Abstract

Educators have raised awareness of the importance of meaning in second language instruction over the last decades. However, second language (L2) education has not been as meaningful as researchers might have hoped. Drawing on Hanauer’s meaningful literacy, this qualitative research examines Korean students’ awareness of the English language learning process, elicited through a combination of poetry and interviews in their first language. Eighteen participants were recruited from two universities, one in the United States and one in South Korea. Findings reveal varying perceptions of the English learning process among the participants according to group and culture. The analysis illustrates that L2 learning is an emotionally loaded experience, even in contexts that are ostensibly normal and insignificant. This study provides illustrative vignettes in sijo—a Korean poetic form—that capture various subject positions of L2 learners, thereby elucidating how they experienced English. Moving away from the scaled version of language learning, we argue that one of the defining principles of L2 research should be to appreciate the emotive and social nature of language learning.

摘要

在过去的几十年中，教育者已经提高了人们对第二语言教学中意义重要性的认识。但是，第二语言（L2）教育并未像研究人员所希望的那样有意义。这项定性研究借鉴了哈瑙尔（Hanauer）的有意义的素养，研究了韩国学生对诗歌学习的意识，这是通过诗歌和第一语言采访相结合而产生的。从两所大学招募了18名参与者，其中一所在美国，一所在韩国。调查结果揭示了参与者根据群体和文化对英语学习过程的不同看法。分析表明，即使在表面上正常且微不足道的环境中，L2学习也是一种充满情感的体验。这项研究以sijo（一种韩国诗词形式）提供了说明性的小插曲，这些小插曲捕捉了L2学习者的各种主题位置，从而阐明了他们如何体验英语。脱离语言学习的规模版本，我们认为第二语言研究的定义性原则之一应该是欣赏语言学习的情感和社会性质。