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Teachers' attitudes towards Korean English in South Korea
Author(s) -
AHN HYEJEONG
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/weng.12081
Subject(s) - cognition , psychology , social psychology , english language , mathematics education , neuroscience
This study explores the attitudes of English teachers, both Korean and non‐Korean, towards ‘Korean English’ (KoE) in South Korea. Data about these attitudes were collected via 204 questionnaires and 25 post‐survey individual interviews, from two major regions, Busan Gyeongnam and Seoul Gyeonggi, and were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results indicate that the majority of participants displayed a positive attitude towards KoE, especially regarding to the ‘cognitive’ component of attitude, while they showed ‘confused’ and ‘conflicting’ attitudes in the behavioural element. The unique features of KoE, its intelligibility, demographic and widespread use of KoE were perceived by participants as the most influential factors shaping their cognitive attitudes towards the language. Language variation and an acceptance of a pluralistic model of English language norms played a critical role in developing positive attitudes towards KoE in both the cognitive and behavioural components of participants’ attitudes.