Through the Sliding Glass Doors: South Korean EFL Emergent Bilinguals’ Journey Toward Racial Diversity in a Translingual Book Club

Abstract This chapter shows how South Korean emergent bilinguals learning English as a foreign language (EFL) made sense of racism and racial diversity while reading and discussing a multicultural young adult novel written in English in a translingual book club. In sharp contrast to South Korean EFL classroom practices promoting Standard English and the images of the White middle class, the book club provided a translanguaging space for discussing racial diversity. The participants were able to fully draw upon their Korean and developing English linguistic repertoires, cultural resources, and feelings to transact with the selected novel. Students expanded meanings in a context of translanguaging to understand the diverse aspects of humanity via the story world. Ultimately, this chapter illuminates how teaching and research practices in EFL can be redirected to celebrate multiculturalism as well as EFL emergent bilinguals’ linguistic and cultural repertoires.