International Forum of Teaching and Studies Vol. 6 No.

1 2010

Bridging the Gap: Understanding Cultural Capital in EFL Classes

Prapai Jantrasakul
King Mongkuts University of Technology, North Bangkok

[Abstract] This article focuses on the interaction between home and school learning practices of EFL
students in an undergraduate EFL class. Drawing on Bourdieus sociological construct of habitus,
field, and capital (1986), we examined what types of capital individual Thai EFL students brought to
their English as a foreign language (EFL) class and how what they perceived as their capital has
affected their EFL learning. Data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with university
students, together with class observation and review of the text books they used at their current school.
The finding showed the intertwining relationship between the learners cultural worlds and their
institutionalized context. The informants with a high amount of cultural capital were likely to readily
associate themselves with the new educational setting and easily orient themselves toward schooled
teaching practice. Those with the less privileged capital found difficulties connecting the two worlds
together during their course of language learning at the university. Regardless of their habitus and
capital, the symbolic status of English serves as a main drive for each informant to internationalize the
authoritative discourse of EFL learning in an uncontested way. The study shed light on alternative
perspectives of EFL pedagogy for classroom teachers and educators.

[Keywords] Cultural capital; English as foreign language (EFL); classroom discourse; home learning;
Thai learners; sociological capital; cultural resources

Introduction
The global economy in the 21st Century, together with the advancement of information technology,
has led English to become an additional language for communication (e.g. Warschauer, 2000;
Graddol, 2007). Given that, in the course of preparing a global citizen students are required to be
competent in both content subjects and communication skills in English, in particular. The
phenomenon of English as a global language suggests its increasingly burgeoning significance. To
promote successful EFL learning is then a pivotal issue. Several techniques and strategies for EFL
language learning have been introduced to the classroom.
In Thailand, where English is taught as a mandatory foreign language course since kindergarten,
scant attention has been paid to dissonance between the cultural worlds of schools, educational
institutions, and homes for EFL learners. Most EFL students, by their nature, are deficient. The tacit
and explicit addressing of students cultural worlds at home and the school helps explicate their
academic efforts and achievement. To fill in this gap, the study aims to explore cultural resources
science-oriented EFL learners brought to their EFL classrooms. What is the intersection of home and
school worlds relative to EFL learning?

Literature Reviews
Education, as Apple (1996) claims, is deeply implicated in the politics of cultures. Its always part
of selective tradition, someones tradition, some groups vision of legitimate knowledge
(p.22).Through different kinds of systems, schools participate in differentiating people, valuing certain
sets of values over another. Foucault (1972) describes the school as a disciplinary site, a locus of
power/knowledge in a positive or constitutive sense (cited in Pignatelli, 1993, p. 420). In this process,
teachers play a significant role in schooling. They often question the students underachievement
rather than their own teaching practice. In addition, it is likely that they model the same sociocultural
constructivist pedagogies s/he hopes the students will take up in their own classrooms (Brown, 2004;
Villagas & Lucas, 2002). Bourdieus work involves the dialectic between structure and agency within
the education system (1986). To understand teaching-learning practice of EFL classes, this study

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employs his constructs of habitus, field, and capital as an attempt to explore what EFL students
perceived as their capital for their EFL learning and how what were perceived contributed to their
language learning. The emphasis will be on the dynamic between habitus and capital.
Bourdieus constructs of habitus, field, and capital are inextricably linked, which allows us to
understand power relationships between the objective structures of a society and the practical, goal-
seeking activities of individuals. As Bourdieu outlined, habitus refers to the embodiment of what one
brings to bear on a particular moment of being with others in life and in the classroom (as cited in
Jones & Enriquez, 2009, p. 147). It includes a set of dispositions, the intellectual tools, language
perspectives, and social practices which one has acquired, learned, and absorbed over time. It can
change and be restructured over time, depending upon the interaction one has. This internalized
character, in turn, influences our attitudes, behaviors, and future choices.
Field refers to a site in which different groups compete for power (as cited in Marsh, 2006,
p.164). Each field has its own set of values, practices, and discourse. In this study, a field refers to the
first year students EFL language learning. Favoring nurture rather than nature, Bourdieu (1986)
proposes that there are three forms of capital, that is, economic capital, social capital, and cultural
capital, which includes the embodied capital, the objectified state of cultural capital, and the
institutionalized capital.
Economic capital refers to possessions that require an investment of money in objects or services
that are believed to enhance learning success. Social capital includes social connections, networks,
and/or relationships which one has or has developed to support his/her learning. Cultural Capital is
the store of experience and knowledge individuals have acquired, learned, and influenced by their
social context throughout their life. In Bourdieus discussion, there are three types of cultural capital.
Embodied cultural capital is composite set of skills, dispositions, practices, knowledge embodied by
an individual. It includes linguistic habitus, the inculcation of particular values, mannerisms, and
gestures, and strategic approaches and tactics to realize a goal in a given context. Embodied cultural
capital requires the investment of time and the transmission occurs through parental and community
socialization practices.
Objectified cultural capital closely approximates the portability of economic capital. However,
the ability to interpret and consume objectified cultural capital remains embodied, dependent on
individual habitus characteristics. Objectified cultural capital takes the form of transmissible, material
objects such as books and texts. Institutional cultural capital is directly related to any academic
qualifications, professional certificates or credentials granted by authorized social institutions. Such an
institutionalization allows direct comparison of credentials and the conversion of cultural to economic
capital at a mutually understood but changeable ratio.
When these three forms of cultural capitals are operating with economic capital and social capital,
it results in dynamic relationships between students and teachers cultural capital, which subsequently
shape their practices. During this process, certain dispositions and values will be selected, valorized
and officially attuned. In a natural and uncontested fashion, each individual has acquired and started to
accumulate particular discourses and capital in relation to individual class to either maintain their
status or have a social mobility upward in the future. In this way, symbolic capital acts to facilitate the
utilization and the efficacy of other forms of capital (Carrington & Luke, 1997).

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Table 1. Types of Capital Proposed by Pierre Bourdieu

Symbolic Capital
Institutionally recognized and legitimated authority and entitlement requisite for the exchange and
conversion of Cultural, Economic, and Social Capital

Cultural Capital Embodied Capital Knowledge, skills, dispositions, linguistic practices and
representational resources of the bodily habitus
Objectified Capital Cultural goods, texts, materials objects and media
physically transmissible to others
Institutional Capital Academic qualifications, awards, professional
certificates and credentials
Economic Capital Material goods and resources directly convertible into money
Social Capital Access to cultural and sub-cultural institutions, social relations and practices.
(Source: Luke, in press)

Several empirical studies have suggested Bourdieus sociological theories help explicate the dynamic
relationship of teaching and learning practice in different contexts. Studies regarding academic
achievement of marginalized students are done by Compton-Lilly, 2007; Irizarry & Antrop-Gonzalez,
2007; Lareau & Weimninger, 2003; and Nespor, 1987. The studies show tensions existing between
official literacy capital and local capital of the family of the marginalized students.
Our focus of the study is the mainstream context. The empirical studies most relevant to this
study are discussed below. Jones & Enriquez (2009) examined the meaning making of teacher
education students critical literacy practice during their graduate studies in America. They found the
dialectic relationship between habitus and fields students have possessed influenced their critical
literacy perspectives. In England, Marsh (2006) studied the use of popular culture by her student
teachers and found the selection of her informants education program on the use of popular culture
was closely related to their habitus and cultural capital.
With different focus of informant, empirical studies illustrate the complex interrelationships
between students and schools world in a formal education setting. In Thailand, to my best
knowledge, none has been done to explore what, to what extent, and how habitus, field, and capital, as
proposed by Bourdieu (1986), Thai EFL students have possessed and brought influences and affect
their EFL learning. This study aims to uncover the interplays of students habitus, field, and capital in
their engagement in their EFL classes. The scope of this particular study primarily includes the
concept of cultural capital. The focus includes not only what each student brought to their EFL class,
but also how what they brought is recognized, valued, and contributed to their language learning at the
present school.

Methodology
I conducted semi-structure interviews in a focus group setting twice in order to record discussions
about the perceived EFL learning and academic performance of the university freshmen at the present
school. They were probed for answers to the question of why they were actively engaged to their EFL
classes and their perception regarding the effect of their education background on their EFL language
learning. During the interviews, they were asked about their academic investment in the course of their
EFL learning both in and outside school. The first interview was in January, two months after the
second semester of the academic year, while the second was at the end of the semester in the first
week of March. The rationale for such selection is that students had just finished their mid-term and
final examination. The immediacy of both examinations was used as a starting point to brainstorm and
discuss what they perceived may influence their EFL test taking. During each focus-group interview,
the researcher played a role as a moderator to enrich and probe their discussion. All the interviews

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were audio-taped and video-taped, and later were transcribed to categorize themes and issues that
emerged. Video-taping was done as a way to observe their reaction during the interviews. In addition,
they all needed to fill out a biography information sheet after the first interview. Multiple sources of
data are collected as means to create the trustworthiness and rigor of the information.

Informants
The snowball sampling was used to gain a wide range of voluntary information, thus enabling us to
identify issues of the phenomenon being investigated. The total of seven first-year students who were
taking a fundamental English II course at a government university in Bangkok voluntarily participated
in the study. The seven informants received varying grades in their English I course, from A to C, but
all put forth considerable efforts while taking the English class. Thus, the data gained represented a
wide range of diversity in habitus and cultural capital these students perceived to have influenced their
foreign language achievement. The researcher who noted their enthusiastic involvement in the
mandatory fundamental English I course was the informants English instructor. They were those who
voluntarily joined almost all class activities and posted questions during and after class. They were not
afraid to produce English sentences when the floor was given. The seven informants were from a
different EFL class. The first group includes Grace, Joy, Nop, Sang, and Tom, while the second group
is Chai and Yang. Table 1 is a summary of these students biographical account.

Table 1. Bio-data of Each Participant

Category
Joy Grace Nop Tom Sang Chai Yang
Name

Gender Female Female Male Male Male Male Male

High
Educational Vocational Vocational Vocational Vocational Vocational Vocational
school
background certificate certificate certificate certificate certificate certificate
certificate
Geographical
Urban Urban Urban Urban Suburban Rural Rural
location/affiliation*
Primary
Parental educational College College High school University University Vocational
school
attainment** degree degree certificate certificate certificate certificate
certificate
* refers to the context where the participants had largely spent their childhood
** refers to the highest educational degree of either their mother or father

Context of the Study

Being an exploratory qualitative case study, the study took place in a medium-sized science-oriented
university, where the majority of the student population is male students from a rural area. Most of
them are male graduates of a vocational school and have limited exposure to supportive environments
for their EFL learning at home. They are required to take two fundamental English courses to fulfill
their degree requirements. The students are assigned to a section in accordance with their major, not
by a placement test. The nature of the course involves general English with a focus on practice at the
sentence level. Communication-directed EFL lessons are encouraged. The instructor designed the
lesson to be as interactive as it could be as possible as an attempt to get them engaged and become
self-language learners after the class.

Data Analysis
After the interviews were transcribed, the researcher read through the transcripts and coded issues and
themes emerging from the informants discussion. During the data coding and analysis, the notions of
Bakhtins heteroglossia and dialogism (1981) was used. That is, there is no original voice in a

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discourse. Human beings borrow and/or appropriate different sources of vocabularies and discourse
they have been exposed to so as to carry out their own intentions. A discourse constitutes multiple and
inter-textual voices. It is neither coherent and single-voiced nor ideologically neutral. In addition, the
biographical data sheet and field notes of observation during the interviews were used to establish the
trustworthiness of the responses.

Findings and Discussion

As outlined earlier, this study sought to understand how the habitus, field, and capital of Thai students
have affected and influenced their EFL learning. The present school is regarded as an upwardly mobile
educational institute for vocational school graduates. With this symbolic influence at the macro
structure, data gained shows the push-and-pull force how habitus and capital are operating in their
course of EFL learning, where the language is valued as a key access to power and wealth. Below are
issues and themes emerged from the interview data.

Perceived Habitus and Capital

The five informants, Grace, Joy, Nop, Sang, and Tom, were from a middle-class to upper middle-class
family, while the other two, Chai and Yang, were from the low socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds.
Despite their different SES background, they all were academically good and well-behaved students
from their previous schools. They had positive memories of their schools and EFL learning
experiences. In addition, they all cited that their parents positively believed that good education,
together with a good command of English, would lead to an upward social mobility. Their parents had
wanted them to succeed educationally, especially at the present school, which is regarded as one of the
top engineering universities. Their parents had supported their education to their fullest. However, the
family SES background appeared to have directly contributed to differential success in the course of
these seven informants EFL learning.
Types of capital as perceived by the student informants have influenced their EFL learning
include a) perceived significance of English to life and work, b) personal satisfaction during school
and from school work, c) motivating environment, personal context supportive for educational
achievement, d) family influences, and e) a level of language proficiency. In the following section is a
detailed illustration of critical accounts attributing to the self-negotiation of the seven informants into
the institutionalized EFL learning discourse.
The urban and rural culture in EFL academia was perceived to be mainly held accountable for
their EFL performance at the present school. There is a dissonance in the curriculum and teaching
practice between their previous and present school. The discourse highly valued at the present
university is the same set as that of the urban culture. The situated practice of content knowledge in
EFL and the assessment approach are embodied capital that creates incoherence between students
prior learning and the disciplines at university. Below plainly reveals obstacles Chai and Yang have
undergone in their academic adjustment to become part of the dominant culture.

I feel somewhat that some of my classmates from the city is better than me. I accept
their basic [English] or fundamental is stronger. (Chai)

The test here is not what I had in my old school. There we had it in a multiple-choice form.
But here its more like a show-me-how-to-do-it test. Its more difficult. It makes me study
harder. Its not what I studied in the vocational school. I am not good at English, but I can
understand some.(Yang)

Chai and Yang are from a limited SES background. Their previous education does not seem to provide
a solid foundation for the authoritative EFL learning discourse at the present school. The comparison
of the target language knowledge between the urban and the rural is explicitly mentioned by Chai. In
a similar vein, Yang, a less privileged student who is a bit quiet, comparatively narrated the nature of

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the EFL test at the present school. Such tests profusely complicated his EFL learning practice. In the
discussion, Yang refers to the relations of the EFL body of knowledge and the assessment to his
academic performance. Another type of perceived habitus and capital is family involvement and
investment in a childs education. The parents of the five with high-status EFL learning activities,
Grace, Nop and Sang, and Tom, sought to help their children succeed educationally since their
primary school. That is, they shepherded their childrens educational lifehaving them equipped with
resourceful environments for EFL learning, namely, tutorial classes for English grammar and
conversation with both the local and the native English speaking teachers, and audio-visual materials
for English lessons and entertainment.
As shown in studies by Lareau and Horvat (1999); Lareau & Weininger, 2003; and Xuesong,
2006, the type of cultural capital, family involvement in particular, played an important role education.
The parenting practice in EFL learning appears to have a positive association the subsequent academic
performance. In the study, Joy, Grace, Nop, Sang, and Tom accepted that they liked to study the target
language and outperformed in the class mainly because of their family. On the other hand, the two
male informants with a lesser amount of capital who never had English classes outside (formal)
school, have struggled hard throughout the semester. The excerpt below illustrates how Sangs family
has helped to create positive attitudes toward English.

Ive taken an English class since I was young. Thats, may be, why I am ok to study
it. I mean I feel ok, not dislike it. My mom is a teacher. She views English is very
important. (Sang)

Since I was young, Ive been told that I need to know English. Its really important to
become successful. My mom and dad always said so. Er, I also agree with them. Our
salary will be higher if we can communicate in English. (Nop)
Sang and Nop represent the privileged students from the urban area. Their expression of since I was
young, which recursively appeared, demonstrates their involvement and good performance during
their EFL learning. As Bourdieu advocates, habitus has relations to how one perceives and carries out
certain tasks. The five informants from the urban area started to acquire, embody, and internalize the
dominant discourse of EFL teaching-learning practice earlier than the counterparts from the rural area.
The former had more pleasant times in the EFL class since there is a connection between their family
and school practice. They are well-prepared to enjoy the privileged through this schooling while the
two with limited habitus and capital had to work much harder in the acquisition of linguistic habitus
and embodied capital to perform well in the class.
According to Bourdieu, it seems fair to claim that such a huge gap is dependent on the availability
of resources each family has. To put it simply, the five informants parents supportively trained their
children in aid of their formal education and social world while the parents of Chais and Yangs
turned the whole educational responsibility over to the school. This finding is resonant with the study
of Lareau and Horvat (1999), that is, parents cultural and social resources become forms of capital
when they facilitate with dominant standards in school interactions (Lareau & Weininger, 2003 p.
584). The next section discusses how these seven students associated themselves with the
institutionalized discourse.

Perceived Value of EFL Education and SchoolValued Socialization

Data obtained from the interview reveals that the informants were well aware of the burgeoning
importance of English as an essential avenue for maximizing options and offering security and a
greater access to future education, employment, power and affluence, attributed to their uncontested
acceptance of the institutional teaching practice. They clearly understood the relationship between
what is learned at school and the relevance of the knowledge gained from the present educational
setting to the wider world. With this particular perception, the seven informants were not reluctant to

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conform and adapt to school-valued classroom practices and academic standards. Regardless of their
habitus and capital, each of them readily accepted the institutionalized discourse and the socialization
values of their EFL class, as illustrated in the excerpts below.
I think English is important because we use it everywhere as a means to
communicating with others. I cannot speak other foreign languages, except English.
(Tom)
I actually dont like it [English]. Its because I am aware that English is really
important in the future for everything. Thats why I think I have to study hard to
know more English. (Yang)

In my case, I think its from my cousins. When we got together, they usually said
that English would help me to get a well-paid job. More promotion, too. (Grace)

As English is considered as a symbolic capital to power and wealth, the above excerpts strongly
pinpoint utilitarian advantages of English serving to drive them to accept the school-valued
socialization, participating in all types of in-class activities. Despite their limited habitus and capital,
both Chai and Yang had persuasively internalized the authoritative discourse to leverage their cultural
difference between home and school. Examples of this internally persuasive discourse of the two
participants are their questions after the class or during office hours, asking for suggestions for how to
become competent in English, recommended multimedia, and textbooks and websites for grammar
and other skills. In addition, in their course evaluation, they ranked the interaction-based activities as
their favorite, despite their poor performance in the class.
Differential habitus and capital of these seven informants remains to explain the imbalances in the
class interaction. The study traced why the informants from the urban area felt connected to the
institutionalized discourse much more easily than those from the rural area. Based on their bio-data
sheet and the interview, the urban students shared the same socioeconomic and educational
background with the instructor. It is thus understandable why they appeared to benefit academically
because they were able to better communicate with the teachers and understand the implicit classroom
rules. This is well-echoed in the account of the privileged students that their educational background
facilitated their EFL learning at the present school. The educational privileges include private English
classes and the quality curriculum of their previous schools.
The five informants who had possessed considerable required skills and dispositions could pursue
and maintain their privilege in the academic achievement. Their EFL learning at the present were part
of an endorsement on their educational privilege. Joy, a female student with a high degree of intrinsic
motivation in EFL learning, is a good example. She can orally express her ideas as she wants to. She
got an A for the English course. She uttered her smooth self-negotiation into the institutional discourse
as shown below.
I always enjoyed the English (class). For me, its its a place I put everything Ive
learned into practice. That, you know, whatever activities we had in class just provide
me a chance to practice my English. I saw those English sentences from somewhere. I
didnt know how to use them. But I could in this English class. The class just, you
know, strengthens what Ive known. (Joy)

The excerpt above illustrates the extent to which cultural capital facilitated the EFL language
learning of Joys. In this case, the possession of cultural capitaltechnical skills in the English
subject and associated dispositionsJoy has automatically entailed its activation, thus allowing her to
interact and pursue her best interests with persons in positions of institutional authority smoothly. The
class simply helps to promote the acquisition of the target language.

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The effect of habitus and capital on the classroom interaction is also best seen in the case of Chai and
Yang. The interview data, together with the classroom observation demonstrated the low participation
of the less privileged informants Chai and Yang when a floor was given on the voluntary basis.
Though being aspired to and highly motivated to get successful in their tertiary education, Chai and
Yang found that they were occasionally vulnerable and at risk of being marginalized. This is partially
due to implicit school/classroom culture or norms both of them do not possess. For them, it is very
difficult to grasp their own floor.

Compared with my classmates, especially the graduates [students studying in a

high school curricula] from this school, I think my English is not that good. But
in my class I am quite ok. I may be slow and cannot say as I want. But if I have a
chance I think I should try. In the whole semester, I should become better. When
I do it my class will be lively. (Chai)

I agree with Chai. Im in the same class as him. I think its good when we have a
chance to put er, er, what weve studied into actual use. No, no, no, Im not that
good. I mean I still feel shy, but want to keep doing it as much as I can. At least I
can get your attention. (Yang)

Chai, a student trying very hard to actively participate in classroom activities, related his poor EFL
performance to the educational background. His uncontested acceptance of in-class communication
practice echoes the lack of congruence between his habitus and capital and the school-valued
classroom practices. Advantages to be gained are attributable to his willingness to join the interaction.
The same effect applies to Yang, another less privileged student, who partook in the classroom
discussion with his limited EFL. This also applies to the shy student Yang, who sees the payoff in this
educational investment and puts hard efforts in the classroom interaction to call the instructors
attention. The recognition that such an interaction would be advantageous to the academic assessment
of Yangs teacher indicates the internalization of dominant culture. With an exposure to the dominant
capital, Yang, a less privileged student, wanted to develop a sense of what is for them to become
academically well as prescribed. By that, he embodied the cultural norms of academia.

Tensions in Students Practice: Aspiration to Success

A varying amount of habitus and capital has influenced different zones of comfort in classroom
participation and engagement. The informants with a higher amount of capital, Joy, Grace, Nop,
Sang, and Tom, alleged that they felt more engaged with the class as they have sufficient stored
knowledge to participate in most of the class activities. They also saw payoffs in their accumulated
capital transmitted by their parents.
Yet, it appears to be fair to state that the payoffs work as a double-edged sword for some of the
informants, namely, Nop, Sang, and Tom, who agreed that they sometimes felt excessively relaxed in
the class, thus putting less efforts in language learning occasionally. In the interviews, they
discursively contended that they were aware of the fact that they have had adequate convertible
resources to the social institution, but did not want to dominate the exchange of interactions in the
class. The other two informants with a higher amount of cultural capital, Joy, and Grace, explicitly
stated that the possession of their capital, coupled with their recognition of the importance of
English as an international language, had inspired them to start the practice of self-language learning
to become a competent language user, rather than a language learner.
The idea of not showing off is noteworthy here. This finding suggests the Thai culture
prevailing in the classroom, which later has an influence on how a body of knowledge is constructed
(Jantrasakul, 2004 & 2008). Like Chinese students learning culture proposed by Jin & Cortazzi
(1998), the learning practice of the school being investigated is primarily from teachers and textbooks.
Data from interviews and classroom observation demonstrate that the seven informants are more

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comfortable to assimilate the institutionalized discourse of English language learning when the source
of knowledge is from the teacher and textbooks. They were willing to put the stored information into
application.
In this study, the situated practice of communication-oriented approach at the sentence level and with
feedbacks in reference with the textbooks and endorsed by the instructor serves as a success factor for
the present and future EFL learning practice. Even though Chai and Yang are less competent in
English, the two informants accepted that the level of success and participation largely corresponded
to the zone of comfort in their EFL learning. They found no difficulties adjusting themselves to the
institutionally authorized discourse them under such sources of feedback. However, data from the
interview and documents reveal that the seven informants had a positive attitude toward cooperative
learning which students are part of teaching and learning.
The habitus and capital serves as conflicting forces in academic performance. Though the two
informants Chai and Yang aspired to become successful in their EFL learning, they got only a C for
the course. Their limited habitus and capital appears to push them to learn how to adopt new,
additional repertoires of knowledge and practices that are highly valued in the present school. The
notion of the pay-offs is a major drive in their plights of EFL learning. Chai and Yang adamantly
pursued the institutionalized discourse of English language learning at the present school to leverage
their capital.

The content here is not different from my old school. Its just a matter of how hard I
will work for my studies. I think if I read more, I can reach it. Just have to study
harder for the basic or the fundamental. Everything is from the grammar, I mean,
grammatical structure. (Chai)

The above shows the conflicting account of Chai, who recognized his lower amount of cultural capital
as an impediment for his current studies, that is, his may not as successful as their counterpart in the
present study. Regardless of the de facto truth, he believed that this path of EFL learning could be
carried out successfully. His unwavering insistence as said its just a matter of how hard I will work
for my studies reflects conflicting forces and tensions in academic discourse and performance. As
Bourdieu states, to become academically successful, a learner needs to possess certain dispositions and
socialization skills to become part of a community. A sense of belonging and being at home is a
strong force encouraging students to study hard and succeed in their learning.

Conclusion and Suggestions

It is apparent that the students construction of EFL learning is complex and has been affected by a
range of cultural capital each individual has possessed as Bourdieu suggested. The analysis shows that
the parenting is very influential in establishing students habitus and capital conducive to academic
achievements and positive attitudes toward their English language learning. Parents with high SES are
likely to get involved in supporting the course of their children learning. They have encouraged their
children to see the relevance of the target language in the real world.
In addition, the findings disclose that the prestige of the present school has a macro contribution
to becoming a competent EFL learner. From a pragmatic point of view, English is a language of
opportunities to gain prestige, especially in the context where the language is not a second language
that causes both higher and lower SES students to become as competent as they can (Choi, 2003;
Nino-Murcia, 2003; Guilherme, 2007; and Xuesong, 2007). Therefore, the symbolic power of English,
coupled with the school ranking leaves unquestionable the hidden agenda in the school curriculum.
The informants expressed their acceptance and willingness to internalize the institutionalized discourse
of EFL learning. The recognition of a varying amount of cultural capital individuals have positively
urged them to bridge the cultural difference between school and home without any resistance. In a
sense, the notion of dominant cultural values and ideas embedded in the curriculum is not questioned
by the students and the school in the Thai context. That is, the success of the students educational

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performance does not manifest its concerns over the curriculum. Mainly, it is dependent on the
teaching and learning practice between a teacher and students. In summary, the findings valorize the
interplay of habitus and capital cultural in EFL teaching and learning where students, by nature, are
deficient due to their limited exposure to the real English speaking environment. English, once
considered as a high-status language restricted for the upper-class family only, is a main drive for the
EFL learners to accept the authoritative pedagogy discourse imposed on them without any question.

Acknowledgement
This study is funded by College of Industrial Technology, King Mongkuts University of Technology
North Bangkok.

References
Apple, M. (1996). Cultural politics & education. New York: Teacher College Press.
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