Emerging identities of adult language learners in their socialization in ESL programs

With the spread of English as a global language, an increasing number of Korean international students are coming to the U.S. to learn English. Those who have different life experiences in Korea in terms of age, job, and motivation for learning English socialize themselves to American educational institutions in various ways. This paper examines how Korean adult English learners who came from various backgrounds socialize themselves from their English learning experience in American ESL programs, and how they construct new identities in their language learning socialization process to obtain social memberships.