"I'm Korean Too": Heritage Language Learning and Community Access for Multiracial Korean Americans

• In Event: 34.095 - MTCC Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: 34.095-2 - Complicating Educational Discourses on Asians and Asian Americans

Abstract

This study examines the heritage language (HL) experiences of six multiracial Korean American HL speakers through qualitative, Expressive Autobiographical Interviews. The purpose of the interviews was to elicit in-depth accounts of the participants’ experiences related to self- and other-perceived ethnoracial identity, proficiency in the HL, and their access to/experiences in the HL-speaking communities. Findings suggest that for some multiracial HL learners, speaking in their HL is a “othering” experience when they do not phenotypically resemble native speakers of that language. Furthermore, when there was ample access to the Korean-speaking community, because of their multiraciality they often felt marginalized in these spaces and unable to engage in Korean-speaking opportunities. The study discusses the implications of these findings for future HL research.

Author

• Samantha Harris, University of California - Santa Barbara