The ‘social turn’ in applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA) has seen the emergence of a range of socially-oriented perspectives, such as sociolinguistic, sociocultural, socio-historical and situated learning, yet this has not resulted in L2 learners’ social origins and backgrounds being given sufficient attention in L2 research. The present study therefore argues for taking a sociology of language learning perspective to investigate L2 learners’ social biographies and their academic achievement in English. This social perspective is informed by the sociology of education as well as critical approaches to applied linguistics. Learners’ social biographies consist of learner-internal (personal) and -external (social) factors. These factors are conceptualised as learner habitus and family educational capital (economic, social and cultural) respectively, with reference to Bourdieu’s theories in the sociology of education. The study investigates secondary school students’ English learning outcomes in relation to their habitus and family capital situations in a rural context in Bangladesh. It uses a mixed methods research design and draws on both quantitative and qualitative data. It also utilises multiple perspectives, provided by 10th grade students (n = 228) and their English teachers, head teachers and parents. The data collection instruments include a questionnaire survey, an English proficiency test and participant interviews. The study shows that aspects of family economic and cultural capital and learner habitus are significantly associated with the students’ English achievement. However, social capital, operationalised as parental input into the students’ English studies, is not associated with their academic achievement in English, although it is significantly correlated with learner habitus and parental education. The students’ perceptions of their family capital situations and the perceived impact of these situations on their academic experience were supportive of structuralist determinism. Despite the constraining effects of family capital disadvantage on academic experience, disadvantaged students can neutralise these effects by means of their habitus and thus negate social determinism in the context of their scholastic achievement. The study also shows that contrary to the widening gap in the academic achievement of students in favour of females in many social contexts, the female students in the present context performed somewhat less well than their male counterparts in the school-leaving examination. Finally, the students’ English learning and academic outcomes were embedded in their social biographies. Their academic achievement or underachievement cannot be fully understood without recourse to their familial and social worlds, their lived experiences, their desires for better futures and their disadvantage, and lack of means to pursue those desires.Despite some caveats, the findings have important implications for the theory and practice of teaching English in Bangladesh and other social contexts. First, it is necessary to include both learner-internal and -external family/social factors in the investigation of L2 learners’ English learning experience and outcomes. Second, ELT policies should have provisions that address these beyond-the-school factors in order to develop English language skills across social classes and geographic locations. Finally, schools should embrace the question of inequality in English learning outcomes and devise mechanisms for the reduction of inequalities within their limited resources and capacities. The major contribution of the study is to our understanding of the factors associated with English language learning in rural communities in developing societies. In particular, the study substantiates non-cognitive, non-methodological and non-curricular approaches to EFL/ESL. Identification of these factors is facilitated by the perspective of sociology of English learning and the concept of social biography. In addition, the study designs a theoretical and conceptual framework and instruments for researching student achievement in English in relation to family capital and learner habitus.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/254136 |
| Creators | Md Obaidul Hamid |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
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