@article{ART003388727},
author={Shin, Dongil},
title={Can we exit the English-only myth? Lessons from English Village, LG Electronics, and the Busan English-Friendly City Project},
journal={The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea},
issn={1226-4822},
year={2026},
volume={34},
number={3},
pages={91-143}
TY - JOUR
AU - Shin, Dongil
TI - Can we exit the English-only myth? Lessons from English Village, LG Electronics, and the Busan English-Friendly City Project
JO - The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea
PY - 2026
VL - 34
IS - 3
PB - The Sociolinguistic Society Of Korea
SP - 91
EP - 143
SN - 1226-4822
AB - Through a meta-analytic reading of three discursive events—the English Village initiative (2004–), LG Electronics' English-only policy (2008–2010), and the Busan English-Friendly City project (2022–)—this study explores how monolingualism has been reconstructed rather than dismantled in South Korea's two-decade "English fever." Drawing on Roland Barthes' theory of myth, this paper analyzes English-only and English-friendly discourses not as neutral communicative tools, but as a second-order sign system that naturalizes contingent policies as self-evident imperatives of global competitiveness. Positioning itself within critical accounts of English ideology in Korea, this exploratory, agenda-setting study re-examines secondary sources across three institutional fields: education, corporate management, and urban administration. The analysis argues that each field mobilizes a different technology of normalization—disciplinary, performance-based, or environmental—and that these modes are shaped less by chronological succession than by the institutional conditions of each field: rather than replacing one another, they accumulate and overlap. Yet all three converge on a single constant, the myth of "separate bilingualism," which treats Korean and English as mutually exclusive domains. Across these institutional contexts, the proliferation of English language planning in Korea marks not a departure from monolingual ideology but its adaptive reproduction through new discursive technologies.
KW - monolingualism;separate bilingualism;language policy;language planning;Barthes’ theory of myth;English fever in Korea;English Village;LG Electronics’ English-only policy;Busan English-Friendly city project
DO -
UR -
ER -
Shin, Dongil. (2026). Can we exit the English-only myth? Lessons from English Village, LG Electronics, and the Busan English-Friendly City Project. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 34(3), 91-143.
Shin, Dongil. 2026, "Can we exit the English-only myth? Lessons from English Village, LG Electronics, and the Busan English-Friendly City Project", The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, vol.34, no.3 pp.91-143.
Shin, Dongil "Can we exit the English-only myth? Lessons from English Village, LG Electronics, and the Busan English-Friendly City Project" The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 34.3 pp.91-143 (2026) : 91.
Shin, Dongil. Can we exit the English-only myth? Lessons from English Village, LG Electronics, and the Busan English-Friendly City Project. 2026; 34(3), 91-143.
Shin, Dongil. "Can we exit the English-only myth? Lessons from English Village, LG Electronics, and the Busan English-Friendly City Project" The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 34, no.3 (2026) : 91-143.
Shin, Dongil. Can we exit the English-only myth? Lessons from English Village, LG Electronics, and the Busan English-Friendly City Project. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 34(3), 91-143.
Shin, Dongil. Can we exit the English-only myth? Lessons from English Village, LG Electronics, and the Busan English-Friendly City Project. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea. 2026; 34(3) 91-143.
Shin, Dongil. Can we exit the English-only myth? Lessons from English Village, LG Electronics, and the Busan English-Friendly City Project. 2026; 34(3), 91-143.
Shin, Dongil. "Can we exit the English-only myth? Lessons from English Village, LG Electronics, and the Busan English-Friendly City Project" The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 34, no.3 (2026) : 91-143.
