Lee Jin Choi
Biographic Data
| ID | 357319 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lee Jin Choi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lee Jin |
| FAMILY NAME | Choi |
| SIGNATURE | CHOI L J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hongik University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3407-6367 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 56 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
“Nobody will say I speak Indian English”
While substantial scholarly attention has focused on native-speakerism’s influence on teachers’ professional identities, considerably less research has examined its effects on multilinguals navigating transnational spaces. When combined with neoliberal educational frameworks that commodify language skills as marketable assets, native-speakerism creates complex challenges for multilingual individuals. This study addresses this gap by examining thr…
When multilingual competence becomes liability
This study examines how native-speakerism and standard language ideology intersect to create systematic linguistic discrimination against early study abroad (ESA) returnees in Korean public education. Focusing on the experiences of 30 ESA returnees in South Korea, this study examines how these interconnected ideologies create systematic patterns of linguistic discrimination against ESA returnee students who have acquired multilingual competencies…
Precarious privilege
This study explores identity (re)construction of three South Korean early-study abroad (ESA) university students who returned to their homeland after studying in the US and acquiring a high level of proficiency in English. Inasmuch as educational migration is frequently viewed as an effective strategy for securing pathways to socioeconomic mobility, less is known about the specific conditions and practices that influence ESA students’ identity an…
Preparing Technologically Competent EFL Teachers
Recent studies have highlighted the value of providing teachers TPACK-based courses in English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teacher training, yet its role in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) settings remains largely unexplored. This study, focusing on the case of a semester-long TPACK-based teacher preparation course designed for pre-service English teachers in South Korea, explores how a technology-infused teacher preparation course affects pre…
Shifting Language Investment in Transnational Educational Migration
Although an extensive body of work has examined the experiences of early study‐abroad (ESA) students who participate in short‐term migration, much less research has examined the experiences and lives of an increasing number of transnational students who engage in multiple border crossings. Drawing on interviews with three transnational educational migrant students who have engaged in multiple ESA and return trajectories, this study explores their…
Returnee students in South Korea
English as an important but unfair resource
This paper, using the case of South Korea, empirically examines how university students in EFL countries understand the neoliberal emphasis of English and EMI, and interpret and respond to different language ideologies. The findings demonstrate that many South Korean English language learners are caught up in a nexus of conflicting language ideologies influenced by the neoliberal promotion of English and the increasing socioeconomic polarization …
Changing attitudes toward heritage language education
This study explores Vietnamese marriage-migrant mothers' changing attitudes toward heritage language (HL) education in South Korea through narratives collected in an interview setting over a period of four years. The findings show that while the mothers placed some value on HL education, they initially prioritized Korean at home because they viewed it as key to their children's academic success in Korea. However, the mothers' perceptions of the v…
The Use of Mobile Instant Messaging in English Language Teaching
While learning management systems and video conferencing platforms have become a pivotal means for implementing emergency remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the integration of mobile technologies into online teaching has been largely recommended in order to create an interactive educational environment. Focusing on the case of an English Language Program in South Korea, this study investigates the actual use of mobile instant messaging…
Study abroad, heritage language learning, and identity
This narrative study focuses on how Gina, a Korean learner with a Korean immigrant mother and a European-descent New Zealander father, constructed her identities and engaged with Korean as a heritage language (HL) before, during, and after studying abroad in Korea. Gina’s transformative experiences illustrate the links between HL learning and learners’ understanding of themselves in racial/ethnic/cultural terms. The study highlights raciolinguist…
Performing Global Koreaness
Even though recent research has shown how mediatized discourses and institutional discourses rescale shifting portraits of authentic and inauthentic multilinguals, little research has focused on the dynamic processes through which individuals as social agents have been actively engaged in this reflexive process. Focusing on the increasingly fragile position of elite transnational South Koreans, this paper explores how four South Korean graduate s…
Teaching Practicum During Covid-19
As the pandemic has brought in a paradigm shift in the way we educate and interact with our students, it has also had profound impacts on the practicum of pre-service teacher education. Focusing on the case of 14 South Korean student teachers who completed their teaching practicum in Spring 2020, this paper explores how the new form of teaching practicum, triggered by the current outbreak, affected student teachers' professional development and t…
English is always proportional to one’s wealth’
While quality English language education is not equally accessible in many EFL countries, neoliberalism and its ideology of language as a neutral skill that everyone can acquire has obscured inequalities caused by the heavy emphasis on English as a dominant world language. Using South Korea as an example, I examine how individuals, especially young adults, living in the neoliberal market economy perceive and recognize the overwhelming emphasis on…
The student as an enterprising self
In the process of neoliberal globalization, the number of pre-college-aged educational migrants from English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) countries, often referred to as an early study abroad (ESA) student, has dramatically increased over recent decades in many English-speaking countries. Much of previous research on these educational migrants has primarily focused on parents’ perspectives and involvement, and ignoring the engagement of and invest…
Staying connected during Covid-19
As the public health threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is still evolving globally, many linguistic minorities are struggling to obtain accurate and timely health information about the disease and its prevention and treatment in their native language. This study argues that existing ethnic online communities can play an important role in dealing with such health information disparities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing the act…
Legitimate bilingual competence in the making
Because global migration and mobility have increasingly blurred boundaries, questions of authenticity have become more complex than ever, and the issue of what constitutes “real” versus “fake” language practices and language users has become increasingly important. The newly emerging images of imposters associated with bilingualism and transnationalism have put bilingual and multilingual language users in a fragile position, where bilingual displ…
The Gendered Construction of ‘Inauthentic’ Female Bilinguals in South Korea
This paper examines the ways contemporary models of personhood associated with female Korean–English bilinguals become linked to historical figures of inauthentic multilingualism. The case of the Korean–English bilingual exemplifies how historically constructed models of personhood reproduce already existing gender politics. By analysing both macro and micro discourses, this paper illustrates how historically locatable models of personhood associ…
Performing “authentic” bilingualism
The process of globalization, along with the advent of Internet technology, has resulted in the increasing presence of written mixed-language discourses produced and used by multilinguals in online spaces (e. g. online chat, instant messaging, and online discussion boards). Despite the fact that multilingual texts have become more visible and accessible, little research has empirically examined written mixed-language discourses and their sociopra…
Forming capital
This article examines how listening subjects (Inoue 2006) mediate understandings of mobility in South Korea. Focusing on a cybercampaign to discredit the hip-hop star Tablo, it traces the ways that a listening public regimented signs relating to educational credentials, language, citizenship, and demeanor into forms of institutionalized, embodied, or objectified capital (Bourdieu 1986). Through the crafting of certain signs as icons that pointed …
Revisiting the issue of native speakerism
This qualitative study of English Korean bilinguals explores the ways in which they legitimize themselves as 'good' bilinguals in relation to the discourse of native-speakerism. I first survey the essentialist discourse of native speakerism still prevalent in the field of English language teaching and learning despite the growing criticism; the implication is that the acquisition of 'native-like' English competence is the prioritized marker of pr…
Revisiting the issue of native speakerism
This qualitative study of English Korean bilinguals explores the ways in which they legitimize themselves as 'good' bilinguals in relation to the discourse of native-speakerism. I first survey the essentialist discourse of native speakerism still prevalent in the field of English language teaching and learning despite the growing criticism; the implication is that the acquisition of 'native-like' English competence is the prioritized marker of pr…
Staying connected during Covid-19
As the public health threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is still evolving globally, many linguistic minorities are struggling to obtain accurate and timely health information about the disease and its prevention and treatment in their native language. This study argues that existing ethnic online communities can play an important role in dealing with such health information disparities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing the act…
English is always proportional to one’s wealth’
While quality English language education is not equally accessible in many EFL countries, neoliberalism and its ideology of language as a neutral skill that everyone can acquire has obscured inequalities caused by the heavy emphasis on English as a dominant world language. Using South Korea as an example, I examine how individuals, especially young adults, living in the neoliberal market economy perceive and recognize the overwhelming emphasis on…
The student as an enterprising self
In the process of neoliberal globalization, the number of pre-college-aged educational migrants from English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) countries, often referred to as an early study abroad (ESA) student, has dramatically increased over recent decades in many English-speaking countries. Much of previous research on these educational migrants has primarily focused on parents’ perspectives and involvement, and ignoring the engagement of and invest…
Forming capital
This article examines how listening subjects (Inoue 2006) mediate understandings of mobility in South Korea. Focusing on a cybercampaign to discredit the hip-hop star Tablo, it traces the ways that a listening public regimented signs relating to educational credentials, language, citizenship, and demeanor into forms of institutionalized, embodied, or objectified capital (Bourdieu 1986). Through the crafting of certain signs as icons that pointed …
Teaching Practicum During Covid-19
As the pandemic has brought in a paradigm shift in the way we educate and interact with our students, it has also had profound impacts on the practicum of pre-service teacher education. Focusing on the case of 14 South Korean student teachers who completed their teaching practicum in Spring 2020, this paper explores how the new form of teaching practicum, triggered by the current outbreak, affected student teachers' professional development and t…
The Gendered Construction of ‘Inauthentic’ Female Bilinguals in South Korea
This paper examines the ways contemporary models of personhood associated with female Korean–English bilinguals become linked to historical figures of inauthentic multilingualism. The case of the Korean–English bilingual exemplifies how historically constructed models of personhood reproduce already existing gender politics. By analysing both macro and micro discourses, this paper illustrates how historically locatable models of personhood associ…
Revisiting the issue of native speakerism
This qualitative study of English Korean bilinguals explores the ways in which they legitimize themselves as 'good' bilinguals in relation to the discourse of native-speakerism. I first survey the essentialist discourse of native speakerism still prevalent in the field of English language teaching and learning despite the growing criticism; the implication is that the acquisition of 'native-like' English competence is the prioritized marker of pr…
The Gendered Construction of ‘Inauthentic’ Female Bilinguals in South Korea
This paper examines the ways contemporary models of personhood associated with female Korean–English bilinguals become linked to historical figures of inauthentic multilingualism. The case of the Korean–English bilingual exemplifies how historically constructed models of personhood reproduce already existing gender politics. By analysing both macro and micro discourses, this paper illustrates how historically locatable models of personhood associ…
Performing “authentic” bilingualism
The process of globalization, along with the advent of Internet technology, has resulted in the increasing presence of written mixed-language discourses produced and used by multilinguals in online spaces (e. g. online chat, instant messaging, and online discussion boards). Despite the fact that multilingual texts have become more visible and accessible, little research has empirically examined written mixed-language discourses and their sociopra…
Forming capital
This article examines how listening subjects (Inoue 2006) mediate understandings of mobility in South Korea. Focusing on a cybercampaign to discredit the hip-hop star Tablo, it traces the ways that a listening public regimented signs relating to educational credentials, language, citizenship, and demeanor into forms of institutionalized, embodied, or objectified capital (Bourdieu 1986). Through the crafting of certain signs as icons that pointed …
Legitimate bilingual competence in the making
Because global migration and mobility have increasingly blurred boundaries, questions of authenticity have become more complex than ever, and the issue of what constitutes “real” versus “fake” language practices and language users has become increasingly important. The newly emerging images of imposters associated with bilingualism and transnationalism have put bilingual and multilingual language users in a fragile position, where bilingual displ…
Staying connected during Covid-19
As the public health threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is still evolving globally, many linguistic minorities are struggling to obtain accurate and timely health information about the disease and its prevention and treatment in their native language. This study argues that existing ethnic online communities can play an important role in dealing with such health information disparities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing the act…
English is always proportional to one’s wealth’
While quality English language education is not equally accessible in many EFL countries, neoliberalism and its ideology of language as a neutral skill that everyone can acquire has obscured inequalities caused by the heavy emphasis on English as a dominant world language. Using South Korea as an example, I examine how individuals, especially young adults, living in the neoliberal market economy perceive and recognize the overwhelming emphasis on…
The student as an enterprising self
In the process of neoliberal globalization, the number of pre-college-aged educational migrants from English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) countries, often referred to as an early study abroad (ESA) student, has dramatically increased over recent decades in many English-speaking countries. Much of previous research on these educational migrants has primarily focused on parents’ perspectives and involvement, and ignoring the engagement of and invest…
Study abroad, heritage language learning, and identity
This narrative study focuses on how Gina, a Korean learner with a Korean immigrant mother and a European-descent New Zealander father, constructed her identities and engaged with Korean as a heritage language (HL) before, during, and after studying abroad in Korea. Gina’s transformative experiences illustrate the links between HL learning and learners’ understanding of themselves in racial/ethnic/cultural terms. The study highlights raciolinguist…
Performing Global Koreaness
Even though recent research has shown how mediatized discourses and institutional discourses rescale shifting portraits of authentic and inauthentic multilinguals, little research has focused on the dynamic processes through which individuals as social agents have been actively engaged in this reflexive process. Focusing on the increasingly fragile position of elite transnational South Koreans, this paper explores how four South Korean graduate s…
Teaching Practicum During Covid-19
As the pandemic has brought in a paradigm shift in the way we educate and interact with our students, it has also had profound impacts on the practicum of pre-service teacher education. Focusing on the case of 14 South Korean student teachers who completed their teaching practicum in Spring 2020, this paper explores how the new form of teaching practicum, triggered by the current outbreak, affected student teachers' professional development and t…
The Use of Mobile Instant Messaging in English Language Teaching
While learning management systems and video conferencing platforms have become a pivotal means for implementing emergency remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the integration of mobile technologies into online teaching has been largely recommended in order to create an interactive educational environment. Focusing on the case of an English Language Program in South Korea, this study investigates the actual use of mobile instant messaging…
Returnee students in South Korea
English as an important but unfair resource
This paper, using the case of South Korea, empirically examines how university students in EFL countries understand the neoliberal emphasis of English and EMI, and interpret and respond to different language ideologies. The findings demonstrate that many South Korean English language learners are caught up in a nexus of conflicting language ideologies influenced by the neoliberal promotion of English and the increasing socioeconomic polarization …
Changing attitudes toward heritage language education
This study explores Vietnamese marriage-migrant mothers' changing attitudes toward heritage language (HL) education in South Korea through narratives collected in an interview setting over a period of four years. The findings show that while the mothers placed some value on HL education, they initially prioritized Korean at home because they viewed it as key to their children's academic success in Korea. However, the mothers' perceptions of the v…
Precarious privilege
This study explores identity (re)construction of three South Korean early-study abroad (ESA) university students who returned to their homeland after studying in the US and acquiring a high level of proficiency in English. Inasmuch as educational migration is frequently viewed as an effective strategy for securing pathways to socioeconomic mobility, less is known about the specific conditions and practices that influence ESA students’ identity an…
Preparing Technologically Competent EFL Teachers
Recent studies have highlighted the value of providing teachers TPACK-based courses in English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teacher training, yet its role in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) settings remains largely unexplored. This study, focusing on the case of a semester-long TPACK-based teacher preparation course designed for pre-service English teachers in South Korea, explores how a technology-infused teacher preparation course affects pre…
Shifting Language Investment in Transnational Educational Migration
Although an extensive body of work has examined the experiences of early study‐abroad (ESA) students who participate in short‐term migration, much less research has examined the experiences and lives of an increasing number of transnational students who engage in multiple border crossings. Drawing on interviews with three transnational educational migrant students who have engaged in multiple ESA and return trajectories, this study explores their…
“Nobody will say I speak Indian English”
While substantial scholarly attention has focused on native-speakerism’s influence on teachers’ professional identities, considerably less research has examined its effects on multilinguals navigating transnational spaces. When combined with neoliberal educational frameworks that commodify language skills as marketable assets, native-speakerism creates complex challenges for multilingual individuals. This study addresses this gap by examining thr…
When multilingual competence becomes liability
This study examines how native-speakerism and standard language ideology intersect to create systematic linguistic discrimination against early study abroad (ESA) returnees in Korean public education. Focusing on the experiences of 30 ESA returnees in South Korea, this study examines how these interconnected ideologies create systematic patterns of linguistic discrimination against ESA returnee students who have acquired multilingual competencies…
Multilingual Education and Policy (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · Second Language Learning and Teaching (9 works) · Pedagogy (8 works) · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning (6 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Linguistics (6 works) · Aesthetics (5 works)