Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee

This study investigates how one Korean elementary school child adjusted to a South Korean public school after spending five years abroad in the United States in an English as a Second Language (ESL) situation. It also examines the participant’s individual cultural adjustment to the host country as well as to the home country. Data from the focal child, her mother, father, and sister was collected through interviews that recorded their experiences of two countries that differed linguistically, culturally, and socially. Deprived of familiar support and guidance from peers, returnee students often experience the distress of losing a sense of their past selves. The focal child’s individual narratives also confirm that her sojourn between two countries is not a temporary interruption but a continual negotiation toward understanding

195 Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee Yunjoo Park (Korea National Open University) Park, Yunjoo 2008 Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee English Language and Linguistics 25, 195-216 This study investigates how one Korean elementary school child adjusted to a South Korean public school after spending five years abroad in the United States in an English as a Second Language (ESL) situation It also examines the participant’s individual cultural adjustment to the host country as well as to the home country Data from the focal child, her mother, father, and sister was collected through interviews that recorded their experiences of two countries that differed linguistically, culturally, and socially Deprived of familiar support and guidance from peers, returnee students often experience the distress of losing a sense of their past selves The focal child’s individual narratives also confirm that her sojourn between two countries is not a temporary interruption but a continual negotiation toward understanding various aspects of herself Key words: ESL, returnee, sojourn, linguistic challenges, social adjustment Introduction English becomes a powerful language for accessing a globalizing world “Learning English may be the fastest way to upgrade one’s social status in Korea” (Park 2006:219) Although English is taught as a subject in Korean classrooms, Korean parents understand that the best way to learn a language is to be immersed in the culture of the target language Even though their children’s learning English is not their primary goal for coming to the US, the children of Korean academic families (of which one or both parents pursue their higher education in the US) have the opportunity to be exposed to and immersed in an English-speaking environment In addition, popular belief would expand the myth that younger learners are better learners in terms of language acquisition It is often believed that children not e1ven have to try 영어학연구 25 (2008), 195-216 English Language and Linguistics 25 (2008), 195-216 196 Yunjoo Park to learn to acquire languages since they are “effortless second language learners” (Brown 2007:101) Thus, studying abroad in English-speaking countries during one’s elementary school years is regarded as one of the most effective and desirable ways for young Korean learners to achieve fluency in English Korean academic families intuitively enjoy their temporary stay as an optimal linguistic environment for their children to enable them to achieve English proficiency since authentic English input in the United States is not replicable when they return home However, culture learning and social engagement become a part of foreign language learning and teaching Linguistic features not exist in a vacuum and language professionals stress that language acquisition does not simply mean learning grammar, but understanding the culture, society, and many other aspects which are intertwined in the lives of target language speakers Whether young or old, members of academic families are exposed to a new linguistic, cultural, and social environment and find themselves having to adjust to the host country The children of these families usually have little or no saying in coming to this new land A certain level of English proficiency and culturally-embedded socializing skills become mandatory for them The purpose of this study is to investigate how one South Korean elementary school child accommodated herself linguistically to an English as a Second Language (ESL) situation in the United States and then readjusted to a Korean public school after spending four years abroad It also examines the participant’s individual cultural adjustment to the host country and to the home country upon her return The research questions that this study attempts to answer are: (1) What challenges confront the participant when she copes with two linguistically and socially different countries? and (2) How does she feel about her sojourn? Literature Review Language is a primary resource for socializing with others, enacting social identity, and displaying membership in social groups depending on linguistic This was supported by Korea National Open University Research Fund Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 197 and social contexts Korean language speakers socialize in a mixed variety of languages in the US depending on their interlocutors and the situation, such as parents in Korean, but siblings, friends, and colleagues in English After living outside of one’s home country for a year or several years, returnee/sojourner students exhibit physical, behavioral, psychological, and interpersonal changes (Martin 1984, Martin 1986, Rohrlich & Martin 1991, Sussman 2000, Sussman 2002, Ward & Kennedy 1994, Ward & Rana-Deuba 1999, Ward & Rana-Dueba 2000) Simultaneously, “the nature of the sojourner is one of a cycle: moving to a new country and moving home; the process of adjustment and the outcome of adaptation; culture shock and reverse shock” (Sussman 2002:391) While adjusting to a new linguistic environment, Korean children have to negotiate their “social identity” in a new environment and attitudes to their own language (McNamara 1997:561) One of the most difficult challenges sojourner/ returnee students face is that they must undergo reverse culture shock Returnees have to embrace re-learning their native language and re-adjust to the strange but familiar cultural and social environments of the home country Ladd and Ruby (1999:365) describe acculturation as “the process of adapting to the dominant culture but at the same time maintaining separate cultural identity.” The concept of acculturation is critical for educators to understand and communicate, especially with returnee/sojourner students from different countries experiencing various adjustment processes In the same line of thinking, Martin (1984:116) explains that “acculturation is the adjustment of an individual to a foreign country” and “reacculturation or reentry is the readjustment of the sojourner into the home culture.” Above, she calls attention to the concept of cultural adjustment which requires individuals to psychologically and socially adjust to a new culture, resulting in attitudinal and emotional changes (Martin 1984, Martin 1986) Kiddler (1992) conducted research among Japanese returnees who had lived outside Japan for up to ten years and illustrated a variety of their physical, behavioral, and interpersonal transformations after returning home She interviewed two types of returnees: 33 students at a US university with a campus in Tokyo and 12 students at a Japanese university which offered 198 Yunjoo Park special admission for returnees The stories of the 45 students revealed that their sojourn abroad was not a temporary or permanent interruption but a continual negotiation toward understanding various aspects of themselves Returnee/sojourner students are ambivalent about their changes (Kiddler 1992) In her insightful research, Sussman suggests that “as a result of cultural accommodation and adaptation, the self-concept is disturbed and consequently changes in cultural identity become salient on commencement of repatriation” (Sussman 2000:364) As she conducted research on the topic of the sojourner’s transition cycle of overseas adaptation and repatriation, Sussman (2002) proposed the Cultural Identity Model (CIM) which posits four types of post-adaptation identities: affirmative, subtractive, additive and global identities When the sojourn affirms the home country identity, it is an affirmative identity The CIM predicts that affirmative identifiers become “grateful repatriates” (2002:395) since they barely adapted to their new country Both subtractive and additive identifiers experience high repatriation distress respectively as a result of losing one’s home country identity and embracing too many aspects of the host culture When sojourners have had multiple international experiences, they often develop their global identity, which is viewed as an embellishment of belonging to a global community In her findings, Sussman concluded that affirmative identities are predictors of low repatriation distress Yoshida, et al (2002) provided noteworthy information regarding reentry issues from the questionnaire survey data based on 215 high school returnees and the university student sample Communication with parents prior to, during, and after their return home plays the most important role in lowering returnees’ adjustment difficulties Returnees also show their preference toward schools that offer special provisions for returnees to regular schools Deprived of family support and guidance from peers, these students often experience the distress of losing a sense of their past (Yeh & Inose 2003) In the sense that sojourner students have very different experiences from those of their parents, family support from them would be limited Returnee/sojourner students who used to be outstanding scholars in their home countries are likely to lose confidence without recognition and support from others in their host Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 199 culture and environment Moreover, they experience a similar adjustment process after returning to their home country (Martin 1984, Martin 1986, Sussman 2000, Sussman 2002) In sum, repatriation and reentry struggles differ from an overseas adjustment which mostly involves speaking a new language and mingling into a culturally different society Yet, research inadequately addresses the complexity of the relationship between points or arcs in the transition cycle Methodology 3.1 Participants － The Shin Family JinHee2, the mother, was a native Korean-speaking woman in her late thirties who moved to the United States in 2000 with her husband at the time of the study Her husband, Mr Shin, was pursuing his doctoral degree in the law school JinHee was a full-time housewife who was busy taking care of her three children, ages five, seven, and twelve JinHee had limited English proficiency, although she had lived in the United States for about four and a half years She was strongly determined that her children maintain their heritage language, Korean, and greatly valued a closely knit family relationship As a law school student, Mr Shin had a better command of English than JinHee He was a considerably more family-oriented person compared to other Korean fathers, so he provided substantial help with his eldest daughter Yuri’s schoolwork She needed to hone her academic skills and he could communicate with her in English When I visited South Korea in May for follow-up interviews with JinHee and Yuri after their return to South Korea in February 2005, Mr Shin willingly contributed his time He shared his thoughts about educational goals with an emphasis on literacy as well as his overall vision for his family In this vision, he expressed his desire to maintain his family’s cultural identity while acquiring cultural and linguistic fluency through frequent sojourns between the two countries Yuri, my focal child, was a twelve-year-old sixth grade elementary school All names have been changed 200 Yunjoo Park girl She was a sociable girl who could communicate in Korean and English without any hesitation or difficulty After she completed her first year at a Korean elementary school in 2000, she came to the United States with her parents and was in an English as a New Language (ENL) class for five months during the same year Yuri was in the ALPS (Accelerated Learning Program for Students) during her sixth grade year ALPS is the abbreviated term for Accelerated Learning Program for Students at Yuri’s elementary school There are two reasons for mentioning this program in the paper The fact that she participated in this program after completing five months in the ENL program showed that she surpassed other students academically That is, she was not regarded as an ESL student, but as an academically gifted student Secondly, although Yuri expressed her frustration while adjusting to a Korean academic setting, she firmly believed that she would soon be academically successful since she was confident in her academic aptitude When she could not comprehend the content of some subjects in school, she blamed this on her lack of Korean language skills, specifically hanja, (Chinese characters), not on her ability to understand the content nor on the difficulty of the subjects Yura was JinHee’s second daughter, age seven She was with JinHee whenever I interviewed her mother, but over a year of observation, I did not interview her since she was too young and shy However, I was able to interview her once in Korea in May 2005 JinHee treated her differently from Yuri in terms of correcting her English and Korean, and Yura was struggling with developing both her Korean and English at the time of this study 3.2 Data Collection and Analysis This qualitative study is based on 14-month, longitudinal interviews and observations For this qualitative research, the researcher employed: (1) a parent questionnaire; (2) six formal semi-structured interviews with the mother for a year; (3) four interviews with the focal child; and (4) individual interviews with her father and sister during the same period First, the parents were asked to participate in this study by filling out a questionnaire asking Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 201 about their background information, which took 30 minutes to complete Second, the researcher conducted the parent interviews in person which were mainly in Korean Each lengthy semi-structured interview lasted about 60 minutes Last, the child interviews were in both Korean and English and concerned Yuri’s learning experiences in two different educational settings At the end of the each child interview, I asked her to read a Korean language passage and to describe age-appropriate pictures both in Korean and English Each interview in Korean was tape-recorded, transcribed, and later translated into English The English interviews were transcribed verbatim with minor corrections for clarification Multiple sources of data from the focal child and her mother, father, and sister were analyzed into emerging themes I pursued qualitative research in this study because I was interested in the participants’ personal feelings, experiences, struggles, stories, and, specifically, their various approaches in coping with two different settings Qualitative methodology enables the research to reveal the individual phenomenon embedded within people’s experiences (Merriam 1998) I transcribed all the audio-taped interviews with the four members of the Shin family and then employed content analysis From repeated examination and analysis of the participants’ narratives, four themes emerged Emerging themes were the result of synthesizing all the transcripts so that the excerpts did not have to follow a chronological order Results and Discussions This section focuses on Yuri’s experiences and beliefs through her narratives I had four interviews with Yuri over a 14-month period Of the four interviews with the focal child, the last interview in Korean was noteworthy Her preference for speaking English as opposed to Korean revealed her ambivalent situation in both countries The first three interviews in the United States were mainly in Korean, since the child’s Korean was stable enough to understand the researcher’s questions and to convey her thoughts However, an interesting shift emerged in the focal child’s language usage in our interview in May 2005 Her family had returned to South Korea in February 2005 This 202 Yunjoo Park time, the interview took place in English at her request The focal child preferred to express her thoughts and feelings in English, since she had far fewer opportunities to use English in her new linguistic environment Her use of English was limited to communication with her younger sister Having an hour-long interview in English at “regular speed” according to her perspective, she was able to satisfy her desirer to speak English Her mother and father commented that Yuri could not find anyone with whom she was able to talk freely in English in Korea In English classes at a hagwon (Korean private institution), Yuri mentioned that she had to focus on memorizing vocabulary, taking tests, and getting good grades In addition, this was a rigid setting of studying with other peers, not an informal setting where children could speak English freely She missed her former environment in the US where she was able to speak informally in English in natural settings This was not duplicable in Korea It seems that the focal child was literally thirsting for communication in English, her dominant language for this interview 4.1 Linguistic Challenges One of Yuri’s self-esteem builders came from the fact that she was proficient in two languages She was able to communicate with Korean elders in the appropriate “polite forms,” therefore, she did not feel stress in attending a Korean church where all the services were conducted in Korean When she verbally described a family photograph in 2004, she revealed that she did not have any difficulty in describing the same photo in two languages 할로인인데, 가족이랑 같이 가 가지고, 애플도 따고, 어 거기 가 가지고 밤도 따고, 근데 손이 아주 아팠고, 근데 여기도 애플사이더도 많이 먹었 고, 아주 재밌었어요 왜 그러냐하면, 여기 미국은 이거, nature이랑 밖에 가 제일 좋고, 한국은 안에서 하는 거 그렇게 좋거든요 그러니까, 나는 미국와서 아주 밖에 있는 거를 보는 거를 아주 좋아해가지고요, 아주 좋 았어요 (Yuri, March 2004) This is when I was in costume in [for] Halloween And my family and I went there There we take [picked] the apples, got [bought] apple cider, and Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 203 we take, 밤이 뭐지? [What is ‘밤’in English?] Nuts, we caught nuts, and I had But I think [what] I like about America most is the nature and the beauty of its nature So I really like um, looking at the outside of America and it was really fun with my family (Yuri, March 2004) Her command of English made her flexible not only in terms of communication but also in terms of her residing in another country [I think speaking two languages is] good I can live in Korea and in the United States I am comfortable talking in either language and it’s enjoyable (Yuri, March 2004) Sometimes you can translate for other people And if you know two languages, it gives me, if it gives you a more chance, um, to communicate with both countries Because Korean, it in Korean, I mean in Korea, but if you know English, there are a lot of countries [that] speak English If you know both of them, it’s just better for like your environment or things like that, too (Yuri, May 2005) Yuri mainly spoke Korean at home and at a Korean church that her family attended Although she preferred using English when she talked with her friends since it was her dominant language at the time, her friends were of Korean descendant (either immigrants or Korean Americans) Her mother mentioned this earlier: The friends Yuri has made [in the United States] are mostly Koreans, not American Therefore, although she speaks in English, all of her friends are Koreans [I think] it’s her preference (JinHee, March 2004) Her bilingual skills did not cause her to be confused about her Korean or American identity She believed that she was a Korean who was fluent in English living in the United States Since her full command of English was a source of pride for herself, she faced the dilemma of losing her English in 204 Yunjoo Park re-adjusting to Korea in 2005 Researcher: Then what about your English and your Korean? Yuri: Well, my Korean got a lot better, Researcher: A lot better in what way? Yuri: Um, well, I’m kind of a lot more fluent in speaking, but, um, I feel a lot more better writing it, too I was always nervous when I wrote something because I wasn’t used to writing into Korean language so it’s kind of, you know, hard to [inaudible] It was kind of hard spelling too, because it’s kind of…And when I was in America, I really didn’t understand the Korean books but now I fully understand it It’s kind of it’s fun When I was in America, I hated it because I didn’t understand a lot Now after the all time switch fine Researcher: Oh, wow, just three months! Yuri: But in English, I don’t get to write so much any more And in America, when I used to speak, I got to get new words and that really fix[ed] in my head But now [the] only way is like looking [at] a book and see what I don’t know or looking with the dictionaries or with the workbook So, I think my speaking is kind of going down, too I’m not so fluent any more Researcher: Really? Yuri: Yeah, when I kind of start to speak, I kind of get nervous for some reason It’s like, because I have because I know that the other people can’t as well as me so I kind of feel nervous (Yuri and researcher, May 2005) She recently started to enjoy reading Korean books more, although she preferred reading English books she had already read However, Yuri’s diary entries in Korean showed that she followed English writing conventions Once she mentioned that she did not know how to write using Korean conventions or style Therefore, Yuri’s Korean writing follows the typical organizational structure of introduction, body, and conclusion In her writing sample in Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 205 Korean in May 2005, she employed three topic sentences in the three paragraphs about her father Then she provided examples of why she thought that he was smart in each paragraph, supporting her topic sentences In her second paragraph, the body part of her writing, she rationalized her opinion with detailed information She made only eight spelling mistakes out of 347 characters 우리 아빠는 완전 천제다 나는 우리 아빠가 아주 훌륭하신 분이라고 생각한다 얼많한 큰 것 들 했는지, 네이버나 구글에서 [아빠 이름을] 치 면 우리 아빠의 정보가 나온다 어렷을때는 돈도 많이 없었지만 요즘은 천재다 미국에서 아주 어려운 대학에서 변호사 degree 를 따고 [아빠 직장에서] 첫쩨가 되셨다 출장가 셔서 요즘 법을 만드신다 그 때에, 성일대에서 5명중에 하나로 뽑혀서 성일대학교에 박사일도 하신다 이렇게 바쁘신 분이 케익도 사오시고, 내 동생이 책을 못 읽을 때 설명해주시고, 문화제 보러 나를 데려가시고, 사 회를 아주 재미있고 감동적인 이야기로 바꾸신다 우리 아빠는 내 나이때 책을 엄청 많이 읽으셧다 그래서 교과서에 없 는 것들을 다 예기해주신다 우리 아빠 이야기를 들을때 내가 거기, 그 곳에 있는 것같이 느껴진다 나는 우리 아빠 때문에 한국에 살 수 있는 거라고 믿은다 (Yuri, May 2005) While Yuri wrote an English letter to her former teacher about missing her life in the US, she employed more complicated vocabulary and grammar Dear Mrs Hines, Today is day away from 스승의 날 Teacher’s day [in Korea] It’s a day to thank your teachers for teaching you I didn’t really have anyone to write to, so I’m writing to you Now [that] I’ve come to Korea, I have realized how great a teacher you are In Korea, we have classes like middle school and a textbook for each subject We learn how to things all by the textbooks, computers, and occasionally, trips I really loved all the stimulations Now I think not only 206 Yunjoo Park did it teach us the information we had to know, but it also taught us teamwork They were plays and building things together Now I think, ‘Why couldn’t I be more active and more helpful in those stimulations?’ I didn’t know then (Yuri, May 2005) The child-participant’s stable Korean enabled her to successfully achieve English literacy skills when she adjusted herself to the United States However, after returning to Korea, her lack of hanja [Chinese characters] became the biggest obstacle in understanding Korean school subjects Hanja conveys the meaning of much Korean vocabulary Therefore, in Yuri’s case, even though she was able to listen to her teachers’ lectures in Korean, she sometimes could not understand the full meaning of the content It is common for young Korean language learners to be able to read, write, and distinguish the sounds/words, but not to comprehend the meaning of certain words/vocabulary Yuri suffered from the same phenomenon by attending classes in a Korean public school At the same time, her fluent English communication skills were not commensurate with the required level of written English at the Korean school 4.2 Cultural Comparison One of her distinctive discourse features was her comparison of two different cultures After returning to Korea, she often encountered those cases in which her expectations based on her prior experience in the United Stated did not meet her situation in Korea Yuri joined an extracurricular book club reading Korean books which held meetings once a week When describing it, she stated, “It’s awful.” Researcher: Why? Yuri: Because we nothing there but read and just get our [oral] responses Researcher: How about discussions? Yuri: We don’t have any discussions Awful! We just get our responses checked, and rest of time, just read Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 207 Researcher: Maybe you have to suggest that Yuri: No discussions! Researcher: I don’t understand Yuri: Seriously Researcher: I don’t It’s natural to discuss a book that you have read Yuri: We circulate books but I really don’t know why we that because we might not even gonna discuss it So, we’re not reading all the same book We brought one book for ourselves and then make it go around the classroom So usually we don’t read those books (Yuri and researcher, May 2005) The second comparison was about English education in Korea She described in detail the education at hagwon (private institutes) based on observations of her classmates who were lacking in their oral skills But the problem is Korean, um, academy (hagwon) I think they only vocabulary too much, so um, what I’ve heard them speak to get their introductions; it wasn’t really fluent or “English” See, they know a lot of vocabulary words from looking at their academy book but I don’t think they really have [inaudible] to write, like full essay or something So well there were a lot of differences Level is high in their vocabulary but low in their speaking I think the basic focus is on the speaking more, because that’s why you need to kind of talk or communicate with others (Yuri, May 2005) Once she told me that she was embarrassed because she deliberately wrote a very basic introduction in English with easy vocabulary even though she thought she was capable of higher level vocabulary Her expectations of her English capability were higher than those of her Korean The fact that she had to speak English at the level of other Korean students in her class who learned English in Korea made her embarrassed Yuri told me one more example of a disparity between two cultures when she made friends You know, I think that it’s a kind of different on the situation Because, 208 Yunjoo Park there are a lot of people in Korea that kind of really express their emotions really big when they’re mad In America it’s not like that So when I’m really mad just Korean words you know just came, come popping out of me but when I’m really in deep thought or something, or big decision that I have to make, I was always thinking or not, English (Yuri, May 2005) She realized that even though Korean was her first language, she felt comfortable in English, since her knowledge was based on English Her oral skills in the two languages did not show a large disparity, but her literacy was different She could not help reading English books, and she practiced writing in both languages following English writing principles Since she was educated in the United States, it was natural for her to use her dominant language, English, and she was inclined to the American side 4.3 Social Adjustment Yuri was twelve years old and the eldest daughter of the Shin family She had a seven-year-old sister, Yura, and a five-year old brother, Hoon Her parents always reminded her that she was the eldest child JinHee acknowledged that she was more involved with Yura and Hoon than Yuri Yuri’s independent character comes from the fact that she is the oldest Burdened with the task of taking care of their younger children, Mr and Mrs Shin allowed Yuri to have a certain freedom in her study habits In addition, JinHee could not assist her daughter with her schoolwork because of her lack of English fluency I have to look after my second daughter and youngest son prior to Yuri, so she feels that she does not have enough time with me Therefore, she talks with her father about everything She tends to talk about schoolwork in English with him If Yuri wants to talk to me, she should speak Korean, since I sometimes cannot understand what she says, and I ask her, “Speak to me in Korean, in Korean!” (JinHee, March 2004) Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 209 Yuri was mature and responsible in her duties JinHee admired the fact that Yuri had to practically everything by herself regarding her schoolwork in the United States JinHee mentioned several times that since her support for Yuri was limited because of her limited knowledge of English, Yuri had to solve her problems by herself The advantage of the American education was that she had to find her own ways Yuri is able to whatever she wants by herself That was the best result (JinHee, January 2005) All I could was to overlook the general organization and to check her writing by following the teacher’s guideline As I couldn’t see it in detail, her homework became her own If she couldn’t revise it as she wanted, she sometimes cried She was eager to something more… Through that experience, I think she grew up Late at night, she struggled by herself…She definitely grew up (JinHee, March 2004) Yuri does what she is supposed to by herself I don’t need to say anything, and I haven’t had to say to her, “Wake up and study” or “Do your homework.” I think her [autonomy] is precious (JinHee, May 2005) Mr Shin also admitted that Yuri had to struggle in becoming an independent, eldest daughter Partly we were lazy, and we could not concentrate only on Yuri since we have three children I think our policy of doing it by yourselves works well with Yuri She does everything by herself (Mr Shin, May 2005) Yuri explained that her choice of language depends on the interlocutor at home As JinHee mentioned earlier in the interviews, Yuri tended to talked with her father She was able to speak in both languages with him about any topic Nevertheless, Mr Shin was unable to spend much time with Yuri after returning to Korea because he was busy with his own work She was unable to 210 Yunjoo Park find anyone to speak with in English in Korea Yuri told me that she sometimes had to rethink her comments in Korean if she spoke to her mother She and her sister spoke to each other in English, and Yuri played an interpreter role for her mother when JinHee could not understand what Yura was saying My father can speak both English and Korean It is easier and more convenient for me to talk with my father in English, and [since] my mother does not speak English well….When I talk to Hoon, I use simple Korean words When I talk to Yura, I speak only English because she is not good at Korean at all (Yuri, March 2004) Yuri had to deal with many things by herself in both countries In the United States, she had to discover her own way with some help from her teachers and friends, but almost no help from her mother or father When Yura and Hoon went to school, JinHee was less frustrated interacting with them and helping with their schoolwork, since she had become accustomed to speaking English and to American culture Most of all, Yuri could help them as an experienced mediator When I met her in Korea, it seemed that she had to readjust herself to a new school system I asked her how she felt about her situation and whether she ever felt burdened by having to everything by herself She admitted that she felt lonely Not really in America But I really [feel lonely] these days because like here my dad always has to work, and my mom is busy with her own school work and it wasn’t really like that in America because sometimes I help[ed with] my mom’s various English homework and she sometimes help[ed] me my projects because she is awesome in creating like a poster board, if I had to projects So I didn’t really feel lonely and so dreadful But now, I kind of feel stressed (Yuri, May 2005) Even though Yuri was the oldest among her siblings at home, she was still a twelve-year-old elementary school girl She had struggled in an English- Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 211 speaking environment when she was a first grader in 2000 After spending five years in the United States, she returned to Korea and had to repeat her linguistic and social re-adjustment in a different school environment She told me that some boys in school bullied her with difficult Korean words, since she could not understand everything they were saying At the same time, she was worried that her English spelling and vocabulary were deteriorating She tried to read English books over and over in order to maintain her English skills Her English reading skills were, of course, utilized by herself Without any support from outside world, which includes parents and institutions, Yuri tried to maintain her English language skills by herself through silent, repetitive reading in English 4.4 Emotional Changes After almost five years, JinHee and her family decided to return to Korea During the course of my interviews with the family over a one-year period, we always knew that they would ultimately return to Korea But in January 2005, the decision was unexpected I asked JinHee and Mr Shin what the primary reason was for reaching that decision One of the factors was Yuri’s Korean identity They greatly wanted to promote her development as a Korean My husband believed that we have to raise our children as Korean [He thinks that] if they had come to the United States as college students, it would be all right but if children stay longer, they will become Americans without any Korean roots (JinHee, January 2005) [My children] should know their origins [as Korean] Whether Yuri likes the fact or not will be decided once she becomes an adult But she needs to have her identity [as a Korean] (Mr Shin, May 2005) When I asked Yuri whether she was Korean or American, she maintained that she had always had a firm Korean identity Her language preference of English was one thing, her identification with Korea was another She always liked 212 Yunjoo Park Korea better than America, even though she felt more comfortable speaking English than Korean I think I am Korean I was born in Korea and my father, mother, younger sister Yura all were born in Korea I like Korea more than America (Yuri, March 2004) Well, in America we are too protected, and you have to be with your parents all the time But in Korea you go to academies, you go to “shu-peo” [supermarkets in a Korean term] and you can anything with your money And I like that So I like that, and another thing I like about Korea is that I see a lot of exercise because you walk a lot here In America, you know, well at least kids, usually you ride a car with your parents but here you just walk to school, walk to academies, and walk to everywhere so I think that’s nice Um, I like new friends and I like the new school (Yuri, May 2005) Right before going back to Korea was the only time she expressed her feelings as “50-50” I thought she was a little nervous about returning to Korea I prefer [returning to Korea] Well, no, I’m okay I don’t like it very much and don’t dislike it either (Yuri, January 2005) JinHee and her husband’s emphasis on Yuri’s Korean identity influenced Yura, too When I started interviewing Yura, I asked her which language she preferred, Korean or English At the time of this study, she preferred functioning in English without hesitation I asked the same question to her in Korea, whether she felt Korean or American Researcher: Have you ever thought [that] you are proud of yourself because you speak two languages instead of one? Yura: Yeah, because I was a Korean person and I went to America When I lived there for five, four and a half years, and then I came back to Korea And I learned some Korean Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 213 Researcher: Have you ever thought of yourself as a Korean or as an American? Yura: Korean Researcher: In what way? Yura: Because I’m living in Korea right now (Yura and researcher, May 2005) The “identity” of their children was one of the issues that Mr and Mrs Shin considered in their returning home Yura’s excerpt also revealed that this decision also had on influence on their younger child According to Sussman (2002:404), “sojourners whose home cultural identity is affirmed and maintained throughout the cultural transition process are expected to experience less repatriation distress upon their return home and more satisfaction with their lives.” Yura maintained her Korean identity, and she told me that she had thought of herself as American when she was in the United States, but not any more During our interview in one of JinHee’s rooms, Yuri was singing along with a Karaoke machine in another room Yura and I could faintly hear it I was able to imagine her enjoying life in Korea listening to cheerful sounds and music Yuri: Because here [in Korea], they say that the judge just makes the decision I don’t think that goes with good thing for us It must be really in the American court, where you have to kind of fight for your side And that’s what I’m really interested in Well, my dad is a lawyer and at school we sometimes Researcher: In American school? Yuri: Yeah, and in English, we were studying law and we actually had a court [case] over cockroaches If you see street cockroaches…and actually, I was the judge It was really fun because the day before I learned some judge words from my dad It was really fun My friends really congratulated me well that I did it well Researcher: What else? The jury system Yuri: Exactly, it is democracy But here [in Korea] it is a dictatorship 214 Yunjoo Park kind of Researcher: If the judge is wrong, what can we do? Yuri: So democracy is in America because people get to vote justice in court (Yuri and researcher, May 2005) Yuri and I talked about her plans after discussing the Korean identity issue When Yuri told me that she wanted to go to Yale University in order to become an English-speaking lawyer, I thought she was lucky to have a lawyer-father However, I was surprised at her rationale when she explained the different roles of a judge and the jury system in the United States A twelve-year-old girl who was exposed to two languages and two cultures had already started to maximize her potential for her future Conclusion In contrast to immigrants (who plan to permanently stay in the host country), Korean academic families are bound to return home Their plan to study abroad and return home demands that their children initially adjust to the host country and reaccommodate to their home after an extensive period of time Sojourner parents expect their returnee children to acquire two sets of languages and cultures and adjust well enough in both countries, but focus mostly on their children’s linguistic acquisition of English Returnees’ social and emotional struggles are ignored while they move back and forth between two countries In her article, Kiddler (1992:384) observes that “the dilemma for returnees is whether to maintain or trim the new aspects of themselves, the parts they picked up under the stars and stripes or any other flag.” On the one hand, the focal child, Yuri, found joy at school after returning to Korea Since she was able to walk to many places with her friends without being transported by her parents, she felt that she had more autonomy and independence than before On the other hand, she was occasionally bullied because of her lack of higher level Korean vocabulary and her different interests, like playing soccer Once she wished that she could be in some other country She often felt a little odd or awkward due to the different linguistic Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 215 and social background she had acquired in the United States Yuri had had to manage her life independently from the time she entered the first grade in the United States Her parents’ expectations toward the eldest daughter, her self-motivated personality, and her different linguistic experiences in two countries made her who she was Nevertheless, as long as she emphasized and took advantage of what she had achieved, she would overcome what she was facing in school Through the bilingual and bicultural developments she experienced, she became a model citizen in a world of globalization References Brown, H D 2007 Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (3rd ed.) White Plains, New York: Pearson Education Kiddler, L H 1992 Requirements for being “Japanese”: Stories of returnees International Journal of Intercultural Relations 16, 383-393 Ladd, P D., & Ruby Jr., R 1999 Learning style and adjustment issues of international students Journal of Education for Business 74 (6), 363-367 McNamara, T 1997 Theorizing social identity TESOL Quarterly 31, 561-567 Martin, J N 1984 The intercultural re-entry: Conceptualization and directions for future research International Journal of Intercultural Relations 8, 115-134 Martin, J N 1986 Communication in the intercultural re-entry: Student sojourner’s perceptions of change in reentry relationships International Journal of Intercultural Relations 10, 1-22 Merriam, S B 1998 Qualitative Research and Case Study Application in Education: Revised and Expanded from Case Study Research in Education San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers Park, Y 2006 L1 reading and writing skill transfer to L2 literacy: A qualitative case study English Language and Linguistics 22, 219-236 216 Yunjoo Park Rohrlich, B F., Martin, J N 1991 Host country and reentry adjustment of student sojourners International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 15, 163-182 Sussman, N M 2000 The dynamic nature of cultural identity throughout cultural transitions: Why home is not so sweet Personality and Social Psychology Review 4, 355-373 Sussman, N M 2002 Testing the cultural identity model of the cultural transition cycle: sojourners return home International Journal of Intercultural Relations 26, 391-408 Ward, C & Kennedy, A 1994 Acculturation strategies, psychological adjustment, and sociocultural competence during cross-cultural transitions International Journal of Intercultural Relations 18, 329-343 Ward, C & Rana-Deuba, A 1999 Acculturation and adaptation revisited, Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology 30, 373-393 Ward, C & Rana-Deuba, A 2000 Home and host culture influence on sojourner adjustment International Journal of Intercultural Relations 24, 291-306 Yeh, C J & Inose, M 2003 International students’ reported English proficiency, social support satisfaction, and social connectedness as predictors of acculturative stress Counseling Psychology Quarterly 16 (1), 15-28 Yoshida, T., Matsumoto, D., Akiyama, T., Moriyoshi, N., Furuiye, A, Ishii, C., & Franklin, B 2002 The Japanese returnee experience: factors that affect reentry International Journal of Intercultural Relations 26, 429-445 Department of English Language and Literature Korea National Open University 169 Dongsung-dong, Jongno-gu Seoul, 110-791 Korea 010-7145-4569, yjpark1115@knou.ac.kr Received: April 30, 2008 Accepted: May 30, 2008 ... America When I lived there for five, four and a half years, and then I came back to Korea And I learned some Korean Linguistic and Social Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 213 Researcher: Have... wants to talk to me, she should speak Korean, since I sometimes cannot understand what she says, and I ask her, “Speak to me in Korean, in Korean! ” (JinHee, March 2004) Linguistic and Social Adjustment. .. Adjustment of a Korean Student Returnee 197 and social contexts Korean language speakers socialize in a mixed variety of languages in the US depending on their interlocutors and the situation, such as