The dominant assimilation practice and policies in South Korea have translated into monolingual, Korean-only practices in all aspects of the society. The 2018 research on Multicultural Family's Condition shows that ethnolinguistically minoritized children's positive attitudes toward their mother's first languages have decreased since 2012. Similarly, immigrant mothers' spouses and other family members' support for their heritage language (HL) use and teaching at home have also decreased. This research also reports that 52.3% of the children are raised in an environment where they are not encouraged to use the HL, and only 25.1 % of them actually learn it.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the major recent government policies reflect an assets-based perspective on immigrant mothers' HLs and their children's potential bilingualism. For instance, the 2010 Multicultural Family Support Policy Basic Plan prioritized the development and maintenance of the children's HLs to prepare them to be global citizens ultimately for South Korea's economic and political prosperity. This government initiative had been rendered as "linguistically gifted class" offerings in seven different languages at local Health Family Support Centers. Since 2015, the language classes for the children have been replaced with bilingual coaching services for multicultural families under the initiative called Bilingual Education Environment Fostering Plan. Bilingual coaches with immigration backgrounds educate the families about bilingual education, teach parents strategies about interacting with preschool children in their first language, foster a community for the families, and provide further guidance to families about bilingual practices by visiting homes. This important shift in the policy, from bilingual education exclusively for the children to the families, is a recognition that fostering bilingualism for children must begin in the communities and families especially with young children.
Given most children continue to be deprived of the right to acquire mother tongue in the South Korean context, initiatives like the bilingual coaching program hold promise. Examining the ways it is actually implemented from the perspective of the practitioners could help sustain a well-intended program, which contributes to the children's bilingual and bicultural development. Accordingly, the current study aims to explore perspectives and experiences of bilingual coaches who work at local Health Family Support Centers across South Korea. Data primarily came from 70-120 minute-long individual interviews with seven bilingual coaches, who were originally from China, Japan, and Vietnam. Their lived experiences were analyzed through narrative inquiry. Thematic coding method yielded that all coaches emphasized the immigrant mothers' dedication to bilingual education as the most important factor in promoting bilingualism in the family. They also drew on their own experiences as immigrants in South Korea when coaching other families. While they found the work rewarding, they also pointed out challenges, such as heavy caseloads, not having expertise in early childhood education, and having to coach families in whose language they do not have proficiency. The ongoing research has implications for policies, programs, and practices for multicultural families and children beyond the South Korean context.
