Investigation of Linguistic Landscape in Jeju Global Education City (JGEC), South Korea

This study examines the linguistic landscape of JGEC, an educational hub in South Korea established to foster international education and English proficiency. Through analysis of 436 public signs, this research explores the visibility and role of languages in JGEC, focusing on English prevalence alongside Korean. Using Backhaus's (2007) framework, the study categorizes signs as monolingual or multilingual and distinguishes between top-down and bottom-up signage. Findings indicate that nearly 80% of signs contain English, either solely or alongside Korean, aligning with the city's international mission. Bottom-up signage dominates, reflecting residents' active role in promoting a bilingual environment. The presence of part-writing patterns emphasizing accessibility highlights JGEC's commitment to inclusivity. These findings demonstrate how targeted language policies can shape multilingual spaces supporting global engagement while maintaining local languages, contributing to linguistic landscape research in international education settings.