earticle

영어

This paper suggests that there exist three types of bilingualism in Korea: Korean Plus, Plus Korean, and Korean Equal. The Korean Equal bilingual group are the children of immigrants into Korea. They are born in Korea and exposed to two languages from birth: Korean (L1) and their immigrant parent's native language (L2). I suggest that they are bilingual per se, who can have a native-like control of the two languages. Unfortunately, however, their L2 proficiency level is rather low. This is due to the fact that they have no ample opportunities to function in L2. Accordingly, this paper argues that their bilingual ability be fostered by letting their immigrant parents provide more L2 input to them. This can be done and will be more effective if their parents feel proud of their native language and culture. Most importantly, there should be followed appropriate language policies that foster Korean Equal bilingualism.