Jee Hyun Lee

Jee Hyun Lee received her master’s degree in East Asian studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her doctorate in Korean linguistics from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She has experience teaching Korean at all levels, from beginning to advanced, as well as heritage language courses. Prior to joining Smith College, she taught at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Harvard University, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Her research lies at the intersection of Korean sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and conversation analysis, with a focus on investigating the dynamic relationship between language, pragmatics, and social interaction in everyday talk. She is particularly interested in translating these sociolinguistic and pragmatic insights into effective Korean language pedagogy, helping students develop communicative and intercultural competence in real-world contexts.