language identity;language policy;English for Specific Purposes;internationalization on higher education;intercultural communicative competence;Interdisciplinary Education;Applied Linguistics;언어학;응용언어학
Lab Description
As an applied linguist and teacher, Dr. Kim works on pragmatics of foreign language in her research and teaching, social aspects of foreign language uses. Two major themes of her research include contextuality in L2 learning and the development of L2 intercultural communicative competence. Contextuality highlights learning and teaching contexts including foreign language policy and instructional technology. From a social-constructivist perspective, learning is a process of socialization that encompasses a learner’s participation in a certain task or activity and continuous adaptation to the unfolding circumstances and activities (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978; Wertsch, 1991). In view of this, an educational context with different flagship policies of internationalization creates a space in which local and international members co-construct the meaning of learning subjects and English language. My previous research projects have helped to build a shared understanding of the foreign language reforms of higher education between different stakeholders, including local and international members (Kim & Tatar, 2017, 2018; Kim, J., Kim, E. G., & Kweon, S-O., 2018; Kim, Kweon, & Kim, 2017; Kim, Tatar, & Choi, 2014). The other theme is intercultural communicative competence (ICC), greatly related to the internationalization of higher education (Kim, 2019; Kim, Choi, & Tatar, 2017). My ultimate goal of research here is to communicate to stakeholders the impact of cultural diversity on institutions and their management (Hermans, 2005). As a way to promote English proficiency in an internationalized campus, I have employed the concept of ‘intercultural sensitivity’ (Chen & Starosta, 1997) and examined local and international students’ levels of ICC in recent research (Kim, 2019; Kim, Choi, & Tatar, 2017).