Economic, Social, Cultural, Emotional, and Sensory Capitals in Academic Achievement

Abstract

Capitals' contribution to educational achievement and their role in one's success or failure within classrooms are paramount, which is why they have been often discussed in the realm of the sociology of education. Adding the newly-developed concept of sensory capital as a complement to the existing capitals, the present study seeks to statistically find the potential relationships these capitals may have with each other and their possible influences on educational achievement. To accomplish this, first, a questionnaire was designed and validated to quantify the amount of sensory capital. Then, along with emotional, social, cultural, and economic capital questionnaires, it was given to 410 participants whose language scores were used as an indicator of educational achievement. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was run, the results of which indicated positive relationships among all types of capital and a significant role in language achievement score, with economic capital having the highest and social capital having the lowest contribution. Therefore, capitals can be concluded to both have a significant relationship with each other and a determining role in educational achievement that should be taken into account when it comes to dealing with educational success in academic environments.

Toward a Better Understanding of Language Learning Motivation in a Study Abroad Context: An Investigation Among Chinese English as a Foreign Language Learners

“…In other words, the learners are more likely to move to involvement or metavolvement (Pishghadam et al, 2015) with active motivation that they are directly experiencing or even creating the language when they engaged in the L2 interaction. As result, the emotions and the sensory inputs the individuals received from the communication environment can work as sensory capital (Pishghadam et al, 2019b;Pishghadam and Shakeebaee, 2020) in developing their understanding of the language as well as perception of their ideal future-self-images more directly, which, in turn, may evoke their willingness to participate in English language learning and communication.…”

“…For instance, a learner participating in a class can move from avolvement (null level) to exvolvement (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic levels) and eventually to involvement (inner and arch levels) or metavolvment (mastery level) through teachers’ actions in certain ways. In this sense, emotioncy that encompasses emotions, senses and frequencies, can be understood as “sensory capital” that deals with the amount of sensory access one has, for language learners, and teachers are considered as “envolvers” who can affect and help learners to increase their emotioncy levels in the classroom, so that consequently change their sensory capitals and understanding toward a concept in an L2 ( Pishghadam et al, 2019c ; Pishghadam and Shakeebaee, 2020 ). Previous studies on emotioncy have demonstrated the role of sensory emotioncy types in the second language acquisition.…”

Developing New Software to Analyze the Emo-‎Sensory Load of Language

“…Moreover, individuals` perspectives of reality and outlook on the future can be influenced by their emotions and sensory inputs from their surroundings (Pishghadam & Shayesteh, 2016). Existing senses are primarily responsible for their connections to themselves, other persons, and other organisms (Pishghadam & Shakeebaee, 2020). Therefore, Pishghadam and Shayesteh (2017) presented the idea of emo-sensory intelligence (ESQ) to underscore the role of sense and emotion in life.…”

The Role of EFL Teachers’ Emotioncy in Preventing Students’ Boredom and Pessimism

“…The emotioncy level of people vary in relation to the type, degree of exposure, and sense involvement of a task ( Pishghadam et al, 2013a ). Basically, this concept was a call for the “emotionalization” of language education by forming an affective/emotional linkage between teachers and students ( Pishghadam and Shakeebaee, 2020 ). When EFL students’ emotions and senses are engaged in an activity or practice, they easily make meaning out of it and find it achievable.…”