A Sociolinguistic and Social Psychological Study of Korean Communities in New Zealand: Language Maintenance and Second Language Learning

Abstract

Korean migrants have only arrived in large numbers in New Zealand very recently. New Zealand Censuses show an increase from 930 (South) Koreans in 1991 to 12,753 in 1996. This thesis focuses on the Korean community in New Zealand and its distinctive sociolinguistic characteristics and processes of adaptation. Specifically, this thesis investigates the Korean community in terms of language maintenance and shift and second language learning from sociolinguistic and social psychological perspectives. A total of 221 primary school children and their parents plus secondary and tertiary students were surveyed using three versions of a wide-ranging sociolinguistic questionnaire. In addition, 144 of these respondents were interviewed with an interview schedule. The survey, conducted in the three largest cities of Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington, substantially covers Korean communities in New Zealand, as these three cities contain 88% of the total Korean population. The results identified that Korean students generally maintained Korean quite well except for some young primary school children and even a few secondary and tertiary students who had lived in New Zealand for a long time. Patterns of language choice showed a greater shift to English than patterns of language proficiency. However, the general trend of language maintenance in the Korean community was far stronger than other recent migrant groups. Even with these hints of language shift found with some students to different extents and in different domains, the Korean community still had good reasons to be optimistic about the future of their language, identity, and cultural maintenance. This was reflected in their positive attitudes towards language and identity maintenance and their dynamic ethnolinguistic vitality. The learning of English as a crucial factor in their social adaptation processes in New Zealand was found to be generally satisfactory with some variations. Most respondents aspired to be better at English with short-term integrative motivation and long-term instrumental motivation. Both Korean maintenance and English learning were closely associated with their rather uncertain future in New Zealand because of the lack of perceived opportunities to get desirable employment. Some respondents related Korean maintenance and English learning to possible return to Korea or migration to third countries. From these findings a group of factors affecting language maintenance and shift and second language learning in the Korean community in New Zealand are suggested in terms of the following categories: 'migration and international network', 'ethnolinguistic vitality and social network', and 'the Internet and technology'. In addition, a few implications are suggested for the Korean community and the New Zealand government. And finally some possible contributions of this thesis to the development of sociolinguistic research and studies of migrant communities are put forward.