“INTRAETHNIC OTHERING” AND IDENTITY OF KOREAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN CANADA AND IN THE U.S.

This paper draws from a larger, 1-year sociolinguistic ethnographic study we conducted between 2019 and 2020 using a critical sociolinguistic perspective (Heller, 2008, 2012). Ethnography was chosen to best situate the micro level linguistic practices and identity construction of the Korean students within the macro level political economic condition of today’s globalized world. The larger study was an exploratory examination of intraethnic othering among the “Korean” university students from a political economic framework of language and culture (Bourdieu, 1984, 1991; Duchêne & Heller, 2012; Irvine, 1989; Gal, 1989). The research was conducted at a major university in Canada where the number of Korean/Korean-Canadian students is low and at a major university in the U.S. where there is a strong representation of Korean/Korean-American students in order to obtain comparative perspectives. Each author is a faculty member at a university in Canada and in the U.S., respectively, and was responsible for collecting data in their respective contexts. In this paper, we focus on interview data with earlycomer student participants from both universities because this group of students expressed a higher level of linguistic insecurity related to their Koreanness.

In the study of language and identity, comparing different regions offers valuable insights into how contextual factors shape the ways individuals construct and express their identities. Previous research has shown that social, cultural, and institutional contexts significantly influence language use and identity formation. For instance, studies by Block (2006) and Norton (2000) highlight how immigrant students’ identities are shaped not only by their language proficiency but also by the specific socio-political environments of their host countries. In the U.S., where there is a larger and more established Korean community, bilingualism may be more strongly linked to social mobility and cultural preservation, as explored by Lee (2008). In contrast, in Canada, where the multicultural policy emphasizes the preservation of multiple identities, language use may be less tied to ethnic identity and more to broader multicultural belonging, as shown by Piller (2001). By comparing these two regions, the study can better understand how distinct national contexts influence the construction of Korean students' identities, providing a more nuanced view of how language, culture, and social integration interact across different settings. This comparative approach is crucial for understanding the broader dynamics of identity formation in diasporic communities.

The Canadian university is a major research university in Canada, located in a medium- sized city in the prairie region of Canada. This province has been traditionally homogeneous White communities except for high Indigenous population but is increasingly more diverse. Total number of all Korean students at the Canadian university (both at the undergraduate and graduate level) in the year of 2019 was only 70 (data obtained from Reporting and Data Services office, email communication). Furthermore, this study only focused on Korean undergraduate students, whose number is even smaller than 70. On the other hand, the U.S. university is a public research university located in the heart of an urban city in Southern U.S. It is known as one of the top universities in the region with a diverse ethnic student population (Smith-Barrow & Moody, 2019). According to its office of International Student and Scholar Services, the total enrollment of international students has increased to 3,309 from 1,392 in the ten years from 2008 to 2018, 6% of the total enrollment of 50,972. 70% of the international students are from Asian countries. Among them, South Korea has sent its students the third most after India and China since 2000.

To analyze the data, we employed a sociolinguistic analysis of interaction (Heller, 2008) to learn how ideas of Koreanness, bi/multilingualism, and language practices are constructed. In the iterative process of reading the transcripts, common themes naturally emerged that show the broader aspects of language perceptions and practices of the participants. In the following section, we further illustrate these points by offering some examples regarding how participants’ bi/multilingualism interacts with their ethnic identity construction. All participants’ names have been changed. Interview languages were chosen by the participants. All Korean data were translated into English by the researchers.

Data collected for the larger study included 58 individual interviews with a total of 37 students as well as 11 faculty and staff, document analysis, and observations of public events. During the research period, total number of 28 qualitative interviews were conducted with undergraduate student participants from both universities. The total number of student interview participants was 22.

As represented in table 1 above, the number of the U.S. university participants is slightly higher than that of the Canadian university given the smaller Korean student population at the latter. As such, the Canadian data included more focal participants (than the U.S. university), each of whom was interviewed 2-3 times, thereby producing more in-depth, richer data. Furthermore, the first author already had an in-depth knowledge and ethnographic information about the Korean student community at the Canadian university, and therefore didn’t need to conduct formal interviews with too many non-focal participants to identify the focal participants. On the other hand, the U.S. university data, collected by the second author, included a higher number of non-focal participants to identity two focal participants. From both institutions, we were able to include participants representing differing migration trajectories to examine the diversity within the Korean students (e.g., “earlycomers” and “latecomers”). In our detailed discussion of the data that follows, we chose to focus on interview data from eight earlycomer students from the two universities to better understand their insecurity in Korean-English bilingualism and biculturalism.

In both our contexts, there is a clear social division between early and latecomers. Earlycomers tend to have insecure and reluctant attitude of using or learning Korean language and culture or being part of Korean peer groups, whereas latecomers tend to feel insecure about their English language ability.

Facilitated by transportation and communication technology, people in today’s world are inclined to move back and forth between the country of origin and the host country, maintaining social, economic, political, and familial ties with their home countries even after the acquisition of a new citizenship (Basch et al., 1995; Louie, 2006). This challenges our notion of immigration which had been viewed as a one-way process with a definitive beginning and ending point, as well as of immigrants which had been considered as leaving their home country behind and assimilating into a new national context (Nagel & Staeheli, 2002). In this context, Korean students need to navigate their way through diverse transnational contexts and as Darvin & Norton (2015) argue, their identities are becoming ever more fluid and complex.

Interview with Yuki at the U.S. university below illustrates of this point in relation to linguistic and cultural insecurity of the earlycomer students in their construction of Koreanness vis-à-vis latecomers. Yuki was born in the U.S. but stayed in Korea for about 4 years (kindergarten through 3rd grade) and then came back to the US. She had clear ideas on the distinctive differences between the earlycomers and the latecomers. When asked by the researcher in the U.S. how she usually meets or makes friends, Yuki remarked:

• Y(uki):
• Dorm is one of them but just usually in classes. Honestly, it’s easier to make American friends than Korean friends.

• R(esearcher)-A(merica):
• Why do you think it’s harder to make Korean friends?

• Y:
• I wonder why. From my viewpoint I think Korean people are comfortable the most around Korean people…. because they have something in common to talk about. I think that Korean people discriminate against others often. So honestly when I’m with Korean people I can’t be myself. I wouldn’t be able to do things I wanted to…. it’s really bad but if the Korean person doesn’t think you are cool enough for them or think the person is below them, they can’t hang out with the Korean people because they’re not cool enough for them….Also have you heard of FOB (fresh off the boat) and ABC (American born Chinese, or American-born Asians)? FOB only hangs out with FOBs and ABC only hangs out with ABCs. I never saw ABC and FOB hang out with each other because they both have different styles of clothes, etc. I never seen them get along….

• R:
• How are they different?

• Y:
• The FOBs are always only talking in Korean, they have to dress really nice, ... ABCs usually don’t care about what they wear…. Also, they speak everything in English, and they get along with Americans more.
  (Yuki, earlycomer, Interview conducted in English, US university)

As illustrated above, the earlycomer students differently locate themselves on a continuum of “Koreanness” and “Canadianness”/“Americanness” in relation to latecomers. FOB and ABC groups have distinctive patterns of practicing languages as well as different ways of understanding the culture, and they do not comprehensively mingle each other. How the students construct the group characteristics is related to how they create a distance from other Korean groups. As such, as Norton (2000) and Darvin & Norton (2015) argue, identities are multiple and sites of struggle for these Korean undergraduate students. Language (preference) plays an important role in their identity construction or belonging to a particular ethnic group (Noels, Pon, and Clement, 1996; Schecter and Baylay, 1997).

Similarly, Alice, another earlycomer student at the Canadian university, also stated that she does not feel connected to latecomer Korean students. Alice moved to Canada at the age of 7 and lived in the neighboring province before she moved to the current city for her university education. In September 2019, both Alice and the researcher in Canada attended a social dinner at a local Korean restaurant, organized by one of the local Korean-Canadian Associations. During the interview after the social gathering, Alice talked about a Korean male graduate student who had made an official introduction of himself to the Korean faculty during the dinner:

• A(lice):
• So, I remember the student who kind of, you know, got up and introduced himself. And I just thought it's because he was an exchange student from Korea….
  He was like freaking out.

• R(esearcher)-C(anada):
• What was he saying to you guys, like…?

• A:
• He was like, I don’t know, he wasn't calm. Like, he was very fidgety, like he's like “Oh, I have to”, like, “I have to go introduce myself”, like just like “I have to do it”
  …. So, he was very nervous…

• R-C:
• So, how do you tell, like, maybe they haven't been in Canada for long?
  What would be some examples that you notice?

• A:
• …. I think kind of I have a general idea, but also I can kind of tell about their language, like how they speak English. If it's not fluent or they still have that, like the Korean accent, when they speak English, you can kind of tell. Kind of sometimes by their fashion or sometimes by just how they act.

• R-C:
• So, their fashion, how fashion is different?

• A:
• I don’t know… just, like, you know, have you seen the Chinese groups in our campus? Like they go in groups, and they wear these like fancy…. It's just more of language and just how they act.…I guess you know the term FOB, fresh of the boat…, you've heard of that, right?... Sometimes you can see that a lot of Koreans who just got here, they don't hang out with a lot of people from other ethnicities like white or black or brown even.
  (Alice, earlycomer, Canada, Interview conducted in English)

As demonstrated in the interview data from Alice, Korean-Canadian or Korean- American college students’ identity construction is further complicated by the diverse cultural, linguistic, and educational experiences and resources brought by the transnational movement of people and ideologies. In this context, the earlycomers and latecomers show distinctive characteristics in terms of social belonging, creating different affinity groups, and different degrees of participation in Korean linguistic and cultural practices. In both groups, language use and proficiency are considered as a key factor to determine which Korean group they choose to associate with. The data demonstrates that linguistic and cultural practices and social groups are important factors for constructing ethnic identities for the Korean university students.

As for the earlycomer Korean students, construction of their (ethnic) identity or their Koreanness is a situational, relational, and dynamic process. As such, their investment in Korean language and culture is also complex and shifting, contingent on the dynamic negotiation of power in different contexts. We now turn to illustrating this point.

The meaning of “Koreanness” to earlycomers and latecomers is realized in different ways. While both groups of students at both universities value bi/multilingualism in general as a potential resource for their social advancement, the U.S. university has more diverse Korean student organizations on campus and offer diverse student activities (e.g., Korean language class, exchange programs to prestigious Korean universities). Consequently, the U.S. students had better access to mobilizing Korean language and culture as valuable resources for their future career advancement, compared to the Canadian university where there is no formal Korean Studies program.

For example, Yuki used to be a student representative for the Korean Undergraduate Student Association at the U.S. university. She has more non-Korean friends because she feels more connected to them compared to Korean students (FOB) who she feels are often judgmental on the people’s appearance. Yet, she has gained various experiences of different Korean students on campus by serving in a leadership role in the campus student association. Kyler, an earlycomer student at the U.S. university, presents another such example. Kyler immigrated with his family at the age of five and perceives himself as an “American” more than as a “Korean,” because he does not do things such as “primarily speaking with friends using Korean, watching Korean entertainment TV shows” representative practices of the “Korean” (or FOB) students. Nevertheless, in Fall 2019, he took an upper-level Korean language course for an upcoming study abroad to Korea as illustrated below:

Kyler is keenly aware that in addition to gaining intercultural experiences, study abroad in Korea will offer him a valuable opportunity to study at a prestigious Korean university, which is well known and well appreciated among local Korean families and communities. Therefore, he is mobilizing Korean language learning as a way to compensate the name value of the current US university he is attending, which is not as prestigious as the Korean university among Koreans. Furthermore, it is a way to obtain academic credits without spending much money while staying with his extended Korean family in Seoul.

At both universities, the earlycomer students tend to view the meaning of Koreanness as a means of keeping family bonds or achieving social advancement in jobs or education. Earlycomer students in Canada mentioned the value of bilingualism in creating more future opportunities for themselves, and they wish they had continued their Korean language learning. For example, Alice commented that when she was younger, she used to say she did not need to know Korean language because she was living in Canada. And she felt she lost most of her Korean language proficiency:

• R-C:
• And you said you started to go to Korean church because you wanted to get connected with Koreans in your high school. Why was it important for you at that time to connect with Koreans?

• A:
• I think it was primarily… has to do with… I didn't want to lose the Korean language because I realized that it was decreasing…. So, I wanted to improve that more. And I heard that it's a lot easier to get jobs if you know more languages. And also, a part of me didn't want to lose that Korean route. So, that’s why I started exploring more my Korean side….

• R-C:
• So, when you said you thought like, it's easy to get a job when you know more languages, how do you know that?

• A:
• Well, I also did French in high school and a lot of university… took some French courses. But all my friends’ teachers would say, oh, we should learn French. Knowing a second language or knowing a third language might be useful for you. And just all my teachers said that in general.
  (Alice, earlycomer, Canada, Interview conducted in English)

But given the relatively low value of Korean language and culture to their career advancement in the local Canadian city, and given the lack of Korean language course offering on campus, the students find it challenging to continue to invest in learning the Korean language. Furthermore, earlycomer students usually do not socialize with latecomer students who are more proficient in Korean language. As such, latecomers do not have ample opportunities to practice Korean language among peer groups. For example, Alice went on to describe her lack of involvement in the Korean student organization on campus because she did not feel connected to most of the latecomer students represented at its events:

• A:
• A: To be honest, the last meeting, I only went because, because I was honestly not gonna go, but the only reason why I went was because I got a recommendation letter from the president [a Korean professor]. So, I wanted to show him respect by going there and attending. Just in case he does talk about XXX (name of the Korean student group), that he can be like, oh, she's here like, you know, because if you don't show up to the XXX meeting as part of… going there as a requirement, you have to be involved. Right.
  (Alice, earlycomer, Canada, Interview conducted in English)

To summarize, for the Korean university students in Canada and in the US, constructing their Koreanness is closely related to social mobility in today’s political economy (Block, 2017). As for the students in the U.S. university, the local context where the university offers diverse opportunities of learning Korean language and culture as well as local communities where immigrants have observed the importance of Korean-English bilingual ability due to the growing Korean community has influenced the early commers’ motivation to learn or maintain the Korean-English bilingualism. As for students in Canada, where such institutional support was lacking, their Korean-English bilingualism carries less value in the local context. Subsequently, there is limited investment in developing Korean-English bilingualism and their Koreanness among the students.

As such, we need to understand the material conditions of the Korean university students’ language learning in the U.S. and in Canada and their investment to better understand their (ethnic) identities as a struggle of competing ideologies and imagined identities (Darvin & Norton, 2015). Language proficiency and language use are the crucial element for creating ethnic identity construction of Korean students at both universities, and the category of “Korean” students is complex. The students invest in Korean-English bilingualism with their understanding of anticipated accumulation of economic and symbolic resources (Bourdieu, 1991) related to their imagined futures (Darvin & Norton, 2015). In this process, the earlycomer students position themselves vis-à-vis latecomers in their construction of Koreanness.