Despite the unique status of English as a super-power among foreign languages in Korea, and researchers' increasing interest in Korean parents' zeal for achieving their children's early bilingualism and willingness to invest heavily in private English education outside of school, insufficient attention has been paid to the role of parental…

This study examines how a high-pressure family language policy (FLP) is implemented in South Korea, focusing on the experiences of a family with a preschool-aged child, Jay. The phenomenon of "English fever," which has led to the widespread adoption of intensive early childhood English education, has contributed to the increasing…

This qualitative research is intended to reveal the stories of South Korean mothers' own experiences of education fever in relation to their children's education. Research questions include the following: (1) What do South Korean mothers experience in relation to their children's education? (2) What constitutes the practices embodying the South…

This article focuses on a major reform goal to advance a student-centric education in South Korea and the associated issues and challenges. This research study draws upon Wittgenstein's concept of world-picture that brings to the fore the cultural influences on policy enactment. Interview data with teachers and students in Korea revealed two main…

This paper examines how entrepreneurial visions of the future contribute to neoliberalism's appropriation of language learning as a strategy for capital accumulation. Taking as an example South Korea's heavy investment in children's English language learning -- commonly known as early English education ("yeongeo jogi gyoyuk") -- it…

Empirical studies focused on cultural capital only emerged since the 2000s in South Korea. This article is the first to conduct a systematic review aiming to shed light on how the theory of cultural capital has been applied in South Korea. Our main goal is to understand: how the cultural capital-students' achievement association in South Korea…

Development of academic hatred was examined at four time points across 7 months among 1,015 South Korean high school students. A multilevel growth model showed that the baseline of, and change in, academic hatred varied across individuals and classrooms. At the individual level, gender, parents' academic pressure, depression, and test anxiety were…

This article analyses and compares the motivations and (re)actions of the education authorities and parents in South Korea and mainland China towards schooling reform. The focus is on two policy initiatives -- Free Semester Programme in South Korea and Comprehensive Practical Activity Curriculum in China. Applying the theoretical constructs of…

Korean parents set high academic expectations for their children. Utilising Takeuchi's and Clark's theoretical framework and Q methodology, this study explores Korean parents' "education fever" as aspiration for their children's schooling, and how socio-economic status influences this phenomenon. Thirty-six parents in Busan, South Korea,…

Math proficiency is a strong predictor of postsecondary attainment, yet cross-national comparative assessments show that U.S. students consistently score below many of their peers, especially those in East Asia. Similar math achievement disparities exist across ethnic/racial groups within the U.S., where Asian American students routinely…

Given a heavy social, ideological pressure for parents to pursue better English education for their children in the globalized world, short-term English immersion camp programs have emerged as an educational option in South Korea, promoted as environments for intercultural communication between native English-speaking teachers and local Korean…

This study examines the English ideologies of Korean early study-abroad students' parents in Gangnam, one of the most affluent areas in South Korea. The data collected were drawn from in-depth individual interviews with 23 parents, and subjected to critical discourse analysis. The findings showed that the issue of class was foregrounded…

This study uses self-determination theory to explore the mechanisms of filial piety in the academic motivation of eight high-achieving secondary school seniors at an international school in South Korea, resulting in several findings. First, the students attributed their parents' values and expectations as a major source of the students'…

The purpose of the study is to examine Korean parents' attitudes, motivations, and home literacy practices toward their children's participation in bilingualism in Korean and English in Korea. The success of foreign language learning is influenced by positive attitudes and the level of motivation regarding the target language. Language learners'…

The purposes of the present study were to investigate (a) how the subjectively perceived achievement goals of significant others would predict the academic self-efficacy and achievement goals of Korean adolescents and (b) how those self-efficacy and achievement goals in turn predicted their achievement. We also compared these predictive…