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In Korea, mobile technologies are widely used, are supported by sophisticated infrastructure and are largely responsible for that country’s manufacturing sector’s export strength (Park, Kim, Shon & Shim, 2013; Park & Lo, 2012). The export success in mobile technologies and manufacturing is dependent on transnational business partnerships in which English is the lingua franca, creating an urgent need for English language skills in professional contexts (Goerne, 2013; Tange, 2009). In response, the Korean government has developed strategies to recruit English speakers from around the world to assist in preparing the future Korean workforce by providing English language communication opportunities in primary, secondary and tertiary education settings (Collins, 2014; Collins & Shubin, 2015). These strategies have created flows of English speakers into East Asia as language workers and as sojourning students.
Recently, researchers have examined these global mobilities evidenced by the increase in transnational employment opportunities and international student programmes in higher education institutions (Canagarajah, 2013; Mok, 2016; Mok & Han, 2016). Studies on long-term transnational employment opportunities have investigated the intercultural adaptation of migrant workers settling into new social and cultural environments (for example, see Faez, 2012; Stodolska & Santos, 2006). Studies on short-term transnational language employment opportunities have looked at temporary work programmes, particularly those involving working tourists who are often in their early twenties and using their income to finance their travel and leisure (Chen, 2016; Goerne, 2013). While working tourists often engage in part-time, unskilled labour in their destination country, they often also pursue temporary language teaching contracts (Collins & Shubin, 2015). The growing use of English as a lingua franca means that many working tourists are English speakers employed as language workers and travelling to non-English-speaking countries in Central and South America, the Middle East and throughout Asia (Tange, 2009).