Article

English for What and for Whom?: Parental Dilemmas and Struggles with Their Children’s English Learning in Korea

Author

Lena Lee

Information

pp. 49~70 / 2016 Vol.10 No.3

Abstract

This paper explores how ideas related to children’s learning are conceptualized and practiced byexamining Korean parental perspectives. Many Korean parents’ high expectations for their children ineducation are based on a unique combination of Korean parenting and Korean social values. As aresult, this paper reports on discussions of what Korean parents' think about their children’s Englishproficiency and preparation for global society. It also investigates their perspectives of youngchildren’s English learning in such Korean contexts as their parental struggles and expectations inrelation to different socio-economic statuses, regions, and children’s gender. This endeavor attemptsto fully understand how young children’s education-in this case, English learning-is situated withinthe complex dialectic of Korean society in which the parents’ perspectives about social values andfamilial expectations are intertwined.

Keywords