Youngeun Kim

Youngeun Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Korean Program in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures at Michigan State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Korean Language and Literature with a specialization in Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Delaware, and an Ed.M. in Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

Dr. Kim’s research brings together Korean linguistics, second language acquisition, and language pedagogy, with particular attention to how learners perceive and produce language in real contexts. Her work explores phonetics and phonology in Korean and English, speech perception in L2 learning, translation error analysis, and the design of learner-centered curricula and assessment. She is an active and passionate scholar whose work continues to connect linguistic research with real-world language learning.

Dr. Kim’s professional service includes editorial and organizational leadership in the field of Korean Studies. She serves as a board member of the International Network for Korean Interpretation and Translation (INKIT) and as an editorial board member of The Korean Society of Bilingualism. At MSU, she serves as Board Director and Secretary of the Council on Korean Studies, helping to support programming, outreach, and academic collaboration.

Before joining MSU, Dr. Kim taught at the University of Sheffield in England, the International School of Urban Sciences at the University of Seoul, and the Department of Korean as a Foreign Language at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. She also taught at the Center for Korean Language and Culture at HUFS.