Despite the increasing number of the North
Korean refugees in South Korea every year, there have
been few studies of the language-support programs for their
resettlement. This study uses a micro-language planning
perspective to examine how the resettled North Korean
refugee students respond to the government-level language-
support programs by focusing on their linguistic
challenges. In the first phase of the study, 27 North Korean
refugee students wrote language autobiographies, and in
the second phase of the study, 10 of these students took part
in individual interviews. The collected data were analyzed
using content analysis. The findings showed that the most
serious challenges for students were differences in pronunciation,
loanwords from English, and Sino-Korean
words, even though these subjects are taught in the
mandatory language-support program. The students also
mentioned that the education they received in the areas of
loanwords from English and Sino-Korean words was
impractical and insufficient. Furthermore, the low participation
rate in the continuing language-support program
showed that there was a discontinuity between the
mandatory language-support program and the continuing
one. The discrepancy between the macrolevel language
policy and microlevel needs of the refugees emphasizes the
need to listen to the authentic voices of these disempowered
migrants and to develop a more customized and efficient
language-support program for them.

EB00000002670K

Available

• Micro Language Planning for Refugee Resettlement Language Support Programs: The Case of North Korean Refugees in South Korea