Introduction

The above message, sent to an Irish woman applying to teach English in South Korea in 2014 and shared widely in the media (Fox News, November 10, 2014; McCauley, Reference McCauley2014; Taylor, Reference Taylor2014) demonstrates that issues of nationality can shape the hiring of ‘foreign’ English teachers in East Asia. To better understand these issues, this study examines Irish English-language teachers’ experiences and understandings of seeking employment in Korea through interviews with six Irish English-language teachers who taught in Korea. Only one teacher explicitly stated he was discriminated against on the basis of being Irish, with three others discussing discrimination in ways which avoided explicitly taking a position regarding discrimination against Irish English-language teachers. Two participants explicitly stated they never experienced discrimination on the basis of being Irish, but surprisingly also discussed experiences in which their employment opportunities were limited due to being Irish. Additionally, certain aspects of Irish English and the desire in Korea for American English and American curriculum were identified as potential limitations on Irish English-language teachers’ employment opportunities in Korea.

English language teaching in Korea

For decades, thousands of foreign English teachers have been employed in Korea for the purposes of English language teaching (Jeon & Lee, Reference Jeon and Lee2006), with Irish English-language teachers constituting a small minority of these teachers. Table 1 (Ministry of Justice, Korean Immigration Service, 2022) lists the number of E-2 language teaching visas issued to citizens of those countries permitted to teach English in Korea, showing the limited number of Irish English-language teachers employed in Korea.

Table 1. Number of E-2 language teacher visa holders by nationality as of June 30, 2022

The foundation of the recruitment and employment of these teachers is the ‘native speaker fallacy’ (Phillipson, Reference Phillipson1992: 185) or an ideology of ‘native-speakerism’ (Holliday, Reference Holliday2006), which posits that native English speaker teachers are a superior means of accessing English and ‘western’ culture, and a source of superior teaching methods. For decades, this ideology has been extensively critiqued in a variety of ways: there is little evidence native-English speaker teachers are better than non-native English speaker teachers (Canagarajah, Reference Canagarajah and Braine1999; Levis et al., Reference Levis, Sonsaat, Link and Barriuso2016); students may not desire to model their English on a native-speaker, (Choi, Reference Choi2016), and one cannot be a native speaker of an imagined or idealized ‘standard English’, but only a speaker of one particular variety of English, which may or may not be viewed as a ‘native variety’ (Moussu & Llurda, Reference Moussu and Llurda2008: 317); with significant additional criticisms made by others (Cook, Reference Cook1999; Davies, Reference Davies2003; Kramsch, Reference Kramsch1997; Paikeday, Reference Paikeday1985). Additionally, native-speakerism also links authority over English with whiteness (Jenks & Lee, Reference Jenks and Lee2020; Lan, Reference Lan2022; Ruecker & Ives, Reference Ruecker and Ives2015) through an idealized image of a white native-English speaker teacher. The racialized construction of the idealized native English speaker is reinforced through both advertising towards students and the recruitment of teachers (Ruecker & Ives, Reference Ruecker and Ives2015) as well as teaching practices (Charles, Reference Charles2019; Choe & Seo, Reference Choe and Seo2021; Gerald, Reference Gerald2020), with the connection between whiteness and English further marginalizing racialized English-language teachers. In response to the continuing prevalence of native-speakerism, the non-native English speaker teacher movement has worked towards fostering equality in English language teaching and addressing the negative impact of native-speakerism (Kamhi–Stein, Reference Kamhi–Stein2016); however, within Korea native-speakerism continues to shape English language teaching to a tremendous degree (Jenks, Reference Jenks2017; Jenks & Lee, Reference Jenks and Lee2020). Within this study we adopt the perspective that native speaker status is something achieved, produced, or recognized within particular contexts (Aneja, Reference Aneja2016a, Reference Aneja2016b; Piller, Reference Piller2002) and is often related to one's race and citizenship (Curran, Reference Curran2020; Panaligan, & Curran, Reference Panaligan and Curran2022), rather than an objective scientific status.

There now exists substantial scholarly work examining Irish English (Barron & Schneider, Reference Barron and Schneider2011; Filppula, Reference Filppula2002; Hickey, Reference Hickey2007; O'Keeffe & Amador Moreno, Reference O'Keeffe and Amador Moreno2009; Vaughan & Clancy, Reference Vaughan and Clancy2011) including scholarship on attitudes regarding Irish English (Diskin, & Regan, Reference Diskin and Regan2017; Margić, & Širola, Reference Margić and Širola2014). Hickey (Reference Hickey2007: 22) argues that ‘many Irish have an ambivalent attitude to English’ given that Irish rather than English is seen as the carrier of national culture and that Irish English can be seen as a lesser form of English even within Ireland. It is possible these attitudes shape the understandings of some Irish English-language teachers in Korea, even if other research shows that Irish English speakers view Irish English as attractive (Coupland & Bishop, Reference Coupland and Bishop2007: 80; Diskin & Regan, Reference Diskin and Regan2017: 192). A limited amount of research has examined English language learners’ attitudes towards Irish English or Irish speakers of English (Ahn & Kang, Reference Ahn and Kang2017; Diskin & Regan, Reference Diskin and Regan2017; Margić & Širola, Reference Margić and Širola2014), with some finding learners have negative attitudes towards Irish English (Ahn & Kang, Reference Ahn and Kang2017; Choe & Lee, Reference Choe and Lee2023; Diskin & Regan, Reference Diskin and Regan2017: 200) and others more positive attitudes (Margić & Širola, Reference Margić and Širola2014: 51), with Choe and Lee (Reference Choe and Lee2023) finding learners in Korea generally view American and Canadian speakers of English most positively. Within this study, we posit that whichever particular variety of English is spoken by an English language teacher is irrelevant to the overall quality and capability of that teacher, and that all teachers, regardless of language background, must adapt their teaching and communication practices to local contexts. Ultimately, ‘while we cannot conclude that there is a thriving cohort of learners of Irish English, there are a lot of English language teachers who are Irish around the world and there are a lot of learners who come to Ireland to learn English’ (O'Keeffe, Reference O'Keeffe2011: 63), highlighting the value of examining Irish English-teachers’ employment experiences.

Methodology

We conducted individual interviews with five Irish teachers, and drew upon interviews done with one additional Irish English-language teacher, the teacher known as CS, which were completed as part of a previous study done by one author (Chesnut, Reference Chesnut2016). All teachers have been given two-letter pseudonyms to protect their confidentiality. All the teachers discussed within this paper were recruited via the authors’ friends and acquaintances, with care was taken to recruit teachers from different social groups (see Table 2 for additional details regarding participants).

Table 2. Participants

Each participant was interviewed once in order to understand their perspective on seeking employment as an Irish English-language teacher, with the exception of CS who participated in three interviews as she was involved in an earlier larger study (Chesnut, Reference Chesnut2016). We adopted the ethnographic interviewing practices of Spradley (Reference Spradley1979: 58), understanding our interviews ‘as a series of friendly conversations into which the researcher slowly introduces new elements to assist informants to respond as informants’ which have the explicit purpose of better understanding participants’ perspectives. Interview elements included expressing ignorance regarding issues related to employment as an English teacher in Korea in order to elicit participants’ understandings of this phenomenon (Spradley, Reference Spradley1979: 61); the use of grand tour questions related to finding employment as an English teacher in Korea; asking mini-tour questions, meaning ‘a descriptive question that asks the informant to describe some smaller unit of an event or activity’ (Spradley, Reference Spradley1979: 63) usually based upon something a participant said; asking structural questions about how the process of seeking employment works for some teachers (Spradley, Reference Spradley1979: 60); asking contrast questions regarding differences among foreign English teachers or teaching positions (Spradley, Reference Spradley1979: 60); and asking questions about the language participants would use to discuss seeking employment (Spradley, Reference Spradley1979: 65).

These interviews were transcribed, read carefully to determine what issues were discussed, and then coded for their content and emergent themes. Analysis was done through this process of coding and contextualizing data (LeCompte, Reference LeCompte2000) and the writing of analytic memos (Atkinson & Hammersley, Reference Atkinson and Hammersley2007: 150), with the process of writing itself proving to be an effective means of examining this data (Richards, Reference Richards, Denzin and Lincoln2000).

Within this paper we draw upon the concept of figured worlds (Holland et al., Reference Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner and Cain2001) to analyze how these teachers shape understandings of themselves and the world. Figured worlds are the collectively shared and interconnected stories, constructed through characters and artifacts, such as an ideal teacher or a perfect curriculum, that help construct meanings and orientations to one's life. Additionally, we draw upon Appleby's (Reference Appleby2013) work on how being a native English speaker teacher is embodied, not achieved, and therefore aspects of success and privilege derived from this status are regarded with less value or concern than aspects of oneself that are achieved through effort.

Understandings of discrimination against Irish teachers in Korea

Overall, participants did not extensively discuss the topic of discrimination against Irish English-language teachers when asked. NA explicitly stated discrimination towards Irish English-language teachers exists in Korea, ‘on the job description it says North American only. There is discrimination towards Irish teachers being hired’. He also discussed how he believes Korean employers value accent and nationality over experience and qualifications, and wondered whether the stereotype of Irish people as excessive consumers of alcohol could have limited his employment opportunities in Korea. To a greater degree than any other participant, NA stated Irish teachers face discrimination in Korea, even while other teachers related similar understandings. TH spoke briefly about one experience in which he felt being Irish was significant.

TH also discussed how his initial attempt to find employment as an English teacher in Korea through a recruiter was difficult and shared what his recruiter conveyed about seeking employment in Korea.

In these statements TH shared his understanding that he is disadvantaged due to being Irish in a manner he found objectionable, but notably TH would not explicitly state this is a form of discrimination.

TH felt he was being pressured to accept a less desirable employment offer because he is Irish and understood a hierarchy exists among foreign English teachers in Korea in terms of employment that marginalizes Irish English-language teachers (see Choe & Lee, Reference Choe and Lee2023). However, he avoided directly referring to this as a bias or discrimination against Irish English-language teachers, unlike NA.

KL reported that he was never asked about being Irish in job interviews and seemed reluctant to discuss the issue of discrimination against Irish teachers in Korea, but did respond when asked whether a school would prefer hiring an Irish or North American teacher, saying, ‘I would say based on the standard of English that's used which is North American or American English. I would say they would probably prefer to hire a US citizen or a North American’, and would further discuss that textbooks and materials are American. CS would likewise discuss issues of preferences regarding English varieties and accents, but did not discuss discrimination regarding Irish teachers in Korea, and was not asked about this issue directly in her interviews.

JY and BZ both explicitly stated that being Irish had little impact on their employment as foreign English teachers in Korea. JY, discussing his employment, stated ‘anything that happened, I never thought it was because of nationality, I can't recall anything like that.’ Similarly, BZ discussed both his success finding employment as a foreign English teacher and the lack of discrimination he believed he experienced, ‘I've never had a problem and always gotten a job I went for. Never been discriminated against because I'm Irish’. However, both would also discuss experiences and understandings in which being Irish significantly limited their employment opportunities as an English teacher in Korea, with BZ stating ‘I still see American and Canadian only jobs being offered’, and JY discussing how one employer was initially reluctant to hire an Irish English-language teacher, only doing so after failing to hire a North American teacher and having a current American teacher vouch for JY as a teacher.

All teachers interviewed for this study discussed experiences in which being Irish shaped and, in many cases, limited their employment opportunities in Korea, but these teachers narrated these experiences in critically different ways. In some cases, they voiced multiple or seemingly contradictory understandings within the same relatively short interview, suggesting multiple narratives are shaping the figured worlds of Irish English-language teachers in Korea.

Irish English as problematic, American English as the standard

Several participants discussed how Irish English is problematic within English language teaching in Korea. JY said ‘he [the employer] was worried the students wouldn't understand what I was saying’ followed by ‘which is a valid concern’. KL discussed his accent in a similar manner:

BZ would similarly say ‘my accent is not that strong either’, when discussing his English. CS discussed both her English and the English of another Irish woman who taught in Korea in similar ways:

Within this excerpt a ‘stronger accent’ is positioned as a problematic aspect of some teachers’ English, so much so that it can create classroom problems. Additionally, CS discussed an experience involving employment and a potential employer's concern over her English.

She further explained that any concerns over her English were assuaged once CS spoke with her colleagues. She would also tell a story of having an American teacher evaluate her accent on behalf of another potential Korean employer: ‘[Y]eah, they wanted to, yeah, the Korean professor asked him [a senior foreign English teacher] to contact me just to check my accent’. In narrating her experiences CS laughed and was not overly concerned about mistaken assumptions made by potential employers or having her English evaluated by an American teacher. In fact, CS, JY, KL, and BZ all narrated stories of themselves which featured the existence of a problematic Irish speaker of English whose language renders them less capable of teaching English in Korea, without any major concern over this issue.

NA discussed his language in a similar manner but linked the Irish accent with issues of discrimination, treating this as a more serious issue rather than something humorous or unimportant.

NA narrates his understanding of Irish English with the same fundamental assumption that some varieties or aspects of Irish English are not suitable for teaching in Korea, while adopting a significantly different position regarding the meaning of this issue overall.

TH's experiences and understandings are different. TH said, ‘the American accent is just so ingrained’, however, he further said, ‘whenever they [Korean people] comment on my accent it's always positive. They'll never really comment on other teachers’ accents’. He further said, ‘I've never heard of anyone having to whitewash themselves. Not whitewash the Irishness. I'd imagine they've been asked to conform to the American standard. That's understandable in terms of spelling and pronunciation. It's more curriculum based.’ TH discussed his accent and Irish English more generally in a unique way, highlighting how his English was viewed positively, and how an American standard in Korea necessitated some changes in the way Irish English-language teachers communicate. While TH discussed Irish English in a unique manner, he along with all participants in this study positioned some varieties or some aspects of Irish English as less suitable for English language teaching in Korea.

Narrating oneself as qualified to teach English in Korea

Several participants discussed experiences in which they were evaluated in terms of employability as English-language teachers. CS discussed learning potential employers had attempted to listen to Irish radio to assess her as a potential teacher and being asked to speak with an American English-language teacher in order to evaluate her English. In fact, in discussing the way they speak English and problematic aspects of some Irish speakers, NA, CS, JY, KL, and BZ all positioned their English as one of their main qualifications for employment as English-language teachers in Korea.

JY and KL would go further and link their employability with being white. In terms of being seen as a native English speaker or being employable in Korea, both discussed how being white is important.

In this brief excerpt JY responds to being questioned about being a native English speaker by referencing being white, with that assuring his status in that regard. KL discussed this idea as well.

KL more directly than JY, explicitly states that for Irish English-language teachers being white can assure one is seen as a native English speaker in Korea (see Jenks & Lee, Reference Jenks and Lee2020; Lan, Reference Lan2022; Ruecker & Ives, Reference Ruecker and Ives2015). Being white and having an appropriate accent or variety of English are understood to be important aspects of being employable as a foreign English teacher for JY and KL.

Additionally, TH discussed the need to ‘conform to the American standard’ and the capacity to teach American culture along with American spelling was discussed by other participants as well.

Importantly, whiteness and one's own English are aspects of oneself that are primarily embodied. They are not qualities that are developed, cultivated, and nurtured through effort, even if some participants discuss adjusting their speech in some ways. Narrating oneself as being qualified as an English-language teacher due to embodied qualities shapes the larger figured world of being a foreign English teacher (Appleby, Reference Appleby2013) and how one understands issues such as discrimination in English language teaching.