presentation at the 2012 KOTESOL Daejeon-Chungcheong Annual Autumn Symposium at Woosong University, Daejeon, S. Korea November 24.

1. Perceptions while working
with Koreans’ English
(It’s not just Konglish)
Robert J. Dickey
KOTESOL Daejeon-Chungcheong
Annual Autumn Symposium
November 24, 2012
Woosong University, Daejeon

2. Roadmap
1. Introduction
2. The Literature
3. Survey of Teachers
4. Analysis
5. Conclusions & the future
2

3. Role(s) of English in Korea
 Course of study
 Preparation for overseas travel or study
• Does destination matter?
 Interaction with non-Koreans
 Work-related
• international materials
• business partners
 Entertainment
3

4. Teachers’ Perceptions
 Qualifications and Background
• Time in Korea / Asia / Abroad
• Time in Teaching (EFL, Asia)
• Educational Background
 Teaching Approaches
• GTM/Audio-Lingual (avoid errors)
• Communicative (risk-taking)
• World Englishes
4

5. Learners’ Perceptions
 Age
 Experience with English
• Formal education
• Informal learning / use
 Self-monitoring
• Error vs. Mistake
 Parent/Employer/Other influence?
5

6. Defining Konglish
 Literature doesn’t agree
 Teachers don’t agree
 Koreans don’t agree
How do we deal with it
if we don’t know what it is?
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7. “Growing a Language?”
 Suppose
• Languages are born, evolve, decay, die
• Vulgarization is natural (Latin, etc.)
 Stages might be
• Contact/Pidgin
• Creole (disputed)
• “ish”
• “ian”
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8. Users’ & Teachers’ Perceptions
 When does the local variety become
valid for various purposes?
• Local business & entertainment
• Local media
• Communication with outsiders while
“here”
• International communication
 When are there “native speakers” of a
localized variety? 8

9. Literature
 From scholarly research to books to
blogs, snippets/photos from local
media, teachers wordlist handouts…
 Written in both English and Korean
 Distinction 1:
• Historical (linguistic source) or
• Current (Usage)
 Distinction 2:
• Is it Korean or English? 9

10. The Literature - General
10

11. Literature Summary
 L1 Interference / Fossilization
 Pidgins & Creoles (contact languages)
 World Englishes
 English as a Lingua Franca
 Common-core (simplified) English
• Pronunciation
• Vocabulary
• Structures 11

12. Local Variety?
 “Only Singlish…”
 Singaporean English?
 Australian English.
12

13. 13

14. The Literature - Konglish
Kim, J. (2010). Konglish as a second language? [New Perspective]. The Korea Herald, April 9.
Miller, J. (2003). A Word by Any Other Meaning: Konglish. MED Magazine 5.
Park, J-K. (2002). Teaching World Englishes and teacher development. KATE Newsletter 26(2).
Doms, D. (2004). English and Korean speakers' categorization of spatial actions: A test of the Whorf hypothesis.
(Unpublished Masters' Dissertation.)
Kent, D.B. (1999). Speaking in tongues: Chinglish, Japlish and Konglish. KOTESOL Proceedings PAC2, 1999.
Kent, D.B. (2001). Teaching Konglish: Selected resources for students and teachers. KOTESOL Proceedings 2001.
Kent, D.B. (n.d.). "KONGLISH": A Strange Linguistic Practice of Koreans ["The Kent Konglish Dictionary"].
Everest, T. (2002). Konglish: Wronglish? The English Connection 6(5).
Shaffer, D. (2010). English-to-Korean borrowing: Focusing on meaning. The English Connection 14(3).
Nam, J.Y. and Southard, B. (1994). Orthographic representation and resyllabification of English loan words in Korea.
Language and Speech, 37(3).
Kang, Y., Kenstowicz, M., and Ito, C. (2008). Hybrid loans: A study of English loanwords transmitted to Korean via
Japanese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 17.
Lee, J.S. (2006). Linguistic constructions of modernity: English mixing in Korean television commercials. Language in
Society 35(1).
Shim, R. J. (1999). Linguistic constructions of modernity: English mixing in Korean television commercials. World
Englishes 18(2).
Kim, H. (2009). Linguistic motivation in formation and translation of compound nouns. Discourse and Cognition 16(1).
Min H-S. (2001). A study on the semantics of signboard language in Korea. Korean Semantics 9.
Kim, S-H. (2001). An error analysis of college students' writing: Is that really Konglish? Studies in Modern Grammar 25.
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15. Literature Classifications
 Anglicisms (loanwords in Korean)
 L1 Interference or Fossilization
• Pronunciation
• Grammar
• Vocabulary
►Hybrid terms (binil-bongtu, long-dari)
►Truncated (remocon, aparteu)
►Corruptions, Pseudo-loanwords &
Fabrications (fighting, manicure, gagman) 15

16. “Korean” Language
 Three accepted avenues for inclusion
in “Korean” language
• “Pure”(indigenous) Korean ( 순한국어 )
• Sino-Korean ( 한자어 )
• Adopted Loanwords ( 외래어 )
►Treated as “proper” Korean
 How defined?
16

17. “Korean” Language (2)
 “Pure” Korean developments
►Pre-Hangul (does this matter?)
►Hermit Kingdom era (pre-1870)
►1870-1945 (pre-American influence, words
from Korean linguistic roots)
►1945-current (“modern” words from Korean
linguistic roots)
17

18. “Korean” Language (3)
 Treated as Korean:
• Sino-Korean ( 한자어 )
►Korean words derived from Chinese
►Words created in Korea from Chinese
Characters
►Words created in Japanese from Chinese
Characters and adopted in Korea
►Japanese words with created “Chinese”
Characters and adopted in Korea
18

19. “Korean” Language (4)
 Treated as Korean:
• 외래어 ( 단어 ) Foreign linguistic input,
accepted as new Korean
►Foreign origins unknown to some users
►Many are generally understood by society as
“English” (though some words were not)
►Written more frequently in Korean script
►Widely used to replace Korean lexical items
or to fill-in Korean lexical gaps, e.g., “bus”
19

20. Korean Language (5)
 Not Korean
Words recognized as “foreign”
►Not in dictionary?
►Korea has a government-recognized
language authority
►May be written in either (or both) Korean and
English scripts
►More or less common, depending on age
groups, social level, education, etc.
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21. English in Korea (1)
1880-1940: Missionary English - principally
North American English
1920-1980: Japanized English - principally
British English, Japanese pronunciation
and narrowed definitions, includes words
from other languages treated as English
1945-1990: US Army English - influenced by
American Black Vernacular and (US)
southern dialects plus military terminology
21

22. English in Korea (2)
1960-current: classic British/American
Literature
1960-current: contemporary USA music,
radio, movies & TV
1966-1981: US Peace Corps “Educated
American English”
1990-current: Expatriate Teachers
(US,CAN,UK,AUS)
2000-current: Outer Circle Englishes
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23. Historical Summary
 A significant amount of so-called
“Konglish” has been adopted as valid
Korean language (loanwords)
 Some amount of “Konglish” is high-use
in Korea although not recognized as
valid Korean
 Several recognized varieties of English
are circulating in Korea
23

24. Survey of Teachers
 62 respondents, 56 responses used
 Demographic mix:
• Teaching experience
• Asian experience
• Higher education
 Diverse responses to
• “How would you define “Konglish”
• Please provide examples
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25. Respondents’ Qualifications
 26 Respondents had M.Ed.English,
MATESOL/related, or M. AppLing
 19 Respondents had a Master’s in another
field (2 included above)
 3 Doctorate English, 3 in other field (3)
 28 Certificates (less than 150 hours)
 17 Diplomas (more than 150 hours)
 24 Licenses/Diplomas to teach
 4 no teaching qualification (2 with Master’s) 25

26. Teacher Responses (1)
 Definitions coded into 20 Fields
 Fields generated from responses and
the literature
• 5 fields for “use in Korean language”
• 15 fields for “use in English language”
►1 field (Decoration) no responses
►10 fields only one response
 Many could be merged into “themes”
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27. Coding Fields
Into Korean Into English
Korean w/English inserted K think is English but...
Loanwords into Korean Similar but not always
Direct Transcription of corresponding to
English to Korean: US/UK English
Hangulization (or English Specific to
speaking as writing) Korea
Created English-like Structural borrowing
words for Korean from Korean
Adopted Words 외래어 K thinking in English
language
27

28. Coding Fields (2)
Into English Into English
Interlanguage (fossilized English words w/
error) adjusted meanings
Korean Pronunciation of narrowed meanings
English broadened meanings
K In-group formations of Non-standard to Non-
English Asians
Code-mix / -share even Aberration (Non-
within a created word standard)
Adapted Words Inappropriate
Created Words Creative 28

29. Coding Fields (3)
Into English
Ideological Use
K Culture influenced English
Decorative
29

30. Teacher Responses (2)
 Examples coded into 5 “themes”
• Used in Korean
• Structure from Korean or code-mixing
• Adaptation of Vocabulary use or meaning
• Pronunciation issue
• Error
 Definitions considered where examples
were unclear
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31. Teacher Responses (3)
Theme Responses % (56)
Used in Korean: 17 30.4% *
Structure from Korean or
code-mixing: 10 17.9%
Adaptation of Vocabulary
use or meaning: 34 60.7%
Pronunciation issue: 10
17.9%
Error: 5 8.9% 31

32. Teacher Responses (4)
 10 / 17 “In Korean” Theme did not indicate
any of the “English” issues.
• Only 3 of those 10 had a higher degree in
TESOL/English/English Education
 14 Definitions indicated Konglish “specific to
Koreans”
 8/ 13 “Aberrant” Definitions hold higher
degree in TESOL/English/English Educ
 5 Definitions indicated Created words
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33. Discussion
 Learners enter the classroom with
these words, structures, & sounds
 Resource to be developed, as Kent
and Shaffer and others argue
 Distinctions to be noted in terms of use
outside intra-Korean usage
 Correction as needed for International
Communication
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34. Analysis
 Differences in source of Konglish
impact manner of correction
 Differentiated terminology perhaps
necessary?
• Engrish or Engrean for Anglicisms
 Appreciation of Creativity
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35. The Future
 Bilingual future for Korea?
 Functional multilingualism?
 Heightened general proficiency?
 Only for a few?
 Test-based?
 Role for (imported) native-speakers of
English teachers?
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36. Rob Dickey
Keimyung University
Email: rjdickey@content-english.org
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