Motherhood as capital: Rethinking L2 investment through vulnerability

Studies on L2 investment among immigrant women have shown their agency while also revealing how unequal power dynamics and marginalized identity markers can hinder language learning. Less researched in this line of study, however, is the potential and generative strengths of the intersectional identities and vulnerabilities of the less privileged. Drawing on the model of investment and Bourdieu's concept of capital, this narrative case study focuses on the lived experiences of a transnational Chinese single mother of three children who rebuilds her life through L2 learning in the US. The data sources mainly consist of multiple narrative interviews, reflection journals, social media posts, and other relevant artifacts. Our study shows that although her migrant single mother identity brings many challenges to her L2 learning and academic studies, it also creates new opportunities and resources for learning and communication. We argue that as a nonelite and non-material form of capital, motherhood capital adds to the scholarship on L2 investment, and that dispositions developed in contexts of vulnerability and marginalization can themselves play a resistant and empowering role in the L2 investment of underrepresented learners.