Language and identity of a Korean transnational youth in the U.S.

Abstract

Abstract The importance of multilingual use for the overall personal and educational development of transnational population is well documented, and many scholars have supported that language relates to identity. Given that adolescence is a critical period of identity construction, it is crucial to understand how transnational youth construct their transnational identity in adolescence, bordering across multiple languages and cultures in their everyday lives. Therefore, the current study examines the language and identity of one Korean transnational adolescent who lives with her family in the U.S. The purpose of this study is to explore how one Korean-American transnational adolescent youth navigates her identities utilizing her diverse linguistic and cultural repertoires in a range of contextual spaces. This qualitative case study collected semi-structured interview data to explore the following research questions: 1) How does a second generation Korean American transnational adolescent self-identify? and 2) How is her identity interconnected with her linguistic and cultural investment? This current study found that the participant has sites of specific identities as Korean or American: three distinct contexts of family, school, and community. In addition, the findings showed that the participant’s identity is related to her linguistic and cultural investment in transnational contexts.