The number of returnee students is on an upward trend each year and the percentage of elementary school students make up the overwhelming percentage of those students. The students who experienced both two disparate backgrounds, homeland and abroad wh...
The number of returnee students is on an upward trend each year and the percentage of elementary school students make up the overwhelming percentage of those students. The students who experienced both two disparate backgrounds, homeland and abroad when they are growing up, are likely to have an ambiguous national identity, a feeling that they do not belong to either side. In this perception, the purpose of this study is to identify the status of national identity of returnee students and obtain implications to help them adapt smoothly domestically.
This study surveyed 4th-6th grade elementary school students from the special classes for returnee students around Seoul and Gyeonggi area through a questionnaire method and analyzed the results. The content of the questionnaire is composed of gender, grade, length of stay after returning to Korea, the country name that they stayed, purpose of stay, and length of stay in order to investigate their demographic characteristics and national loyalty, symbolic consciousness, national pride, civic consciousness, and a sense of belonging as factors of national identity. With those questions, common patterns of national identity of returnee students were found and the difference according to gender, grade and the culture of the country abroad (eastern and western) were analyzed.
The results obtained through this research can be summarized as follows.
First, the general trend of returning students is to identify positively as Korean slightly more than being neutral. In terms of national loyalty, national pride and citizenship, the study showed similar levels to the overall score but symbolic ritual was noticeably lower.
Second, according to background variables, significant difference were found in gender. Girls showed slightly higher levels of national identity and the national loyalty and civic consciousness were found to have a statistically significant difference, except for symbolic ritual which showed almost the same levels. By grades, generally the lower grade showed patterns with a high national identity, but it was not statistically significant. The difference was not derived from national loyalty, symbolic consciousness, national pride, citizenship from both groups by the cultural area that they stayed, either.
Third, on the open-ended question asking about a sense of belonging to a country, more than the half of students(approximately 59%) recognized themselves as people of the Republic of Korea, and quite a few of the students (about 38%) thought of the country where they stayed as their home. They provided arbitrary reasons such as their birth and/or growth in Korea(or overseas), and familiarity with living in the country, as a reason for their selection. And it showed significant difference between students that resided in western countries and others that they resided in eastern countries. The number of returnee students that resided in eastern countries identified as members of the Republic of Korea three times more than those who lived in western nations. Students who resided in western countries were almost evenly divided between those that identified as Korean and those identified with their country of residence. The latter group felt life was more comfortable in the western countries and were affected by the desire to be part of the countries in the sense that they are developed countries.
Based on the results of this study, the following factors can be obtained.
First, returnee students are unlikely to form the high level of national identity due to the specific process of their growth even though elementary school students tend to be friendly and accommodating with phenomenon or matter, compared to middle and high school students. However, overall, severe degree of confusion was not seen as well.
Second, when it comes to consciousness of national symbols, each group was found to have formed similarly and to a low degree, regardless of variables. In addition, students were polarized in their responses, compared to other elements of national identity. This means that the students' national identity can be appreciated to be different individually as well as inadequate on average in terms of Korea-related knowledge.
Third, some students returning from a western country that they considered superior to Korea found it difficult to form a stable Korean national identity. Although these students acknowledge that they are rooted in Korea, they formed the idea that the style and culture of the western country is better. However, overall, the degree was not that resolute and hard enough to cause difficulty fitting into Korean society. Therefore, we should determine the aspects of Korea that they perceive positively and incorporate these into their education accordingly.