Park, Soyoon (2025) A critical narrative analysis of gendered L2 selves: Examining the experiences of British learners of Korean before, during and after study abroad. Doctoral thesis, York St John University.
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Text (Doctoral thesis)
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Abstract
This study provides a critical narrative analysis of gendered experiences of British learners of Korean along their Korean learning trajectories at university. It specifically examines their gendered L2 selves, which are intricately shaped by: their knowledge and perceptions of discursively constructed gender norms in Korea; dominant performances of masculinity and femininity in K-pop music, which the learners report as the initial attractor to the Korean language and culture; their lived experiences during study abroad in Korea; and finally, their gendered agency.
As the study abroad component in the learners’ undergraduate degree programme provides a critical time frame, this study interviewed the participants at three distinct points: before, during and after study abroad. By using semi-structured interviews across these three phases, the study collected narratives in which the participants’ nuanced gendered experiences related to their Korean learning are reflected.
To acknowledge the discursive nature of the participants’ gendered narratives, this study employs critical narrative analysis, an analytic framework that examines personal narratives within wider social contexts where power discourses are enacted, (re)produced and contested. Critical narrative analysis reveals how the participants construct their knowledge of gender across British and Korean contexts and continuously negotiate their gendered selves according to their cultural contexts while practising gendered agency to varying degrees.
In sum, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of how second language learning and socialisation intersect with socially constructed gender norms, and how such complexities are embedded in the development and performance of gendered L2 selves, which are constantly negotiated and re-fashioned as an integral part of learners’ identity work in their second language
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Subjects: | P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics P Language and Literature > PL Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania > PL901-949 Korean Language and literature |
| School/Department: | School of Education, Language and Psychology |
| URI: | https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/12350 |
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