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How the acquisition ofcultural and symbolic capital
contribute to shaping
identities
Juan Alberto Amador Cruz
Fall 2011
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Reason of the study
Cultural capital and symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 2003) are concepts
typically found in social studies. Even though language learning deals
with social issues, there is little English Language research focused on
social theories in the Mexican context.
Contribution to the field
Breen (1985) says that learning a language cannot be separated from
social factors because these factors always affect the interactions among
people. The participants in this research seemed to have significant
experiences during college related to language learning, and beyond
language learning context, they increased their cultural capital when theyinvested not only in education and academic experiences (cultural
capital), but also they looked for recognition of their capital from society
(symbolic capital). It is then needed to connect classroom, to a broader
social, cultural and political relations (Pennycook 1999, p. 331).
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Purpose of the study
The purpose of this research mainly deals with two English teachers
cultural capital increase. Since language is a social issue, it is
important to connect social studies in the field of languages
(Pennycook 2001). The study is then based on exploring the
contribution of cultural and symbolic capital acquisition in shaping
identities of two English teachers with similar background andcultural capital.
In light of the purpose of this investigation the following questions
were set:
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RQ1 What forms of cultural capital have the participants acquired
throughout their professional and personal lives? (In what contexts?)
RQ2 What forms of symbolic capital have the participants acquired
throughout their professional and personal lives? (In what contexts?)
RQ3 What type of investment have the participants made in order toacquire cultural and symbolic capital?
RQ4 How did participants negotiate their identities through the
acquisition of cultural and symbolic capital?
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Key terms
Cultural capitalcultural capital is a social theory that was mainly developed by
the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. This cultural capital is possessed
by people and it has different value according to their
environments. Flairclough (1996) says that cultural capital
determines the social classes in which people move and where
there are always dominant classes because of the different kinds
of capitals they have.
Symbolic capital
Symbolic capital is essential to complement and understand the
concept of cultural capital. In few words, symbolic capital is the
power recognized from one social group to the other; the weightof different agents depends on their symbolic capital, i. e. on the
recognition, institutionalized or not, that they receive from a
group (Bourdieu, 2003 p.72).
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Linguistic capitalLanguage is essential here because the study is focused on two
teachers of English who speak Nahuatl, an indigenous Mexican
language. That is, the participants have an interesting level of
linguistic capital since they speak three languages: Spanish, Nahuatl
and English. Linguistic capital is basically a subset of cultural capital
contained in appropriate ease in the command of language (Blunden,2004, p. 4).
Identity
Identity is analyzed from a sociocultural perspective in this research,
because identity is perceived as dynamic and changing through the
time and according to the place (Norton, 2006). One of the objectivesin this project is to analyze how participants shaped their identity
across the acquisition of cultural and symbolic capital, which deals
with cultural and social issues.
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1 Background of the context
The participants in this study had a strong connection with the Faculty
of Modern Languages at BUAP, because a significant part of their
cultural capital seemed to be increased in this context
Two Mexican participants with a similar cultural capital took part in this
research; one man and one woman (Leno and Idalia). Both participants
were referred with pseudonyms. They were in their late twenties andboth were English teachers. Their characteristics were: both teachers
studied the undergraduate degree in English language teaching at the
research site in the period 2002-2007. Both graduated through
Titulacin Automtica, and both participants had a scholarship from
public funds during the their whole major.
Both teachers spoke Nahuatl which is an indigenous language inMexico.
At the moment of the research, both teachers were in-service. Leno
had been working at a public university for two years and Idalia in a
private one.
They both accepted to be volunteer participants in this study.
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Methodology
A case study is used to explain the how of this research. There is no
formula to know when a case study is suitable to use; nevertheless
it strongly depends on the research question and the more this
question looks for the how and why of a social concern, a case
study should be used (Yin, 2009). The how concerned in this
research is how cultural and symbolic capital contribute to shapingidentities in participants
Narratives were used for the data collection. Participants were asked
to narrate their stories of life in detail. Narratives were chosen
because they needed to explain their experiences without limits.
An interview is planned for next week in order to understand the
participants stories better and go in depth.
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The data analysis is focused on three parts:
cultural capital: related to formal studies and institutional
recognition.
symbolic capital: related to recognition from society.
Linguistic capital: related to languages.
shaping identities: changes in their identities.
The category of linguistic capital was created in the process
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Analysis
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Early conclusions
In the analysis recognition from both sides, society and institutions isthe key to shaping identities. When college gave credit to Edalia and
Leno for their good grades with scholarships, and when university
recognized their Nahuatl language (linguistic capital), they suffered
positive changes in their identities. Their Nahuatl linguistic capital was
recognized by college and their job, after this recognition a
transformation in their identity was also perceived. In the case of Leno,after giving Nahuatl classes. In Idalias, after her participation in PAAEI.
Idalia was given a scholarship to study a Master in Spain
Leno is thinking of enrolling to a Master program.
Both of them strongly argued that thank to the education and support
(recognition) from schools, institutions, scholarships, organizations,professors, classmates, family, and friends they had change their life
and identities personally and professionally.