Multilingual Children’s Identity Formation in South Korea: Implications for TESOL

Multilingual children from multicultural families constitute a growing share of the South Korean student population, yet their linguistic resources and identities remain only partially recognized in mainstream schooling. This study synthesizes demographic and policy data, identity theory, and empirical research on Korean and international classrooms to examine how bilingual and multilingual learners in Korea negotiate identity within the education system. It outlines the sociocultural and policy context of multicultural education, analyses how family language practices, school norms, and teacher beliefs shape students’ sense of belonging and academic trajectories, and reviews evidence on translanguaging and culturally sustaining pedagogy. The study concludes that prevailing monolingual norms and fragmented policy implementation limit equitable participation, and argues that TESOL-oriented reforms in teacher education, curriculum, and assessment are needed to position students’ full linguistic repertoires as resources. Such changes are essential for advancing more inclusive and sustainable multilingual education in Korea, while offering insights applicable to TESOL and multilingual education in other contexts.