Multilingualism in the Linguistic Landscape of Konkuk University Glocal Campus

Abstract

The globalization of higher education has reshaped language use and practice on campus. As increasing numbers of international students change the campus into a more multilingual space, a variety of multilingual signs posted on bulletin boards and streets on campus become commonplace. Against such a backdrop of sociolinguistic changes on the globalizing campus in higher education, this study explores the ways in which multiple languages are chosen and used in South Korean higher education. Drawing on the framework of linguistic landscape, the present project analyzes multilingual signs displayed in public spaces of Konkuk University Glocal Campus, a local university that has pursued internationalization policies over the past decade. For this purpose, 208 public signs were collected from thirteen locations and analyzed in terms of language, producers, and communicative functions. The analysis reveals that a typical multilingual sign is in English and Korean and is created by the university authorities for referential functions. The most multilingual spaces are the library, a building for international education, and the dormitory, as these locations display various languages and language combinations. English is the most dominant foreign language in multilingual signage. Chinese and Vietnamese signs have begun to be increasingly present at KU, but their communicative functions are relatively limited. Based on such findings, implications for the university’s language and internationalization policies are also discussed.