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

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.