This paper describes how students use language as a currency with which to navigate institutional structures and negotiate "fitting in" to social structures of higher education, paying particular attention to South Korea (hereafter Korea) and the English-speaking West. This paper emerged from a qualitative research study examining…

This study investigates the life experiences of six mature undergraduate women at a traditional 4-year university in South Korea. It explores women's construction of their university lives in the context of their wider socio-cultural experiences, both past and present, which are shaped by the socio-historical context of South Korean society. The…