‘Gangnam style’ English ideologies: Neoliberalism, class and the parents of early study-abroad students

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 prominently in the Gangnam parents’ discourses. They believed that English was a requisite for being in the Gangnam inner-circle, and that their children’s native-like English reflected their own high socio-economic status. They also perceived English to be a capitalistic instrument through which they could hand over their own socio-economic class to their children. English was perceived to help the children get high-paying jobs that would then enable them to live in Gangnam like their parents. This study is expected to unpack the neoliberal English ideologies, especially in relation to class, and give us an opportunity to rethink them from a more critical perspective.