Bilingualism of Korean-Canadian Children: A Multigenerational Ethnic Church In the Greater Toronto Area by Soon Young Jang A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Soon Young Jang 2019 Bilingualism of Korean-Canadian Children: A Multigenerational Ethnic Church In the Greater Toronto Area Soon Young Jang Doctor of Philosophy Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto 2019 Abstract In the midst of immigrant children’s prevalent subtractive bilingualism, this doctoral inquiry investigates multiple levels of supporting factors of Korean-Canadian children’s heritage language learning and the ways they support bilingual learning of these children, by looking at Grace Church, a multi-generational Korean ethnic church, as a case. This is an ethnographic study, which involves yearlong classroom observations and interviews with church leaders, teachers, parents, and children. Additional data sources include curriculum materials, children’s artifacts, Korean government documents and websites, as well as records of school meetings and school associations’ conferences. Employing Bourdieu’s theoretical and analytic tools, such as field, habitus, and capital (1991), this study also examines how the Korean and English languages are positioned at various levels within and beyond the church. Additionally, due to the shift made in my positionality from an observer to a participant observer, this study explores the outcomes of pedagogical changes guided by theoretical underpinnings, such as translanguaging (García, 2009), culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1994), funds of knowledge (Moll, 1992), and the third space (Gutiérrez, Baquedano-López, & Tejeda, 1999). ii This study unveils that Grace Hangul hakgyo is a field in which the aims of the Korean government and Korean Canadian immigrants intersect vis-à-vis heritage language education. For the Korean government, it is ultimately a field for strengthening national resources and for the congregants of Grace Church, it is mainly for their heritage language and culture maintenance. In this study, the positions of Korean and English within Grace Church are revealed in the Korean and English ministries, which are closely linked to immigrant generations, and in the language use and socialization of children in the grade 3 and 4 focus class. The positions of Korean and English within Grace Church are unquestionably influenced by the status of those languages beyond the church, displaying the close relationship between language and identity at many levels of interacting fields. Finally, this study showcases how translanguaging, culturally relevant pedagogy, funds of knowledge can be utilized as a means for creating the third space in heritage language learning contexts, which is an underexamined area in the field of bilingual education. iii Acknowledgments “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18-19, New International Version). First and foremost, I thank my Heavenly Father, who planted a love and passion for teaching and learning in me since I was very young. For the past fifteen years, my life has entirely been guided by God’s plan and grace, as I could not plan anything or have any hope in my life after my husband’s passing that took place only a few months before I, with my very young children, started a new life as immigrants in Canada. The Bible verse I cited above has been a rhema, a word that God spoke to me, which transformed my grief and hopelessness to thankfulness and hopefulness, and gave me the courage and strength to live my life to fulfill the vision that God implanted in my heart. As an immigrant mother, the linguistic and cultural gap between home and school that every immigrant child experiences quickly became a theme of inquiry. Subsequently, supporting the learning of these linguistically and culturally diverse children has been at the core of my vision as an educator, parent, and researcher, and my doctoral thesis is the fruit of this vision. My Heavenly Father helped me to directly and indirectly meet so many scholars, professionals, parents, and children, orchestrating all the details and endeavours in conceiving, carrying out, and writing about this doctoral research. Glory be to God, my Father! I give thanks to Him! Now, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the participants of my study. Without the interest and support of church leaders, teachers, parents, and children at Grace Church (pseudonym), this study could not have been carried out. I am very grateful to have had Dr. Shelley Stagg Peterson as my supervisor. My doctoral research fellowship and assistantship with Dr. Shelley Stagg Peterson gave me the opportunity to be part of the 6-year-SSHRC-funded project, entitled “Northern Oral Language and Writing Through Play” (NOW Play, for short), since I joined OISE in 2014. Through this project, I conducted literature reviews, data analysis, and collaborative writing to publish journal articles on various topics, which prepared me to carry out my own research. Dr. Shelley Stagg Peterson is a remarkable mentor. Her prompt and constructive feedback every time I submitted a thesis iv chapter was tremendously helpful, and I sincerely appreciate the unceasing encouragement and guidance she gave me throughout my doctoral journey. I also thank Dr. Antoinette Gagné and Dr. Jeff Bale, who served on my thesis committee. Dr. Antoinette Gagné invited me to her office a few times, asking me about the progress of my research, carefully listening to me. She always reminded me of the importance of my study and provided me with ideas, resources, and tips at various stages of my research. Through Dr. Jeff Bale’s invitation to his Heritage Language Reading Club, I had an opportunity to share my thoughts and experiences with other colleagues, and to further expand my knowledge on the topic of heritage language. The feedback that I received from Dr. Gagné and Dr. Bale from the thesis committee meetings helped me to realize some important areas that I had overlooked, and as a result, my thesis is now presented in a more cohesive manner. My special thanks go to Dr. Hyun-Sook Kang, who served as my external examiner, and Dr. Katherine Rehner, who served as my internal examiner. I deeply appreciate the insightful feedback and encouraging comments that Dr. Kang and Dr. Rehner provided to me. Particularly, the following statement made by Dr. Kang in her appraisal highlighted the significance of this study: “[because there is] relatively scant research [that] examined the role of an ethnic church and its community in the intergenerational transmission of a heritage language … the topic of this dissertation project is timely and is expected to make a significant contribution to the field of education in general and the field of language and literacy education in particular.” In addition, I would like to acknowledge a few scholars who inspired me to begin this journey of supporting linguistically and culturally diverse children. These professors are internationally renowned scholars in the field of bilingual education. Firstly, the decades of devoted work by Dr. Jim Cummins, now Professor Emeritus at our institution, greatly influenced my research. His work enabled me to not only see the relationships between power, language, and identity in our society, but also to understand the importance of utilizing students’ pre-existing linguistic resources and repertoire as a means for acquiring additional languages. Dr. Sarah J. Shin is a scholar who investigates Korean-American children’s bilingualism. As a 1.5 generation Korean-American, her work is drawn from her own experiences as a parent and an academic, which helped me to easily connect with my own immigrant experiences. I met Dr. Sarah J. Shin not only through her books and journal articles, but also through a SSHRC-funded v international conference that took place at the University of Calgary in 2013, entitled I AM 2013: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Multilingualism. Dr. Shin and I met and became close during this three-day conference, and after my presentation, which was based on my master’s study, she carefully suggested I pursue my doctoral research at OISE, University of Toronto. That suggestion resulted in my move from British Columbia to Ontario to begin my doctoral studies at OISE in the fall of 2014. Without her suggestion, I would not have thought of crossing the country to continue on my academic endeavours and could not have celebrated this day. Dr. Monica Heller, one of the professors at OISE, is another established scholar in the field of bilingual education. Her work is largely influenced by Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist and anthropologist, and her critical lenses and expertise in ethnography greatly shaped the way I designed my study and the way I analyzed my data. Dr. Monica Heller also provided me with her insight when we met at the early stage of my proposal writing. I am very grateful to have met Dr. Ruth Hayhoe through the course, International Academic Relations, a course from the Comparative, International & Development Education program, my other area of specialization. Dr. Ruth Hayhoe is a renowned scholar in the area of Higher Education and her extensive knowledge on the international relations theories expanded my scope vis-à-vis power relations among the countries and globalization. Whenever I met Dr. Ruth Hayhoe, she was always full of caring and cheerful words. In the field of Early Childhood Education, the work of Dr. Roma Chumak-Horbatsch and Dr. Judith Bernhard has had a substantial impact on my research since I conducted my master’s study.