• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.973-990
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• 2013

On this study, the survey was conducted for the married female immigrants at work living in the district of Pusan, Changwon and Gimhae in order to analyze the level of the key competencies based on the differences of their ages, their final educational background, the period of their staying in Korea, their Korean language competence, jobs and the employment status in their native countries. As the result of the analysis, firstly, depending on their Korean language competence and jobs, there were meaningful differences among the groups in the aspects of the nine key competencies including communication, numeracy, problem solving, self-management and development, resource use, human relationship, information, technology, and organization skills, with the statistical significance level of .05. Secondly, depending on their final educational background, there were meaningful differences among the groups in the other aspects of eight key competencies except problem solving, with the statistical significance level of .05. Thirdly, depending on the employment status in their native countries, there were meaningful differences among the groups in the aspects of the five competencies including communication, numeracy, problem solving, resource use and organizational skills with the statistical significance level of 0.05. Fourthly, depending on the period of staying in Korea, there is difference only in the aspect of communication. Fifthly, depending on their ages, there were no meaningful differences among the groups.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.121-145
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to understand married female immigrants' life adjustment process in Korea by explaining the resources to which they have access and how they use them. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with ten female participants who have more than one child, have participated in programs of the multicultural family support center, have work experience, can communicate with Koreans, and live in Daegu. The major findings are as follows. The participants' personal resources differed. English language skills were very useful resources for making money and for earning the respect of family members and others. However, the participants without English language skills had sincerely and actively tried to learn the Korean language and gain bilingual competence. The participants obtained diverse family resources from their husbands and parents-in-law after adapting themselves to perform their gender role. Further, the participants used the social resources offered by public support systems as a starting point for learning the Korean language in their early adaptation process, and formed personal networks with staff members at the multicultural family support center. The results show that the participants used many kinds of resources for acculturation by interacting positively with their environment. Moreover, the resources from diverse levels of their environments affected their acculturation process.