Identities and Investment in a Korean Heritage Language Classroom

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: Multilingual Languaging and Identities

Abstract

The current proposal explores the investment of children of immigrant families in learning Korean as their heritage language (HL). In understanding their investment, this study explores the shift of HL learners’ identities through the lens of their immediate and imagined communities of practice. We found that the students’ investment to learn Korean seemed to be associated with their diverse HL learner identities within their immediate and imagined communities. The current report also supports the argument that teachers should pay attention to learners’ investment through better understanding of their students’ identity processes. The teachers need to be reflective of their own identities to better support students of diverse backgrounds and with diverse imagined communities of practices.

Authors

• Jung-In Kim, University of Colorado - Denver

• Mohammed Albishri

• Lili Guan

• Jie Soo Hong, University of Colorado - Denver