Second language acquisition of spoken and written English: Acquiring the skeptron

Research in second language acquisition (SLA) has been dominated by questions regarding the psychological processes of language learning, with less concern for the wider social context, the power relations within the context, and their effect on the psychological variables. This article draws on Peirce's (1995) concept of investment, arguing that it can be usefully broken down into investment in discourses. It also draws on and extends Peirce's use of Bourdieu's (1991) notions of legitimate language, arguing that not only do subject positions,and thus the ability to claim the right to speak, change over time, but they can change within one encounter. To illustrate the importance of these concepts, I analyse the interaction between myself and a student in an interview as a language learning situation, during which the power relationships shift significantly because of a change of topic (the skeptron changes hands). This shift occurs because of the wider political context and affects the nature of the interaction and thus SLA. The analysis of the interview data and pieces of writing also demonstrates the student's investment in prior discourses and the way they hinder and facilitate his acquisition of written academic discourse, as his approach to academic writing is powerfully shaped by the meanings and function writing had held for him as a political prisoner in an apartheid South Africa. The article includes a brief discussion of the implications for the L2 classroom.