Professor Jieun Kiaer
Senior Research Fellow & Dean of Degrees
Young Bin Min-Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Linguistics
Jieun Kiaer is YBM KF Professor of Korean Linguistics at the University of Oxford. She received her PhD from King’s College London and joined Hertford College in 2007. She is a Senior Research Fellow at Hertford and serves as Dean of Degrees.
Her research focuses on Korean and East Asian linguistics, with particular interests in multilingualism, pragmatics, translanguaging, and the language of Hallyu (the Korean Wave). She explores how language, culture, and technology move across borders, and how language learning can empower young people.
She is also a novelist and poet. Her works include Seoul Mothers (2025) and the bilingual poetry collection Have You Had Your Rice? (2025). Alongside her linguistic project, she is also currently working on a Leverhulme-funded documentary on the haeneyo with the film maker CW Winter.
Undergraduate teaching
Jieun teaches papers in Korean language, including Prescribed Texts and the History and Structure of Korean, and offers lectures on Korean Linguistics, translanguaging, emoji and multimodal linguistics and language acquisition.
Graduate teaching
Jieun teaches and offers lectures on Hallyu, Korean linguistics, multilingualism and translanguaging, and Asian pragmatics, alongside topics in language education, intercultural communication, translation, and digital communication.
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Research interests
Jieun’s research centres on Korean and East Asian linguistics, with a particular focus on Hallyu (the Korean Wave), multilingualism, translanguaging, and translingual lexical interaction. Her work engages with pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and language ideologies, and examines the interplay between language, culture, and technology, including AI, digital communication, and language education in global contexts.
Further details are available at https://www.ames.ox.ac.uk/people/jieun-kiaer
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Publications
- Kiaer, J. (2025). Multilingual Classrooms for Young Children in the UK: Advancing Diversity through Technology and Research. Multilingual Matters.
- Kiaer, J. (2024). Whose Language Is English? Yale University Press.
- Kiaer, J. (2023). The Language of Hallyu: More than Polite. Routledge.
- Kiaer, J. (2023). Multimodal Communication in Young Multilingual Children: Learning Beyond Words. Multilingual Matters.
- Kiaer, J. (2023). Emoji Speak: Communication and Behaviours on Social Media. Bloomsbury Academic.
- Kiaer, J. (2020). Pragmatic Particles: Findings from Asian Languages. Bloomsbury Academic.
- Kiaer, J. (2019). Translingual Words: An East Asian Lexical Encounter with English. Routledge.
Further details are available at https://www.ames.ox.ac.uk/people/jieun-kiaer