Sharing Music, Sharing English: Multilingual Practices and Linguistic Landscaping in a South Korean Bar

The UMBC Graduate Program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) announces a 

Master's Thesis Defense

Abstract: 

For decades, researchers have investigated the language learning potential in extramural English and online affinity spaces, finding that participation in out-of-class learning activities has a strong effect on language acquisition. In addition, recent research on the linguistic landscape of schools has shown that the physical environment affects both language learning and language use. Despite the breadth of this research, however, there has been little attention paid to the intersections of online and physical spaces, especially in EFL contexts like South Korea ("Korea").
Filling this gap, this thesis investigates the multilingual practices embedded in the linguistic landscape of a Korean affinity space. This study used an ethnographic case study approach to conduct a nexus analysis of two bar locations and their Instagram page, answering three research questions about the (1) languages, (2) relationship between the spaces and the bar owner, and (3) community at the bar.
Three themes emerged from the nexus analysis: (1) English is shared through RnB and hip-hop music, (2) customers' multilingual practices co-spatialize the bar, and (3) the use of English is associated with foreign (non-Korean) patrons.
This study points to the benefits and limitations of affinity spaces for language learning, especially in Korea and other EFL learning contexts.