My Heritage Built Upon Persistence: Korean Americans’ Transnational Experiences Through Digital Storytelling and Virtual Visits

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 9:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Constructing Discourses and Identities in the Digital Age (Table 2)

Abstract

This study aims to address an innovative pedagogy that expands the digital and transnational literacies of adult Korean heritage language learners (HLLs). Grounded in theoretical perspectives of multimodality, digital literacies, and transnational literacies, this paper examines how digital storytelling (DST) enabled Korean HLLs to cultivate their transnational assets. The findings indicated that DST provided affordances for Korean HLLs to (a) reflect on and reconsider their Korean and American identities, (b) raise their awareness of societal issues, and (c) envision transnational possibilities for their future. By positioning Korean HLLs as knowledge creators and agentive meaning makers, this study illuminates the potential of DST for sustaining the heritage language and cultural practices of a population of HLLs currently underrepresented in the literature.

Author

• Eunae Kim, University of Miami