The Interrelationship Between Social Structures and Agency in Language Learning

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which social structures influence learners’ desire to invest time and effort in language learning. It explores the use of English amongst undergraduate students, users of a self-access learning centre, in Cancun, Mexico, a city created as a tourist hub. In such a context, English is identified as linguistic capital, a product of social structure, and students’ investment in language learning is considered an example of agency. The two-year longitudinal study drew on David Block’s (2013) writings and his claim that in language and identity research, social structures are paramount as shapers or constraints of one’s individual agency. Critical Realism was applied as a theoretical and methodological approach to investigate why language learners choose to shape or resist their access to English as a Foreign Language.