Dr Mi Yung Park

Biography

Dr Mi Yung Park is a Senior Lecturer in Korean at the University of Auckland. She received her MA in Second Language Studies and PhD in Korean Linguistics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2014. She has taught Korean at the University of Auckland since 2014 and spearheaded an overseas partnership with Korea University that has become integrated into the Korean programme as a study abroad option. Before joining the University of Auckland, she has taught all levels of Korean language courses from beginning to advanced at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her current research focuses on sociolinguistics, heritage language maintenance, and language and identity. Her work has appeared in such journals as International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Language and Education, International Multilingual Research Journal, Language and Intercultural Communication, Language Awareness, Classroom Discourse, and Journal of Pragmatics. 

Research | Current

My research has focused on language learning and identity construction among diverse Korean language learners in and outside the classroom. I use qualitative research methods combined with ethnographic and discourse analytic approaches in order to shed light on the relationship between language use and identity in the context of migration. I am currently working on two research projects: (1) heritage language use and development among Korean New Zealanders and (2) linguistic adaptation and identity construction among North Korean refugees in South Korea.

Current and previous projects: 

• Language use, language maintenance, and ethnic identity among Korean heritage speakers in the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii) (2021-)

Funded by the Academy of Korean Studies, this collaborative project (with Principal Investigator, Dr Min Jung Jee, University of Queensland, and co-investigator Dr Sang Yee Cheon, University of Hawaii) explores how Korean heritage speakers’ demographic and linguistic backgrounds affect their language use and in what ways their language use is related to their ethnic identity. It also examines the similarities and differences in terms of heritage language (HL) maintenance and identity construction among Korean HL speakers across the three places.

• Language practices, investment, and identity among 1.5-generation Korean New Zealanders (2019-)

This project explores 1.5-generation Korean migrants' heritage language (HL) use in different linguistic domains and their attitudes toward bilingualism and HL maintenance. It also examines how they construct their identities as reflected in their language attitudes and choices.

• Linguistic adaptation and identity re-construction among North Korean refugees in South Korea (2019-)

This study looks at how North Koreans adjust to the new linguistic environment, construct their identities, and build a sense of belonging in the host society.   ​

• Language use and identity construction among mixed-heritage children in South Korea (2017-2018)

Funded by the Academy of Korean Studies, this project explores whether and to what extent multi-ethnic children of Southeast Asian marriage-migrant mothers in rural Korea maintain and develop their heritage language.

• Language ideologies and practices among rural marriage-migrants in South Korea (2016-2017)

This research focuses on how marriage-migrant women construct their language ideologies and develop stances toward their local dialect and the standard dialect, as they interact with speakers of standard Korean.

Keynote presentations: 

• Heritage language use in the workplace. Postgraduate Research Event on Approaches to Multilingualism, 9 November 2020, University of Sheffield.
• Heritage language use and identity: A study of 1.5-generation Korean New Zealanders. The 22nd International Conference on Korean Language Education, 31 October 2020, Seoul National University.
• Heritage language maintenance and identity. The 14th Annual New Zealand Association of Korean Schools Conference. July 16 2020, Wellington Travelodge. 

Recent publications:

Park, M. Y. (2021). Language ideologies, heritage language use, and identity construction among 1.5-generation Korean immigrants in New Zealand. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.  https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2021.1913988 

Park, M. Y. (2021). Heritage language use in the workplace: 1.5-generation Korean immigrants in New Zealand. International Multilingual Research Journal.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2021.1904347

Park, M. Y. (2021). “I don’t want to be distinguished by others”: Language ideologies and identity construction among North Korean refugees in South Korea. Language Awareness.   https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09658416.2020.1867563 

Teaching | Current

KOREAN 111 Korean for Beginners 2 

KOREAN 201 Intermediate Korean 2

KOREAN 300 Advanced Korean 1

Postgraduate supervision

I am happy to discuss topics of supervision in language and identity, heritage language maintenance, and Korean language pedagogy. 

Current doctoral students

Naning Wahyuni (2018 - ): Investigating the development of children’s interest in English language learning through free-reading time (with Associate Professor Tan Bee Tin)

Kethakie Nagahawatte (2019 - ): English, self-fashioning, and identity: A critical narrative inquiry of the role of English in the lives of social science and humanities graduates in Sri Lanka (with Professor Gary Barkhuizen)

Ja Yung Kim (2020 - ): Capturing the language revitalization movement in Okinawa (with Professor Mark Mullins)

Distinctions/Honours

Academy of Korean Studies Research Grant 2021-2022 ($20,000): Language Use, Language Maintenance, and Ethnic Identity among Korean Heritage Speakers in the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii)

(with Dr Min Jung Jee, PI, University of Queensland, and Dr Sang Yee Cheon, University of Hawaii at Manoa)

Faculty Development Research Fund 2021-2022 ($14,000): Family language policies and language use among Korean migrant families in New Zealand

Academy of Korean Studies Research Grant 2017-2018 ($9,000): Language Use and Identity Construction of Mixed-Heritage Children in South Korea

Faculty Development Research Fund 2014-2016 ($24,000): Exploring Language Learning and Identity in the Context of Migration

Responsibilities

CLL Research Committee

Study Abroad Advisor in Korean  

360 Exchange Advisor in Korean

Areas of expertise

• Teaching Korean as a second/foreign Language
• Language and identity
• Language maintenance and shift
• Multilingualism and mobility

Committees/Professional groups/Services

• Organizing Committee, Sociolinguistics Symposium 22  https://www.ss22.ac.nz
• Manuscript reviewer for: Journal of Identity, Language & Education,  Language and Intercultural Communication,  Current Issues in Language Planning,  Journal of Pragmatics,  Classroom Discourse,  System,  Applied Linguistics Review,  Heritage Language Journal,  Korean Linguistics,  The Korean Language in America,  The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea,  Critical Studies in Education, and Critical Asian Studies