ABSTRACT

This study examines the identities of Korean English teachers who have lived in various English-speaking countries but now serve as certified public school teachers in Korea. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with seven teachers and analysed via critical discourse analysis. Despite being rated as near-native, the teachers with transnational experience still undervalued their English proficiency, possibly because they compared their proficiency to that of native speakers. They were also found to place emphasis on nativelike pronunciation, particularly American pronunciation. They classified themselves as non-native speakers, stating that they would never be close to native speakers due to innate factors such as nationality or race. The skewed preference towards American English and native speakership was found to be heavily influenced by the socio-cultural ideologies embedded in institutional systems in Korea. These findings reveal the underlying ideologies of English and native speakership in Korea, which highlights the importance of considering teacher’s perceptions of their identities in designing teacher training programmes.

摘要

这项研究调查了生活在各个英语国家的韩国英语教师的身份，现在他们已经在韩国担任认证的公立学校教师。数据是从对7位老师的深入访谈中收集的，并通过批判性话语分析进行了分析。尽管被评为接近母语，但具有跨国经验的教师仍然低估了他们的英语水平，这可能是因为他们将其英语水平与母语使用者进行了比较。他们还发现他们强调像母语的发音，尤其是美国的发音。他们将自己归类为非母语人士，并指出由于国籍或种族等先天因素，他们永远不会接近母语人士。人们发现，偏爱美国英语和以母语为母语的人在很大程度上受到韩国制度体系中所嵌入的社会文化意识形态的影响。这些发现揭示了韩国英语和母语使用者的潜在意识形态，这突显了在设计教师培训计划时考虑教师对自己身份的看法的重要性。