Literacy in Composition Studies Oct 2015 RSS Open Access

Tensions of Local and Global: South Korean Students Navigating and Maximizing US College Life

Yu-Kyung Kang University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Abstract

For over a decade, a particular transnational educational migration trend in Korea, known as jogi yuhak or “Early Study Abroad,” has been sending thousands of pre-college students to various parts of the globe (e.g. U.S., Canada, Australia, Singapore) with hopes that young Koreans will acquire “native-like” English and become “global elites.” Many of these students then enter U.S. universities that are built upon liberal ideals of diversity and individualism in theory, but offer in practice an indifferent climate towards racial and linguistic difference. Drawing on a two-year ethnographic study of Korean undergraduate students at the University of Illinois, the U.S. public higher education institution with the largest number of international students, the author examines interviews, observations and artifacts collected from the Korean Student Association (KSA), a registered student organization with over 100 staff members mostly with jogi yuhak experience. As the global university offers a rather unfavorable academic climate for racially and linguistically diverse students as well as heightens the failures of literacy as a way to “global elite.” It is in this context that KSA members work to build, reestablish, and preserve their identities and create conditions of respect through practices of localization: The students foster their “Koreanness” not only through Korean language use but also through institutionally rebuilding Korean social practices and networks strained by their many years abroad. Students are able to negotiate their liberal, or rather neoliberal college dreams in seemingly Korean ways of language and literacy that ultimately help them ground their identity as U.S. college students.

Journal
Literacy in Composition Studies
Published
2015-10-31
DOI
10.21623/1.3.3.6
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
OA PDF Gold
Topics
graduate education qualitative research multilingual writers literacy studies race and writing
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Lagman (2018)
    Literacy Remains: Loss and Affects in Transnational Literacies
    College English
  2. McNamara (2018)
    Diminishing Returns at Corporate U: Chinese Undergraduates and Composition’s Ac…
    Literacy in Composition Studies

References (39) · 6 in this index

  1. Abelmann, Nancy. The Intimate University: Korean American Students and the Problems of Segregation. Durham: D…
     ↗
  2. Barton, David. Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007.…
  3. Berry, Patrick W., Gail E. Hawisher, and Cynthia L. Selfe. Transnational Literate Lives in Digital Times. Log…
  4. Blommaert, Jan. Ethnography, Superdiversity and Linguistic Landscapes: Chronicles of Complexity. Bristol: Mul…
     ↗
  5. ---. The Sociolinguistics of Globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2012. Print.
Show all 39 →
  1. Brandt, Deborah, and Katie Clinton. “Limits of the Local: Expanding Perspectives on Literacy as a Social Prac…
     ↗
  2. “Campus Commitment.” The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Access. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, n.…
  3. Canagarajah, Suresh A. A Geopolitics of Academic Writing. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2002. Print.
     ↗
  4. Cintron, Ralph. Angels’ Town: Chero Ways, Gang Life, and Rhetorics of the Everyday. Boston: Beacon, 1997. Print.
  5. “Code of Conduct.” University Ethics and Compliance Office. University of Illinois, 2015. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
  6. Duffy, John. “Other Gods and Countries: The Rhetorics of Literacy.” Towards a Rhetoric of Everyday Life: New …
  7. Hsieh, Pauline. “Taiwanese Parachute Kids: A Retrospective Qualitative Exploration of Adults Who am to the Un…
  8. Horner (2006)
    Introduction: Cross-Language Relations in Composition
    College English
  9. Horner et al. (2011)
    Opinion: Language Difference in Writing: Toward a Translingual Approach
    College English
  10. Horwitz, Elaine K., Michael B. Horwitz, and Joann Cope. “Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety.” The Modern Lang…
     ↗
  11. “Illinois International Leadership.” Illinois International. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, n.d.…
  12. Kang, Jiyeon, and Nancy Abelmann. “The Domestication of South Korean Pre-College Study Abroad in the First De…
     ↗
  13. Kim, Jeehun. “‘Downed’ and Stuck in Singapore: Lower/Middle Class South Korean Wild Geese (kirogi) Children i…
  14. Hyunjoon Park, and Yuko Goto Butler. Bingley: Emerald Group, 2010. 271-311. Print.
  15. Kitano, Kazu. “Anxiety in the College Japanese Language Classroom.” The Modern Language Journal 85.4 (2001): …
     ↗
  16. Korean Student Association. KSA 2011/2012 Annual Report. University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana: Korean Stud…
  17. Latour, Bruno. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford UP, 2005. Print.
     ↗
  18. Lemke, Jay L. “Across the Scales of Time: Artifacts, Activities, and Meanings in Ecosocial Systems.” Mind, Cu…
     ↗
  19. Lillis, Theresa M., and Mary Jane Curry. Academic Writing in a Global Context: The Politics and Practices of …
  20. Leonard (2013)
    Traveling Literacies: Multilingual Writing on the Move
    Research in the Teaching of English
  21. Lu (2006)
    Living-English Work
    College English
  22. MacIntyre, Peter D., and R. C. Gardner. “Investigating Language Class Anxiety Using the Focused Essay Techniq…
     ↗
  23. Matsuda (2006)
    The Myth of Linguistic Homogeneity in U.S. College Composition
    College English
  24. Ministry of Education. e-National Index, Study Abroad Records (유학생 현황) Retrieved from http://www.index.go.kr/…
  25. Park, Joseph Sung-Yul. The Local Construction of a Global Language: Ideologies of English in South Korea. Ber…
     ↗
  26. Park, Joseph Sung-Yul, and Sohee Bae. “Language Ideologies in Educational Migration: Korean jogi yuhak Famili…
     ↗
  27. Prendergast, Catherine. Buying into English: Language Investment in the New Capitalist World. Pittsburgh: U o…
     ↗
  28. Prendergast, Catherine, and Nancy Abelmann. “Alma Mater: College, Kinship, and the Pursuit of Diversity.” Soc…
     ↗
  29. Prior, Paul, and Jody Shipka. “Chronotopic Lamination: Tracing the Contours of Literate Activity.” Writing Se…
     ↗
  30. Song, Juyoung. “Language Ideology and Identity in Transnational Space: Globalization, Migration, and Bilingua…
     ↗
  31. Stephens, Paul. “International Students: Separate but Profitable.” Washington Monthly, Sept/Oct. 2013. Web. 6…
  32. “UIUC Student Enrollment.” Division of Management Information. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 8 Sep…
  33. Vieira (2011)
    Undocumented in a Documentary Society: Textual Borders and Transnational Religi…
    Written Communication
  34. Zhou, Min. “‘Parachute Kids’ in Southern California: The Educational Experience of Chinese Students in Transn…
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 3 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. The Peer Review Sep 2025
    The Impact of Working at a Writing Center in Brazil: Perspectives of Student Tutors ↗
    Ana Raquel Fialho Ferreira Campos; João Tiago Gaspar Cozechen; Elaine Pereira Lustosa; Marcos Angel De Carvalho Eing; Leonardo Schimiloski
    first-year composition writing pedagogy graduate education argument writing centers professional writing qualitative research artificial intelligence multilingual writers literacy studies race and writing
  2. Computers and Composition Jun 2025
    Leveraging ChatGPT for research writing: An exploration of ESL graduate students’ practices ↗
    Dongmei Cheng; Mimi Li; Tony Lee
    genre theory discourse analysis graduate education qualitative research artificial intelligence multilingual writers literacy studies
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly Oct 2024
    Editors’ Use of Comprehensive Style Guides: The Case of Singular They ↗
    Jo Mackiewicz; Shaya Kraut; Allison Durazzi
    rhetorical criticism discourse analysis first-year composition writing pedagogy graduate education teacher development writing centers technical communication professional writing digital rhetoric multilingual writers grammar and mechanics literacy studies race and writing public rhetoric editorial matter
  4. Pedagogy Oct 2024
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development revision argument collaborative writing assessment writing program administration multimodality multilingual writers literacy studies race and writing disability studies community literacy editorial matter
  5. Pedagogy Jan 2024
    A No-Size-Fits-All Label ↗
    Molly Parsons
    modern rhetorical theory first-year composition writing pedagogy graduate education teacher development writing program administration writing centers peer tutoring qualitative research literacy studies race and writing gender and writing editorial matter