1 Expansion - Analyzing the situation

Myself Tools & Resources English

Outcome

275

2. Guide

Things to Check check for… How do you see yourself as a learner? what are your strengths and weaknesses? What experience do you have? Why do you like and what do you dislike? Myself

What materials do you have? (It includes tangible materials, like American dramas, YouTube, Podcast, and books + people, like international friends or Korean friends with high proficiency + opportunities, like EMI lectures, language exchanges, international buddies) Tools & Resources

What English skills do you want to practice?

English

What are your short-term/long-term goals you want to achieve by studying English? What is the most important?

Outcome

Appendix I

Reflection worksheet

Your progress & plan for the future Your progress during the 8 weeks

Plan for the future

Appendix J

A sample codebook

Note. Because of space limitations, only five extracts per each code are presented.

RQ 2 English English - § 1 reference coded [8.25% Coverage] (Neoliberalism for... for In the break, he asked me about how to prepare for the English interview on Saturday. He once been to an English interview, & English) interview but he literally says he was “탈탈 털리다”. Two others sitting next to him have been abroad for a while, so they got more (Number questions. He got only one question. He could not speak it well at first, so he felt discouraged. That’s the motivation he of coded volunteered to participate in this session. extracts: 43) - § 1 reference coded [12.09% Coverage] Reference 1 - 12.09% Coverage Joon had an English interview when he was being interviewed by ABCD Securities (합숙면접). All of a sudden, he was asked, “How can you persuade your customers better” something like this. He said he was “stupid” – he said that he will keep saying his argument to the customer. The interviewer asked an easier one – what is your hobby. He said that he likes to do weight lifting and running. Even though the interviewer said that it does not count in his grade, he presumed that it was count. =His “Crisis”

- § 5 references coded [33.24% Coverage] I kept thinking about how to use action verbs in the resume, and Byungwoo wanted to emphasize what he has learned from the experience. Interesting things to note – he said that his resume is ‘Koreanized’. He said that the actions and accomplishments are listed in the English resume, but Koreans emphasize what you ‘learned’ from the experience. So I did not revise the sentences.

- § 1 reference coded [15.58% Coverage] Reference 1 - 15.58% Coverage

278

- § 1 reference coded [7.47% Coverage] Reference 1 - 7.47% Coverage

English - § 2 references coded [8.31% Coverage] for Reference 2 - 5.97% Coverage business I asked the same question to Joon. He said what he has already prepared (I don’t know what he has written, though). Joon said (number that he wants to change the perception of stock market. People tend to think of stock market badly, because it is highly risky. of coded But what Joon said is that keeping money in the bank account is basically wasting money (the central bank can issue money). extracts: So he wants to expand the size of the pi, make clients wealthy, and win-win situation (second clip) 52) - § 1 reference coded [8.28% Coverage] Reference 1 - 8.28% Coverage Jiwon wrote numerous emails to potential buyers and participated in all of the exhibitions. She did market research on her own, and submitted samples to an exhibition in Birmingham. She said she finally succeeded to make a contract at the end of her internship period.

- § 2 references coded [13.35% Coverage] Reference 2 - 4.33% Coverage The fourth: why did you apply or the company. Joon, again, produced a lengthy response (the middle class in Korea – real estates and savings, the middle class in America – finance, stock market, and 401k). Again I reconstructed it with him. He is very willing.

279

- § 1 reference coded [23.86% Coverage] Reference 1 - 23.86% Coverage 세션을 들으면서 우선 저는 영어 인터뷰를 준비할 수 있었던 것이 가장 도움이 많이 되었습니다. 제게는 현실적으로 제일 필요했던 활동이었고, 평소 이러한 준비를 할 기회가 없었기 때문에 유익했습니다. 자신의 경험을 어떻게 이야기할 지 생각해보고 이를 바탕으로 영어로 인터뷰 대답을 하면서 자신감 있게 이야기할 수 있게 되었습니다. 이러한 점이 세션을 진행하면서 가장 보람있보람 점입니다. 또한 전체 세션을 통해 여러 파트너들과 다양한 주제로 이야기해보며 협상, 프레젠테이션 등 비즈니스에 꼭 필요한 것들을 활용해볼 수 있어서 도움이 많이 되었습니다.

- § 1 reference coded [14.12% Coverage] Reference 1 - 14.12% Coverage

English - § 2 references coded [4.10% Coverage] for Reference 1 - 2.81% Coverage enjoyment Hani said that she wants to meet Van Gogh and give him meaningful messages if she could travel in time. She said it without (number hesitation or pauses of extracts: Reference 2 - 1.29% Coverage 29) I said Hani that 눈빛이 바뀐다고… and she was grateful of that (I think).

- § 3 references coded [6.71% Coverage] Reference 1 - 4.35% Coverage In the first video clip, we paused several times to introduce the expressions, and they used the expressions. “I paired it up with…” “move on over” “blend in” “brighten up” etc. I made some errors introducing “might as well”, Yena corrected it. A verb comes right after “might as well”

280

- § 3 references coded [22.82% Coverage] Reference 1 - 10.30% Coverage We just moved on to watch the clip she brought. It was quite a sentimental one. Hani had very deep? Philosophical questions (1. What is love ( In love, Do you think there is any 'suitable category', or 'accepted rule' about object and relationship? ) 2. Is that a possible that we can 'have' someone, or 'know' someone?) By “suitable category”, Hani meant the category of the objects we can love (AI, human, animals…) Hani was very deeply engaged in the activity. She actively explained the questions and provided supplmenetary information about the movie. She said that she wants to talk about this questions for three weeks

- § 1 reference coded [87.16% Coverage] Reference 1 - 87.16% Coverage

- § 1 reference coded [24.30% Coverage] Reference 1 - 24.30% Coverage

English - § 1 reference coded [12.63% Coverage] for Reference 1 - 12.63% Coverage

281 freedom Jiwon said that she wants to apply for working holiday in Australia, because she believes that the best way to learn a language is (number to live in where the language is spoken. She said that she may not try to get a job because she thinks she’s still young and she of doesn’t want to sacrifice her life to the company. She wants to enjoy her life a bit more extracts: 44) - § 1 reference coded [8.49% Coverage] Reference 1 - 8.49% Coverage Hani’s assignment is pretty artistic. She used a strong word, “Korean society is killing me”. She has two choices: (1) make this society better, and (2) leave for a better world. Both choices necessitates English. The border between countries are becoming less meaningful (so she can travel to other countries easily), but that also means power of English is increasing. She’s feeling like the tower of babel is being built again.

- § 2 references coded [23.83% Coverage] Reference 1 - 14.76% Coverage In Jiwon’s’ first trial, she presented her plan for 2018. She said that she is going to save money in the few months and get a working holiday visa in UK to become more proficient in English. She said she wants to be more fluent, and she does not want to do anything she doesn’t want to do (like, getting a job and working all day long). She had worked as an Au Pair, and her proficiency increased the most during that time (she lived with 6- and 8-year-old boys who don’t listen her at all).

- § 1 reference coded [77.19% Coverage] Reference 1 - 77.19% Coverage

- § 1 reference coded [26.49% Coverage] Reference 1 - 26.49% Coverage

282

Appendix K

Transcription conventions

It is a modified version of Markee’s (2015) transcription conventions.

(0.6) a 0.6-second pause

? rising intonation ah: lengthening of sound or syllable investment marked stress presentation↑ rising shifts in intonation

°Let me start° quieter speech than the surrounding talk

>….< indicates speeded up speech than the surrounding talk

<…> indicates slowed down speech than the surrounding talk

(( )) description of non-verbal actions

[ ] translation of a Korean utterance

(.) a short pause

VITA

Miso Kim

Education Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics Expected May 2020 Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA M.A. in English Language Education Aug. 2013 Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea B.A. in English Language Education Aug. 2011 Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea

Selected Publications Kim, M., Choi, D.-I., & Kim, T.-Y. (2019). South Korean jobseekers’ perceptions and (de)motivation to study for standardized English tests in neoliberal corporate labor markets. Asian EFL Journal, 21(1), 84-109. Kim, M., Choi, D.-I., & Kim, T.-Y. (2018). A political economic analysis of English in South Korean neoliberal labor markets. Language Sciences, 70, 82-91. Kim, T.-Y., & Kim, M. (2018). Relationships among perceptual learning style, ideal L2 self, and motivated L2 behavior in college language learners. Porta Linguarum, 30, 7-22. Kim, T.-Y., & Kim, M. (2017). Demotivators and Remotivation Strategies in L2 Learning: A Case Study of Korean EFL Students. Foreign Languages Education, 24(2), 45-74. Kim, M., & Kim, T.-Y. (2015). A critical study of language minority students’ participation in language communities in the Korean context. Language and Intercultural Communication, 15(2), 224-239. Kim, M., & Kim, T.-Y. (2015). Damunwha students’ funds of knowledge in English: A qualitative case study in the South Korean context. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 12(1), 19-44.

Scholarships, Grants, and Awards Research and Graduate Studies Office Dissertation Support. College of Liberal Arts, Pennsylvania State University, Fall 2018. Watz Dissertation Fellowship. Department of Applied Linguistics, Pennsylvania State University, Fall 2017. Liberal Arts Superior Teaching and Research Award. College of Liberal Arts, Pennsylvania State University, Spring 2017.