Through an intertextual analysis of policy documents, this study examines how language ability has been constructed as a key technology in Korean migration policy. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of governmentality and critical discourse analysis, this paper treats policy texts not as neutral administrative instruments but as discursive practices that legitimize language assessment as a condition of eligibility, integration, and citizenship. Focusing on documents related to Korean language testing, naturalization requirements, and social integration programs, this analysis highlights how recurring discourses on standardization, social order, and risk management have bee mobilized to acclimatize language evaluation. Rather than reporting the empirical outcomes of language testing, this study offers a critical reading of policy discourse, showing how language ability is framed as an objective and technical criterion, while obscuring its political and normative implications. This study contributes to the sociolinguistic and critical language policy research by illuminating how language assessment operates as a powerful mechanism for selection and governance in contemporary migration regimes.

Abstract
1. 서론
2. 언어통치성
    2.1. 언어통치성 연구의 배경
    2.2. 비판 연구의 한계와 언어통치성 연구
3. 연구자료의 수집
    3.1. 정책문서 수집과 1차 검토
    3.2. 텍스트 분석 방법
4. 분석 결과
    4.1. 보고서 1: ‘국민 자격’과 ‘위험 관리’의 통치성
    4.2. 보고서 2: ‘국가 자산’으로서의 TOPIK 법제화
    4.3. 보고서 3: ‘데이터 통치성’과 측정 기술의 구축
5. 전체 토론
    5.1. 장르: 실증주의적 ‘문제–해결’ 구조
    5.2. 스타일: 기술･전문성의 어조와 당위적 양태성
    5.3. 핵심 주제: 한국어 능력, 자격, 이주민의 통치적 표상
6. 결론
참고문헌

• 신동일(Professor, Department of English, Chung-Ang University, 84, Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, Korea) | Dongil Shin