Korean English Teachers’ Conflicts and Struggles Over Local, Global, and ‘Legitimate’ Englishes in School

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Korean English teachers’ conflicts and struggles over the legitimacy of their own English versus other varieties of English. It discusses in particular how the existence of English study abroad returnees in the classroom escalates this struggle, bringing to the surface teachers’ conflicts about being Korean English speakers, and how they contest and at the same time pass on the language ideologies prevalent in Korean society. Teachers’ discourse, as evident in the interview data, shows their conflicting attitudes toward returnees’ English. Teachers’ discourse also reveals their divergent attitudes toward returnees’ different varieties of English acquired from different regions, illuminating how they apply the same language ideology that they are contesting in their effort to secure their positions as Korean English teachers and speakers.