Lee, En Hye, & Lee, Chee Hye. (2024). “Phonological Aspects of American and British Englishes Embedded in Korean English: A Perspective of Linguistic Realities”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 32(1), 43-74. This paper explores the rationale behind the shift from Quirk’s deficit linguistics to Kachru’s liberation linguistics in English widely used in Korea. Despite the Korean government’s efforts to enhance communicative competence aligned with Inner Circle-oriented American Standard English, the study questions the perception of Korean English being solely dominated by American English from sociolinguistic perspectives. To delve into both psychological and empirical perspectives on English in Korea, a questionnaire survey involving 100 Korean college students is employed. The focus is on assessing the extent of influence from both American English and British English on Korean English. Additionally, the study examines how linguistic realities, disregarding sociolinguistic or functional aspects, contribute to the current state of Korean English. The analysis of survey data reveals that Korean linguistics, especially phonology, plays a role in shaping the dynamics of Korean English, supporting Kachru’s liberation linguistics. This contributes to the shift from the stage of aspiring to be more native-like American English to the stage of World Englishes, establishing itself as a variant of English in its own right.

This study investigates the social construction and continual (re)production of the cultural Other through educational materials, focusing on Korean middle school English textbooks. Twelve middle school English textbooks from four publishers were collected and analyzed, with a focus on how they (mis)represent cultures and practices of minority groups. Utilizing critical content analysis to examine both visual and written texts in the textbooks, this research uncovers recurring patterns of exoticizing and commodifying Hawai’ian culture, homogenizing African culture, and romanticizing Indigenous peoples. The findings contribute significantly to our understanding of how cultural representations in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks shape perceptions and influence societal dynamics. They also illuminate how these representations reflect and perpetuate Eurocentric colonialist discourse. Moreover, the results underscore the importance of equipping educators, especially English teachers, with critical literacy. This empowers them to identify hidden power relations that reinforce stereotypes, and actively engage in the construction of a more inclusive and equitable society.

Based on the socio-historical dynamics of English ideologies that percolated into Korean society, this paper explored the significant aspects of ESL ideology in the Korean context. Despite the generally accepted EFL context in Korea, the country is situated at the intersection between two categories: ESL from a perspective of English ideologies and EFL from a perspective of societal context. As a proto-ideology of English, ESL ideology, which dates back to the United States Military rule in Korea, was further theoretically developed by the Peabody/Korean team, and its implementation was attempted by the Peace Corps. Although activating ESL has failed in Korean society, its ideology per se remains unchanged, (re)generating other English ideologies including Spoken English First, Ten-year English Fiasco, and Earlier the Better English Education ideologies. This study found that the discrepancy between ESL as the ideological domain and EFL as the practical domain has brought about some confusion in English education policy and practices.