Investimento de Falantes Mexicanos de Inglês como Segunda Língua

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UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA 
Centro Universitario De Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades 
Departamento De Lenguas Modernas 
 
 
 
Exploring Investment of Mexican Speakers of English as a Second Language 
 
Lic. Susie Zavala 
 
 
Tesis para obtener el grado de Maestra en 
Enseñanza del Inglés Como Lengua Extranjera 
 
 
Director De Tesis 
Dr. Gerrard Mugford Fowler 
 
Enero 2020 
 
 
 
 
 
 
UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA 
 
CENTRO UNIVERSITARIO DE CIENCIAS SOCIALES Y HUMANIDADES / DIVISIÓN DE 
ESTUDIOS HISTÓRICOS Y HUMANOS / MAESTRIA EN ENSEÑANZA DEL INGLÉS 
COMO LENGUA EXTRANJERA 
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Guadalajara, Jal., México Tel.: (33) 3819 3300 Ext.: 23574. www.meile.cucsh.udg.mx 
 
 
 
 
 
MAESTRIA EN ENSEÑANZA DEL INGLES COMO LENGUA EXTRANJERA 
PRESENTE: 
 
 
 
Por este conducto le comunico de la manera más atenta que se ha revisado 
cuidadosamente como Director de Tesis, el trabajo presentado por la LIC. SUSIE 
ZAVALA para obtener el grado de Maestra en Enseñanza del Inglés como Lengua 
Extranjera, y una vez atendidas todas las modificaciones que he solicitado, 
considero que está preparado para sustentar su examen de tesis con el título: 
“Exploring Investment of Mexican Speakers of English as a Second Language”. 
 
Sin otro particular por el momento, le envío un cordial saludo. 
 
 
ATENTAMENTE 
“PIENSA Y TRABAJA” 
Guadalajara, Jalisco a 09 de enero de 2020 
 
 
 
 
 
DR. GERRARD EDWIN MUGFORD 
DIRECTOR DE TESIS 
 
 
 
 
 
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Table of Contents 
 
Acknowledgements………………...……………………………………………………….3 
 
Chapter 1: Introduction…….………………………………………………….………......4 
Chapter 2: Literature Review……………………………………………………….…….6 
2.1 Overview……...……………………….………….……………………….…….6 
2.2 Why motivational theory doesn’t work……………………………….…………6 
2.3 Investment………………………………………………………...............……10 
2.4 Norton’s 1995 publication and influential past research….…………...….……15 
2.5 Other studies on investment…………………………………………….…..….17 
2.6 Agency…………………………………………………………….…….….….18 
2.7 Summary...……………………………………………………….………….....22 
Chapter 3: Methodology…………………………………………………………….……23 
3.1 Overall methodology including initial attempts………………………...…..….23 
3.2 Research questions……………………………………………….…….……....23 
3.3 Participants……………………………………………….…………….…...….24 
3.4 Details of the participants……………………………………….………....…...24 
3.5 Instruments…………………………………………………….………...….….27 
3.6 Interview design…………………………………………………………….….27 
3.7 Procedure…………………………………………………………….……...….28 
3.8 How the research was carried out……………………………………………...28 
3.9 My role as the researcher and any ethical considerations……………….…......28 
Chapter 4: Results………………….……………………………………………….…….30 
4.1 Participant 1………………………………………………………….……...….30 
4.2 Participant 2…………………………………………………….……….…..….35 
4.3 Participant 3……………………………………………………………....…….39 
4.4 Participant 4……………………………………………………….…….…..….42 
4.5 Participant 5…………………………………………………………………….45 
Chapter 5: Analysis…………………………….……………………………………....…49 
5.1 Beliefs about English and its importance…………………….…………….......49 
5.2 Experiences learning English……………………………………………...…...50 
5.3 Experiences using English………………………………………………..……51 
5.4 Self-perception of English-language skills………………….………………....54 
Chapter 6: Conclusion………….…………………………………………………...……56 
 
References…………………………………………………………………………………59 
Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………..62 
 
 
 
 
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Acknowledgements 
 
This work would not have been possible without the guidance, patience, and invaluable 
feedback of my Thesis Director, Gerry Mugford, and both my readers, Dixie Santana and 
Brynn Saito. Thank you for sharing your time, knowledge and resources. Thank you to 
Spencer, Tota and Lindy who all helped review various parts of this work. I am also 
extraordinarily grateful to my family and friends for their support throughout this process. 
And of course, to the participants in this study who openly shared their stories and were so 
generous with their time. 
 
 
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Chapter 1 
Introduction 
 
While teaching English as a foreign language in private universities and in large 
corporations in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, I was always interested in why these 
professionals decided to enroll into these English courses and what leads them to seriously 
invest in learning the language. Though I only have had the opportunity to teach a small 
group of working professionals, I heard very similar answers to that question, and 
discovered something that I found interesting: when Mexican speakers of English as a 
second language are forced to study and use English, they often are averse to investing in 
the language until they find a concrete personal need to communicate in English. I wanted 
to explore this issue through the concepts of investment and agency and look at speakers 
who have taken control of their own learning and use it for their own purposes. 
Investment is a concept first introduced by Norton (1995) and remodeled by her and 
Darvin (2015) as a way of studying how and why second language speakers decide to learn 
and use their second language. Norton’s concept of investment demonstrates that there is 
more to consider as to why speakers of English as a second language become motivated 
and invested in learning and communicating in English. There are few studies on the 
investment of speakers of English as a second language in an EFL environment (Darvin & 
Norton, 2015). By studying Mexican speakers of English as a second language on when 
and why they invest in English, this research can have possible pedagogical implications in 
the classroom and help educators understand these types of learners better. Using semi-
structured interviews with the five participants in this study, I seek to understand their 
individual experiences while giving them a voice. Through their experiences I hope to shed 
light on the motivations, agency, investment of others. 
This thesis explores the overarching research question: What are the processes that 
help second-language learners develop and identify their motivation to invest in English? 
My specific research questions are the following. First, what are the affective factors that 
encourage and/or hinder Mexican speakers of English as a second language to 
communicate in English? Second, what makes Mexican speakers of English as a second 
language feel successful and unsuccessful in their use of English? And third, what are the 
resources Mexican speakers of English as a second language use to be successful in their 
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English communication? This research seeks to answer these questions and explore these 
issues. There are six chapters included in this thesis: Chapter 2 will explain the concepts of 
investment and agency; Chapter 3 will explain the overall methodology and give details of 
the five participants; Chapter 4 will contain the results of the participants; Chapter 5 will 
contain my analysis of the participants based on the results; and Chapter 6 will contain the 
conclusions of this study. 
 
 
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Chapter 2 
Literature Review 
 
2.1 Overview 
 The focus of the literature review is to relate how the concepts of investment and 
agencybecame important in language learning. Theories on motivation to learn second 
languages dates back to the 1980s. However, these theories on motivation, which will be 
explored in the next section, fail to take into account the social context in which second 
language speakers operate. Because of this, Bonny Norton (1995) “argues for a conception 
of investment rather than motivation to capture the complex relationship of language 
learners to the target language” (p. 9). Motivational theory cannot fully explain the complex 
interactions that take place in a second language speaker’s world. Since Norton’s 1995 
article, she and Darvin (2015) have developed the concept of investment to capture this 
complexity. This complexity can shed light as to when and why second language speakers 
decide to invest in the English language while working and living in Mexico. In this 
literature review, I will look at why motivational theory does not entirely work, the 
concepts of investment and agency of second language speakers, and past studies. 
 
2.2 Why motivational theory doesn’t work 
Motivational theory does not fully capture the picture of what is happening in a 
second language speaker’s world. Past research has usually pinned second language 
learners into two polar opposite categories such as motivated/unmotivated, 
introverted/extroverted, inhibited/uninhibited, and good leaner/bad learner (Norton, 2014) 
to explain why a second language speaker may be successful or unsuccessful in learning 
and then speaking a second language. These descriptors can often exist in the same second 
language speaker for various internal or external reasons, and hence be contradictory. They 
do not fully encompass the external factors of their social context, which has a significant 
impact on whether second language speakers choose to continue learning and using their 
second language and decide to invest in it. Due to this complexity, motivational theories 
from theorists such as Gardner (1985) and, more recently, Dörnyei (2005, 2009), do not fit. 
Gardner’s (1985) socio-educational model of language learning is based on the 
belief that social and cultural settings can impact motivation to learn a language. He 
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specifies two types of motivation: instrumental and integrative motivation. “An 
instrumental orientation refers to a situation whereby the learner is motivated to learn the 
language for extrinsic reasons, such as for financial gain or job promotion. An integrative 
orientation refers to the situation whereby the learner is motivated to learn the language 
because they identify with the target culture” (Paltridge & Phakiti, 2015, p. 404). In short, 
instrumental motivation stems from a desire for practicable purposes, and integrative 
motivation stems from the desire to be part of the target community. Norton goes further to 
say that integrative motivation comes from the “desire to learn a language to integrate 
successfully with the target language community” (Norton, 2013, p. 50). Integrative 
motivation drives second language speakers to successfully be accepted into the target 
community. 
However, the idea of investment that Norton advocates for is not the same as 
instrumental motivation. The concept of instrumental motivation assumes “a unitary, fixed, 
and ahistorical language learner who desires access to material resources that are the 
privilege of target language speakers” (Norton, 2013, p. 50). To say that a language learner 
is a “unitary, fixed, and ahistorical language learner” is putting them in a closed box and 
assumes that external factors have no influence on their decisions to either invest or not 
invest in a second language. Alternatively, the concept of investment dictates that when 
second language learners speak, they are doing two things: 1) interacting with target 
language users; and 2) “constantly organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and 
how they relate to the social world” (Norton, 2013, p. 51). Norton’s conclusion from this is 
that in investing in a target language, a second language speaker is also investing in their 
own identity, which is changing over time and space (Norton, 2013). Because a language 
speaker’s identity evolves, the idea of instrumental motivation cannot fully explain changes 
within the language speaker. Hence, the concept of investment describes a more complex 
phenomenon happening in second language speakers than what can be explained by 
instrumental or integrative motivation. 
 Researchers such as Dörnyei (2005, 2009) have tried to expand on Gardner’s ideas, 
however, they still “do not capture the complex relationship between power, identity and 
language learning” that Norton has observed in her research (Norton, 2013, p. 50). 
Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System focuses on identity and motivation. “Its central 
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concept is the ideal self, which refers to the representation of the attributes that someone 
would ideally like to possess (i.e. a representation of personal hopes, aspirations or 
wishes)” in the future (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009, p. 3). He draws upon the psychological 
theory of possible selves, which represent the person’s idea of what they could become, 
“what they would like to become or what they are afraid of becoming” (Ushioda, 2014, p. 
133). Each of these selves have slight differences of internalization. Dörnyei categorizes 
these L2 selves into the “ideal L2 self” and the “ought-to L2 self”. The ideal L2 self values 
the “future possible self whose desirable attributes include L2 proficiency for personal, 
social or vocational purposes” (Ushioda, 2014, p. 134). The motivation to progress towards 
this ideal L2 self is fully internalized. However, the ought-to L2 self is dependent on 
external factors such as the need to comply with outsiders’ (e.g., teachers, parents, etc.) 
expectations or social pressures (Ushioda, 2014). Different from the L2 Motivational Self 
System, the concept of investment assumes that the second language user has a complex 
“social history and multiple desires” (Norton, 2013, p. 51), and Dörnyei does not take this 
into account. 
In addition to motivational theory, Norton also explored Krashen’s Affective Filter 
Hypothesis which she found contradictory to her research. The Affective Filter Hypothesis 
views second language learners with the formula i + 1 / comprehensible input where “i” 
stands for interlanguage. Interlanguage is the learner’s second language in progress or 
under construction in the learner’s mind. The “1” (one) stands for compressible input 
(Mitchell et al., 2013). Krashen posited that comprehensible input “in the presence of a low 
affective filter is the major causal variable in second language acquisition… this affective 
filter compromises the learner’s motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety state” (Norton, 
1995, p. 10), characteristics that are more dependent on the person than the social context 
they live in. Low affective filter is the term Krashen uses to refer to the complex negative 
emotional and motivational factors that may interfere with receiving and processing 
comprehensible input. These factors include anxiety, self-consciousness, boredom, 
annoyance, and alienation (Pittaway, 2004). In Norton’s 1995 research study, her 
participants of immigrant women did not fit into this theory, which pushed her to create the 
concept of investment. “Despite being highly motivated, there were particular social 
conditions under which the women [in this study] were most uncomfortable and unlikely to 
 Zavala 9 
 
speak” (p. 19). Even though there was motivation present to use and learn English, the 
women in this study were hesitant to speak based on the social contexts they found 
themselves in. Norton argues that “a language learner’s affective filter cannot be 
understood apart from his or her relationship to larger,and frequently inequitable social 
structures” (Norton, 2013, p. 156). All of Norton’s participants were highly motivated to 
learn English, but there were conditions under which her participants were uncomfortable 
and unlikely to speak (Norton, 2013), which goes against Krashen’s Affective Filter 
Hypothesis. Norton’s data indicates that “motivation to speak is mediated by other 
investments that may conflict with the desire to speak – investments that are intimately 
connected to the ongoing production of the learners’ identities and their desires for the 
future” (Norton, 2013, p. 157), therefore the concept of investment demonstrates a fuller 
picture of what happens with second language learners. More specific details of Norton’s 
study will be given in section 2.4. 
Gardner, Dörnyei, and Krashen’s theories do not sufficiently take into account 
unequal power relations between second language users and target language speakers nor 
do they take into account that a language speaker’s identity changes over time and space. 
Norton’s (2013) research found, “that high levels of motivation did not necessarily translate 
into good language learning, and that unequal relations of power between language learners 
and target language speakers was a common theme in data” (p. 6). For this reason, the 
concept of investment is a more encompassing explanation to the social phenomenon that 
takes place for second language users. Investment is seen as the sociological complement to 
the “psychology construct of motivation” (Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 37) and searches for a 
meaningful connection between the second-language learner’s commitment to learn the 
language and their complex identity (Norton, 2013). 
As cited in Norton (2013), Claire Kramsch states in her afterword, 
Unlike motivation, investment carries connotations of hopes of returns and benefits; 
it accentuates the role of human agency and identity in engaging with the task at 
hand, in accumulating economic and symbolic capital, in having stakes in the 
endeavor and in persevering in that endeavor. In the North American context, 
investment in SLA has become synonymous with ‘language learning commitment’ 
and is based on a learner’s intentional choice and desire. In this view, learners are 
 Zavala 10 
 
no longer passively structured by powerful institutions; nor are they simply moved 
to learn what others teach them. They can exercise agency, claim their right to be 
heard, change perceptions and institutional prejudices, and strive to become 
whoever they want to be (p. 195). 
For these reasons, I will focus on Norton’s model of investment for my study 
because it responds to the demands and realities of today’s world. 
 
2.3 Investment 
Investment is seen as the sociological complement to the “psychology construct of 
motivation” (Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 37). Since Norton’s first introduction of the idea of 
investment in her 1995 article, she and Darvin (2015) have developed the concept more 
fully to encapsulate three specific notions: ideology, capital, and identity. Their model 
shows “how power circulates in society, at both micro and macro levels, constructing 
modes of inclusion and exclusion through and beyond language” (Norton & De Costa, 
2018, p. 92). Norton has argued that “if learners invest in a language, they do so with the 
understanding that they will acquire a wider range of symbolic and material resources” 
(Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 37). This is exhibited through their model where ideology, 
capital and identity all intersect and interact with each other that investment is created. 
Claire Kramsch states that “Bonny [Norton] found in these three concepts an expression of 
her desire to reclaim the right of language learners to take ownership of English, to liberate 
themselves from imposed identities, and to build communities of practice constituted along 
lines other than the institutional communities imposed by society” (Norton, 2013, p. 195). 
Norton (2013) argues “that a learner may be a highly motivated language learner, but may 
nevertheless have little investment in the language practices of a given classroom or 
community” (p. 2). Their communities or classrooms, for example, may be racist, sexist, 
elitist or homophobic and deter language learners from investing. In addition, the language 
practices of a classroom may not be consistent with learner expectations of good teaching 
and affect their ability to learn. A learner can be highly motivated to learn a language, but 
not necessarily invested in a given set of language practices (Norton, 2013). To describe 
this phenomenon, Norton focused on the ideas of various poststructuralist theorists who see 
“the individual (i.e., the subject) as diverse, contradictory, dynamic, and changing over 
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historical time and social space” (McKinney & Norton, 2008, p. 194) as her concept of 
investment demonstrates. The model of investment demonstrates how learners position 
themselves within the constructs of capital, identity and ideology (see Figure 1). 
Figure 1 (Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 6) 
 
 Most researchers would agree that the most influential poststructuralist theorist for 
Norton’s concept of investment is Bourdieu, which I will further explain in the next section. 
The basis of investment’s three notions of capital, identity and ideology stem from 
Bourdieu’s forms of capital: economic, social, and cultural. I will review each part of 
Norton’s model. 
Capital 
As cited in Block (2016), Bourdieu’s economic capital refers to income, 
possessions, and property; social capital refers to friends and work associates; and cultural 
capital refers to education level and cultural consumption. In general, each person strives to 
increase their forms of capital and second language learners do so by learning the target 
language of their community. Bourdieu (1986) states that “the structure of the distribution 
of the different types and subtypes of capital at a given moment in time represents the 
immanent structure of the social world” (p. 246). This social world for language learners is 
dependent on the target language community and/or their places of work. “If learners 
‘invest’ in the target language, they do so with the understanding that they will acquire a 
wider range of symbolic resources (language, education, friendship) and material resources 
(capital goods, real estate, money), which will in turn increase the value of their cultural 
capital and social power” (Norton, 2013, p. 6). These symbolic and material resources tie 
 Zavala 12 
 
directly into Bourdieu’s forms of capital and provide us with reasons as to why learners 
pursue a second language. 
 If a person decides to learn a second language, they do so with the understanding 
that they will increase their capital. “Bourdieu and Passeron (1977) use the term ‘cultural 
capital’ to reference the knowledge and modes of thought that characterize different classes 
and groups in relations to specific sets of social forms” (Norton, 2013, p. 50). Some types 
of capital are valued more than others; however, some second language learners believe 
that by investing in a second language it will give them access to a greater array of 
resources, which translates to increasing the value of their cultural capital (Norton, 2013), 
one of the main goals of second language learners. This becomes very literal when a second 
language learner’s knowledge of the target language grows, their access to symbolic and 
material resources translates to more sales or job opportunities and promotions at work. 
This cultural capital directly links to the notion of identity in Norton’s investment whereby 
the negative or positive change of capital changes how second language learners see 
themselves over time and space. 
Identity 
Identity is defined by Norton (2013) as how a person understands their relationshipto the world and how that relationship is arranged over time and space, and how that person 
understands their future possibilities. In this time and space, “language is seen as central to 
the circulation of discourses” where systems of power and knowledge oversee social 
institutions and practices (De Costa & Norton, 2016, p. 589). This signifies that within this 
space identities must be negotiated. Identity can be “multiple, changing, and a site of 
struggle, frequently negotiated in context of inequitable relations of power” (Norton, 2014, 
p. 61). Identities are multiple and ever-changing within language and the community that a 
person operates within. 
As Claire Kramsch wrote in her afterword in Norton’s (2013) book, she states that 
“Bourdieu considered an individual’s habitus as unconsciously structured by the fields in 
which he/she finds himself (e.g. family, school, workplace); in turn, by acting according to 
their habitus, individuals structure the fields in which they operate. It is through this 
interaction of habitus and field that people gain a practical sense of who they are and who 
they can become” (p. 196). Habitus is “deeply ingrained habits, skills, and dispositions that 
 Zavala 13 
 
we possess due to our life experiences” (Social Theory Re-wired, 2016). Second language 
speakers must make an investment in the fields in which they are operating in order to be 
successful. Within these fields, learners decide who they would like to become. 
Following poststructuralist theorists like Bourdieu, Christine Weedon argues that 
language creates who we are and defines social and institutional practices. Weedon (1997) 
states that “Language is a place where actual and possible forms of social organization and 
their likely social and political consequences are defined and contested. Yet it is also the 
place where our sense of ourselves, our subjectivity, is constructed” (p. 21). Weedon uses 
the word subjectivity because a person’s identity is defined by their own personal feelings 
and opinions. It is in this space that a person forms and decides who they would like to be. 
Building off Weedon, Norton (2013) states that “one is often subject of a set of 
relationships (i.e. in a position of power) or subject to a set of relationships (i.e. in a 
position of reduced power)” (Norton, 2013, p. 4). These relationships of power are in 
constant flux and form based on where each person stands within their target community. 
The idea of power and its effect on identity leads to Norton’s notion of ideology. 
Ideology 
Darvin and Norton (2017) adopt a broad concept of ideology in order to account for 
learners’ accessibility “to move fluidly across spaces where ideologies collude and 
compete” (p. 6). They refer to these ideologies as “dominant ways of thinking that organize 
and stabilize societies while simultaneously determining modes of inclusion and exclusion” 
(p. 6), which determine power structures. Similarly to Foucault (1980), Norton argues that 
“power does not operate only at the macro level of powerful institutions such as the legal 
system, the education system and the social welfare system, but also at the micro level of 
everyday social encounters between people with differential access to symbolic and 
material resources – encounters that are inevitably produced within language” (Norton, 
2013, p. 47). This power references the relationships that are created between a person and 
their institutions and communities where symbolic and material resources are gained or 
lost. 
A person can be denied or granted access to powerful social networks that give 
second language learners the opportunity to speak (Norton, 2013). Thus, their environment 
influences whether or not the learner would like to invest in the language. It is highly 
 Zavala 14 
 
advantageous for a language learner to be within the target language community that they 
are learning. This gives the language learner more access for opportunities to practice their 
listening, reading, speaking and writing skills (Norton, 2014). Outside of their places of 
work, sometimes second-language users do not have much engagement with the English 
language, unless they take it upon themselves to get access to English language materials 
such as reading news articles online and listening to podcasts. This is one of the reasons 
that “identity theorists are therefore concerned about the ways in which power is distributed 
in both formal and informal sites of language learning, […] and how it affects learners’ 
opportunities to negotiated relationships with target language speakers” (Norton, 2014, p. 
61). 
Multiple discourses exist in investment. Bourdieu’s (1977) and Bakhtin’s (1981) 
concepts of discourse and discursive practices influenced Norton’s concept of ideology. 
Bourdieu (1977) paid special importance to power in discourse and believed that 
participants never shared equal rights when speaking. He believed that there were 
legitimate and illegitimate speakers who were identified by their ‘rights to speech’ and their 
‘power to impose reception’ (p. 648). In formal or informal situations, second language 
speakers may feel that they do not have the right to speak nor the power to impose 
reception due to their second language abilities. The right to speak depends on their 
personal or work position. For example, a second language speaker may feel that they do 
not have the right to speak when a native language speaker speaks or if their boss is 
speaking when they are the subordinate. Their position dictates who will pay attention to 
the speaker. 
 In addition, as cited by Norton (2013), Bourdieu (1977) argues that an utterance 
must meet four conditions for it to be a legitimate discourse. These four conditions are: 1) it 
must be uttered by an appropriate speaker meaning that a software engineer is not giving 
advice to the logistics department; 2) it must be uttered in a legitimate situation meaning 
that a CEO, not an administrative assistant, of a company is addressing the company at an 
annual meeting about the company’s progress; 3) it must be addressed to “legitimate 
receivers” meaning that a company CEO is addressing their employees and not the families 
of their employees; and 4) “it must be formulated in legitimate phonological and syntactic 
forms” (p. 106) meaning that the speaker logically forms phrases and words. 
 Zavala 15 
 
Another influential poststructuralist theorist for Norton’s notion of ideology is 
Mikhail Bakhtin. Norton (2014) states that he “saw language not as a set of idealized forms 
independent of their speakers or their speaking, but rather as situated utterances in which 
speakers, in dialogue with others, struggle to create meanings” (Norton, 2014, p. 63). 
Bakhtin’s research emphasized the importance of language’s social uses. Outside of this 
social use, language did not have meaning. He believed that speakers struggled to 
communicate and strived to be part of specific speech communities and get across their 
message to others in this community. Hall, et al. (2004) said of Bakhtin: 
One concept that is crucial to Bakhtin’s conceptualization of language is the 
utterance, our concrete response to the conditions of the moment. For Bakhtin, the 
utterance is always a two-sided act. In the moment of its use, at one and the same 
time, it responds to what precedes it and anticipates what is to come. When we 
speak, then, we do two things; (a) we create the contexts of use to which our 
utterances typically belong and, at the same time, (b) we create a space for our own 
voice. (p. 2) 
Bakhtin helps us understand language as something that changes where speakers use it for 
their own purpose. Hall, et al., (2004) go on to state, “In using language to participate in our 
activities, we reflect our understanding of them and their larger cultural contexts. At the 
sametime, we create spaces for ourselves as individual actors within them” (p. 3). 
 
2.4 Norton’s 1995 publication and influential past research 
Norton’s (1995) own study focused on four immigrant women in Canada. Norton 
uses data analysis and qualitative studies studying four immigrant women who all kept 
diaries about their experiences. This was the first time that Norton introduced the concept 
of investment arguing that the concept of investment rather than motivation captures the 
complex relationship of language learners to the target language and their sometimes 
ambivalent desire to speak. She argues that SLA theorists need to broaden theories to 
include social identity. The implications of classroom teaching are significant in that if 
teachers are able to place importance on students’ identities, then students will be able to 
grasp their target language better. She states that if learners invest in a second language, 
they do it with the understanding that they will acquire a range of symbolic and material 
 Zavala 16 
 
resources (Norton, 1995). She found that some identities can be enhanced while other 
identities diminished within the same person. For example, Norton’s participant, Martina 
had limited opportunities to listen, speak, read, and write in her second language “under 
conditions of marginalization” and other identities such as “mother” offered “enhanced sets 
of possibilities for social interaction and human agency, i.e. the possibility to take action in 
social settings” (Norton, 2014, p. 61). “The construct of investment seeks to make a 
meaningful connection between a learner’s desire and commitment to learn a language, and 
the language practices of the classroom or community. Although Martina was a highly 
motivated language learner, she was not invested in the language practices of her 
workplace, where she experienced discriminatory practices”, however, she was motivated 
to participate under the identity of “mother”. In this manner, we can understand why the 
sociological aspect of investment is important and why Norton posited to include identity, 
capital, and ideology. 
Prior to Norton’s (1995) research she gathered information from a 1986 study from 
the European Science Foundation (ESF). Their study focused on the relationship between 
language learners and target language speakers in a grander social, political, and economic 
context. Adult immigrants in five countries with five target languages, six mother tongues 
and 10 interlanguages amongst the group were studied over the course of five years. There 
were three important takeaways from this study. First, it found that adult immigrants were 
frequently discriminated against, which negatively impacted their social interaction. 
Second, it found that misunderstandings between language learners and target language 
speakers can happen due to verbal and nonverbal cultural misunderstandings. Third, if 
speakers came from different ethnic backgrounds, then “it is the learner who is expected to 
work to understand the native speaker, rather than the native speaker ensuring that the 
learner understand” (Norton, 2013, p. 78). Target language speakers had greater 
expectations of language learners. As cited by Norton (2013), one of the conclusions that 
researchers Bremer, Broeder, Roberts, Simonot and Vasseur (1993), came to was that 
“understanding is an active rather than passive skill, co-constructed by both learners and 
target language speakers (p. 153)” (Norton, 2013, p. 78). This signified that if both target 
language speaker and language learner actively participated in a conversation, then 
language learning occurred. In addition, Bremer et al., also concluded that if both target 
 Zavala 17 
 
language learners and language learners were more equal, then misunderstandings can be 
managed more successfully. This is accomplished by a greater understanding of the target 
language speaker and willingness on the part of the language learner to let the other know 
that they do not understand. Either way, both participants need to ensure that understanding 
is achieved without losing face (Norton, 2013). This was also found in Norton’s study. 
 
2.5 Other studies on investment 
In a classroom-based study by Duff (1997) in a multilingual secondary school in 
Canada, Duff observed that non-native English speakers remained silent in order to protect 
themselves from humiliation. However, native English speakers perceived this silence as a 
lack of knowledge, agency and desire to learn English. Following the concepts of 
motivation and investment, we can say that these learners were motivated, but not invested 
in the classroom’s practices. 
Goldstein (1996) conducted a critical ethnographic study of bilingual life and 
language choice in a multicultural/multilingual factory in Toronto of Portuguese immigrant 
women. Since the workers were Portuguese, the Portuguese language symbolized solidarity 
amongst the workers. “The use of Portuguese was associated with the rights, obligations 
and expectations” they had of each other at work. In order for women to gain access to the 
friendship networks on the line, they had to speak Portuguese, a minority language, rather 
than English, the dominant language of the wider Canadian community” (Norton, 2013, p. 
83). Participants in Goldstein’s study were invested in learning the dominant workplace 
language of Portuguese to be included in social networks at work. 
More recently, a series of studies were inspired by examining Norton’s concept of 
investment in second language learning. De Costa (2010) utilized the “notion of investment 
to investigate how a learner from China embraced standard English to inhabit an identity 
associated with being an academically able student” (Norton, 2013, p. 7). De Costa (2010) 
used “interviews, classroom interaction data, and written artifacts” (p. 217) for this study. 
He found that this student was able to take charge of her own agency in the face of various 
policies implemented by her school and was able to increase her understanding and 
learning of the English language. 
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Though Lønsmann’s (2011, 2015) case study did not use the concept of investment 
in his research, it was completed at a Denmark-based multinational pharmaceutical 
company that implemented an English-only policy at the company. This study investigated 
how policies changed social spaces at the company by “legitimising certain types of 
employees while marginalising others” (Lønsmann & Mortensen, 2018, p. 438). 
In a study carried out in an English-French immersion classroom in Quebec, 
Ballinger (2017) used Norton’s model of investment to look at how language status 
functions within society, the classroom, and the individual and how it impacts classroom 
language use. The study found that both French and English are important inside and 
outside of the classroom for bilingual proficiency. 
The above studies are relevant to my research of second-language speakers in 
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico as they take into account Norton’s concept of investment or 
study second-language speakers in professional settings. 
 
2.6 Agency 
Another important aspect of second language speakers that needs to be reviewed is 
agency. Though it is not part of Norton’s investment model of ideology, capital and identity 
it is an overarching theme across it. Agency is the interplay between the individual and the 
social (Kalaja, Barcelos, Aro, & Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2016). It is a relationship that is built 
amongst an individual and others. Dufva and Aro (2014) believe agency to be “people’s 
capacity to act purposefully and reflectively as they engage in relationships with other 
human beings in turn prompts human beings to re-invent their own positions or re-imagine 
how they can act” (p. 4). These positions and the reimagining of oneself directly relate to anindividual’s identity and Norton’s concept of investment. Scholars have explored how 
second language speakers or writers negotiate social positions and power through the use of 
discourses. The active use of discourses and addressing power relations through language 
become an aspect of learner agency (Dufva & Aro, 2014). Because investment “offers a 
way to understand learners’ variable desires to engage in social interaction and community 
practices” it points to the social relationship that is constructed between learners and the 
target language “and their often ambivalent desire to learn and practice it” (Norton, 2013, p. 
6). Agency of a language learner “develops in a dialogic interplay that involves power 
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relationships and asymmetry, such as those between students and teachers, or native and 
non-native speakers” (Dufva & Aro, 2014, p. 40). Because of these relationships, learners’ 
agency can increase their desire to continue learning a language or can make them want to 
stop. In order for second language speakers to make informed choices of how they act and 
what they say (i.e., agency) within their target community, we must also review the idea of 
communicative competence and issues of pragmatics. 
Communicative competence 
Communicative competence was influential in Norton’s work. Dell Hymes (1972) 
developed the idea of communicative competence as a response to Chomsky’s (1965) 
inadequacies in explaining performance versus competence. Chomsky believes that 
competence exclusively deals with knowledge of grammar rules, however, Hymes rejects 
this notion and introduced the broader definition of communicative competence. 
“Communicative competence is thus viewed by Hymes as the interaction of grammatical 
(what is formally possible), psycholinguistic (what is feasible in terms of human 
information processing), sociocultural (what is the social meaning or value of a given 
utterance), and probabilistic (what actually occurs) systems of competence” (Canale & 
Swain, 1980, p. 16). In other words, communicative competence includes grammatical 
competence and contextual and sociolinguistic competence. Communicative competence 
refers to a language user’s grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology, as 
well as social knowledge about how and when to use utterances appropriately. This has 
become an important theory, as it focuses on a learner’s ability to communicate. It also 
branched into a new approach that stresses more meaningful activities and learning 
experiences (Mitchell et al., 2013). 
Hymes specifically makes a “distinction between communicative competence and 
performance, where the latter notion refers to actual use” (Canale & Swain, 1980, p. 4). 
Hymes (1972) states that knowledge of grammar rules is useless without knowing the rules 
of language use. Basic communication theory can be defined by the minimum level of 
(mainly oral) communication skills in order to function in common second language 
situations (Canale & Swain, 1980). There is a point of view that “more effective language 
learning takes place if emphasis is placed immediately on getting one’s meaning across 
rather than on the grammaticalness and appropriateness of one’s utterances” (Canale & 
 Zavala 20 
 
Swain, 1980, p. 10). Perhaps we can extend this point of view to the interactions that 
happen in business transactions when the speaker and listener are more interested in 
meaning rather than grammatical correctness. Bourdieu’s position “is that the linguist takes 
for granted the conditions for the establishment of communication: that those who speak 
regard those who listen as worthy to listen, and that those who listen regard those who 
speak as worthy to speak” (Norton, 2013, p. 47). Norton (1995) suggests expanding the 
definition of communicative competence to include the “right to speak” or the “power to 
impose reception”. 
Sociolinguistic, symbolic, and strategic competences 
Further development of Hymes’ communicative competence is used to define 
sociolinguistic competence, symbolic competence and strategic competence. 
Sociolinguistic competence is made of sociocultural rules and rules of discourse. 
“Knowledge of these rules will be crucial in interpreting utterances for social meaning, 
particularly when there is a low level of transparency between the literal meaning of an 
utterance and the speaker’s intention” (Canale & Swain, 1980, p. 30). Bachman (1990) 
states that “Sociolinguistic competence is the sensitivity to, or control of the conventions of 
language use that are determined by the features of the specific language use context; it 
enables us to perform language functions in ways that are appropriate to that context” (p. 
94). 
As cited by Norton (2013), Kramsch and Whitside (2008, p. 664) state that 
symbolic competence has been born out of multilingualism. Multilingual speakers seem to 
“activate more than a communicative competence that would enable them to communicate 
accurately, effectively, and appropriately with one another” (p. 45). These speakers display 
an ability to decodes various linguistic and social codes. 
 Strategic competence is the “mastery of verbal and nonverbal strategies both (a) to 
compensate for breakdowns in communication due to insufficient competence or to 
performance limitations and (b) to enhance the rhetorical effect of utterances” (Bachman, 
1990, p. 99). Each of these competences stems from Hymes’ basic theory and helps us to 
understand what language users need to be successful in their communication. Language 
users such as my participants may or may not use these at all times in their English 
communication. 
 Zavala 21 
 
Communication of native vs. non-native language users 
As cited by Canale and Swain (1980), Widdowson (1978) assumed that a person is 
concerned with language use and not grammatical usage in normal communication. They 
go on to state, “This is certainly a reasonable assumption as regards to normal 
communication between native or native-like speakers of a language, although we assume 
that there is some attention to grammatical usage when native speakers of different dialects 
or registers communicate” (p. 24). Widdowson’s assumption also assumes that there is 
sufficient knowledge of grammar to communicative coherently. For example, B.J. Carroll’s 
(1978) findings as cited by Canale and Swain (1980) state “that native speakers of a 
language are more tolerant of second language learners’ ‘stylistic failures’ than of their 
grammatical inaccuracies” (p. 12), however it is unclear, first, how much native speakers 
differ in their tolerance of sociocultural failures and, second, “whether tolerance of 
grammatical inaccuracies that do not interfere too much with meaning is higher or lower 
than tolerance of sociocultural failures” (p. 12). However, my research will show that 
second-language users believe that native speakers should be extraordinarily tolerant of 
their grammar mistakes. Participants are also more concerned about getting their ideas 
across rather than their grammar. Another study, Savignon (1972), cited by Canale and 
Swain (1980) showed that putting emphasis on getting one’s meaning across rather than on 
grammar (i.e., sounding like a native French person) showed a decrease in integrative 
motivation compared to a group where emphasis was not put on getting one’s meaning 
across. Savignon hypothesized that the initial pressure of asking them to speak like a native 
French person was responsible for the decrease in integrative motivation (Canale & Swain, 
1980). This also differs from what my research participants believe. Participants accept 
from the start that they will never sound or speak like a native-speaker. This acceptance 
allows them to speak as they see fit without worrying how they sound and only focus on 
getting their meaning across. 
The ‘Let it Pass’Principle 
 The idea of the ‘let it pass’ principle came from the thinking of Alfred Schutz who 
adopted and focused on inner experience. It is an interpretive procedure “that hearers adopt 
when faced with problems in understanding the speaker’s utterance. The hearer thus lets the 
unknown or unclear action, word or utterance ‘pass’ on the (common-sense) assumption 
 Zavala 22 
 
that it will either become clear or redundant as talk progresses” (Firth, 1996, p. 243). 
Regardless of their cultural backgrounds and language ability, participants in a conversation 
may act as if they understand each other, even if they don’t. They may use special 
techniques to challenge the assumption of mutual understanding (Firth, 1996). The parties 
involved in the conversation may be satisfied with the understanding of the conversation if 
their goals are achieved. This is the case in most business transactions where one party has 
a goal or set of goals to achieve. If these goals are met, even without full understanding of 
the discussion, they let the conversation pass. When items must be dealt with immediately, 
participants do not let it pass and check for understanding (Firth, 1996). Participants in the 
conversation assume that their talk is understandable and normal, “even in the face of 
misunderstandings and abnormalities” (Firth, 1996, p. 256). 
 
2.7 Summary 
 There are various reasons as to why individuals invest in a second language. 
Motivational theory does not fully explain why second language users invest. The more 
encompassing picture of an individual’s identity, capital and ideology can help researchers 
and this study explain this phenomenon, which is why Norton’s model of investment is my 
focal point. Agency is spread throughout Norton’s model. Each person does not simply 
copy another person’s words and ideas but integrates their own meaning and intention. 
These meanings and intentions carry the most importance for second-language users in 
order to communicate and be understood. 
 
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Chapter 3 
Methodology 
 
3.1 Overall methodology including initial attempts 
This research on the phenomenon of investment will be conducted in a qualitative 
study using semi-structured interviews using narrative analysis. All participants use English 
transactionally at their workplaces, some on an everyday basis and others less frequently. 
All places of work are located in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. In the fall of 2018, I initially 
piloted a survey about students’ investments learning English with a classroom of B1 to B2 
level students at a private university in Guadalajara, however, I realized three things at the 
end of that survey. First, I am more interested in learning about the personal experiences of 
adult professionals and therefore conducting interviews, rather than giving a survey, is the 
best way to collect this information with the amount of detail that this study necessitates. 
Second, I am more interested in why adult professionals choose to invest in English, rather 
than undergraduate university students. This is due to the fact that many undergraduates in 
Mexico are forced to enroll in English classes at their universities, and therefore this 
population would not be able to express their sincere opinions about why or why they may 
not invest in English. Third, adult professionals are using English in the real world as 
opposed to a limited classroom setting where real-life experiences can only be simulated. 
For these reasons, I chose to conduct semi-structured interviews with adult professionals. 
 
3.2 Research questions 
Overarching Research Question: 
What are the processes that help second-language learners develop and identify their 
motivation to invest in English? 
 
Specific research questions: 
1. What are the affective factors that encourage and/or hinder Mexican speakers of 
English as a second language to communicate in English? 
2. What makes Mexican speakers of English as a second language feel successful and 
unsuccessful in their use of English? 
 
 Zavala 24 
 
3. What are the resources Mexican speakers of English as a second language use to be 
successful in their English communication? 
 
3.3 Participants 
I began my study with six participants, but I had an attrition of one, so a total of five 
participants remained dedicated to my study throughout its entirety. I have instructed 
approximately eight professionals in my career, so this is the best sample I could obtain at 
this time. I sent messages to these eight professionals asking if they were willing to 
participant in this study and received responses from seven. The seventh did not want to 
commit to this study due to lack of time, and as already mentioned, the sixth initially agreed 
to be part of this study, but we were unfortunately never able to establish an appointment 
time, so I have an attrition of one. Of the five remaining participants, four were my former 
students and one was recommended by one of my former students. All four of my former 
students had decided on their own volition to enroll in English language courses that I 
happened to be instructing and then we kept in touch throughout the years. The five 
participants are not a representative sample as I am attempting to understand individual 
experiences to see if they can provide insights into the motivations, agency, and investment 
of others. Each of them signed consent forms and their names have been changed to protect 
their privacy. 
 
3.4 Details of the participants 
Ricardo, 38, tech industry and entrepreneur 
 Ricardo is an engineer who was born and raised in Oaxaca, Oaxaca. In addition to 
taking mandatory English language courses that were part of his school curriculum, his 
mother enrolled him in English courses at a private language school. He recalls his mother 
taking him and his sister to the main city square and forcing them to practice their English 
by randomly going up to tourists and speaking with them. He believes that this had a 
significant impact on his English language learning and use. From a young age, he was 
forced to forget any embarrassment or shyness he may have had and just speak, which has 
carried into his adulthood. He moved to Guadalajara in his twenties to attend university and 
study engineering. He has now been working in the tech industry in Guadalajara for over 
 Zavala 25 
 
ten years at various companies as a project manager. He uses English on a daily basis at 
work. While Ricardo was not a former student of mine, he is the husband of another 
participant in this study. At work, he always looks for any training opportunities he can 
obtain; however, English language courses are not one of these opportunities as he feels 
that his English level is good enough and his priorities should be in management and 
computing. He also owns a business with his wife, Flor. 
David, 29, tech industry 
 David was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, but moved to Guadalajara, Jalisco, when he 
was a teenager. He attended a university in Guadalajara and studied industrial engineering. 
English courses were a mandatory part of the curriculum, but he says that he did not take 
these courses seriously, since he was focused on his engineering coursework. This is a 
common pattern among all participants in their undergraduate years. David currently works 
at a tech company in their logistics department and loves his job. He consistently tries to do 
what is best for his career. While looking into his company benefits, he learned that they 
would pay for a certification course if it would benefit his job and company. He searched 
for courses on his own and landed on a logistics certification course at a top university in 
Guadalajara, which he successfully got paid for with his company benefit. David completed 
the course and is always looking for other certificationshe can obtain through his job 
benefit. I mention this because it demonstrates that he is not satisfied with the status quo. 
He took this certification course because he thought it would benefit his career. For this 
reason, he also enrolled in an in-house business English course that was offered by his 
company where I happened to be the instructor. He feels that improving his English will 
enhance his abilities at his current job as well as for future job prospects. For this reason, he 
sees the investment of studying English as worthwhile. 
Marco, 25, auto industry and entrepreneur 
 Marco lives with his family in Guadalajara, Jalisco. He grew up with a mother who 
placed a lot of importance on learning English. When he was young, he discovered that he 
was extremely good at BMX bike racing, an extreme sport. Because of this talent, he lived 
and trained in Canada for three months when he was 12 years old, and when he was 17 
years old, he lived and trained in the United States for six months. Throughout his time in 
both places he was enrolled in all English-language schools as well. Marco believes that 
 Zavala 26 
 
although short, these experiences had a big impact on his English language learning and 
comprehension. The other big influence on his English language learning he attributes to 
his mother. She consistently pushed him in his English language courses in school and 
enrolled him in private English language schools in the city. His younger two brothers were 
even sent to an elementary and junior high private military academy in the United States for 
the specific reason of learning and practicing English in an English-speaking country. 
While at university, Marco studied international business. He graduated with his degree a 
few years ago, but realized he wanted to invest in English while working at his family 
business in the auto industry. He also is the founder of his own car accessory brand that he 
sells in Mexico. Both companies have suppliers around the world, mostly located in Asia. 
A couple of years ago, he enrolled in a business English course at his alma mater where I 
was his instructor. His long-term goal is to receive his Master’s in Business Administration. 
Flor, 38, entrepreneur 
 Flor was born and raised in Guadalajara, Jalisco. Unlike the other participants, 
English language courses were not mandatory in her university studies, though she does 
remember some courses from her elementary to high school years that were mandatory. 
While at university, she studied systems engineering. She worked as a test engineer at 
various tech companies in Guadalajara for over 10 years. It is at one of these tech 
companies that I met Flor when my employer at the time, a private English language school 
was hired to give in-house courses. Though extremely busy with her projects at work, Flor 
never missed a class and was very dedicated to her language course. At this time, she did 
not use English at her job, but she did feel an urgency to learn English to be promoted 
within the company. After her time in tech, she founded her own business with her 
husband, Ricardo, who is also a participant in this study. Their business brings the work of 
Mexican artisans from all over the country to Guadalajara. This is her true passion. Many 
foreigners visit her store, and this is where she finds her English language skills most useful 
and needed at this time. 
Adriana, 28, education field 
Adriana lives with her husband and young daughter in Guadalajara, Jalisco, where 
she was born and raised. During her entire academic life, English language courses were 
always part of the mandatory curriculum. From a young age she was interested in education 
 Zavala 27 
 
and teaching, and as an adult she found her way into the educational technology industry. 
While at university, she studied pedagogy and graduated with an honorable mention and 
then worked in her university’s department upon graduation as a coordinator. She used her 
English language skills sporadically as she coordinated trips and agreements with other 
universities abroad. She was later promoted to another department in the university, which 
allowed her to enroll in a business English class where I was her instructor. As our 
interviews began for this study in 2019, she was starting a new position at the same 
university in which she used her English language skills for research purposes. 
Araceli, 24, tech industry (dropped) 
Araceli initially agreed to be part of this study, but we were unfortunately never 
able to establish an appointment time, so I have an attrition of one. 
 
3.5 Instruments 
 I created a list of interview questions and used a semi-structured interview format. I 
did not fully follow my formal list of questions during interviews in order for the 
conversation to flow naturally (Weiss, 1994), however, please see the Appendix for the 
formal list. These questions were triangulated by asking my peers to review them. They are 
not experts, but fellow professionals who have research experience in the field and post-
graduate qualifications in this area. 
 
3.6 Interview design 
There are different ways of collecting information from research participants from 
an etic or emic point of view. It was important to do this research from an emic point of 
view since participants needed to lend their voice to this research. These different ways of 
capturing information from participants include questionnaires, structured and semi-
structured interviews. I am more interested in learning about the personal experiences of 
adult professionals and therefore conducting interviews, rather than giving a survey, is the 
best way to collect this information with the amount of detail that this study necessitates 
(Weiss, 1994). Therefore, a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 
narrative analysis was done. 
 
 Zavala 28 
 
3.7 Procedure 
Once my instrument was designed, the interview questions were triangulated by 
asking my peers to review them. They are not experts, but fellow professionals who have 
research experience in the field and post-graduate qualifications in this area. All five 
participants signed consent forms and names were changed to maintain their privacy. After 
my series of interviews, I collated the results of each participant and analyzed them. The 
results and analysis were triangulated by asking other peers to review them. Again, they are 
not experts, but fellow professionals who have research experience in the field and post-
graduate qualifications in the area. I was not seeking their endorsement, but whether my 
results and analysis made sense and are sustainable, which they confirmed. 
 
3.8 How the research was carried out 
All interviews were conducted from March 2019 to October 2019. Each was given 
the option to conduct any of our interviews in the language of their choice, Spanish or 
English. Some interviews were voice recorded while I took notes in others. I wanted 
participants to feel as comfortable as possible, though when I did voice record, I noticed 
that participants seemed to forget a device was even present. I was always very flexible 
with the dates and times we met and would send a text message asking if they could meet 
anytime the following week. In order to be respectful of their time, I decided to meet them 
at their places of work to make them as comfortable as possible. The exception was Marco, 
who said that we would never be able to complete an interview at his office without getting 
interrupted, so he suggested meeting at a café a couple of blocks from his business. I also 
collected general biographical information during our conversations as to not distract from 
the details of their stories and experiences (Weiss, 1994). 
 
3.9 My role as the researcher and any ethical considerations 
Unfortunately, the groups of adult professionalsI have instructed have been few 
(approximately eight professionals), so this sample of five can be justified. They were 
selected based on their responsiveness to my initial outreach, their trustworthiness to 
complete the study, and their enthusiasm to be part of it. I believe they do not exhibit any 
bias towards me as their former teacher since they have always been outspoken, direct 
 Zavala 29 
 
individuals and will give me honest answers. However, if any bias is exhibited at all it is 
the fact that all of them remained committed to my study. As cited by Norton (2013), 
Cameron et al. (1992) stated that the researcher should always be aware that “Persons are 
not objects and should not be treated as objects. The central point here is that the 
researcher’s goals, assumptions and procedures should be made explicit, and that research 
methods should be open, interactive and dialogic” (p. 61). I agree with these objectives and 
wanted participants to be as comfortable as possible and let them know the intentions of my 
research. 
 
 Zavala 30 
 
Chapter 4 
Results 
 
The results and analysis were triangulated by asking my peers to review them. 
Again, they are not experts, but fellow professionals who have research experience in the 
field and post-graduate qualifications in the area. I was not seeking their endorsement, but 
whether my results and analysis made sense and are sustainable, which they confirmed. I 
will organize the results by participant and divide my findings into four categories: beliefs 
about English and its importance; experiences learning English; experiences using English; 
and self-perception of English-language skills. 
 
4.1 Participant 1: Ricardo, 38, tech industry and entrepreneur 
 Ricardo declared that he would conduct all our interviews in English because it was 
good practice for him. He seemed completely at ease and excited to talk about his 
experiences. We met at his business and either chatted while in his store or we sat in the 
store’s storage area on the second floor, which doubled as an office. Ricardo changed jobs 
in the middle of this study moving from what I will call a “big tech company” to a “small 
tech company” in Guadalajara. 
Beliefs about English and its importance 
 Ricardo believes that he must improve his English if he wants to be part of a global 
company, instead of just a national company. He believes that there are more opportunities 
in a global company where he can move in an upward trajectory faster. In addition, a global 
company will offer him job opportunities in Mexico and abroad. Working in the tech 
industry, he feels that knowing English is a must in this field. He states, “If you want to be 
working in the IT industry, in an important company, English is a must because business 
happens with every single country and U.S. is one of the most important ones for business 
and we are now in a globalized environment. And the language that is used in globalization 
is English.” At his position at a big tech company, English was the only option to conduct 
all work, so “I had to.” When asked about other languages used in the tech industry such as 
Chinese, he acknowledged its importance, but still believes that the English language 
dominates the industry. Outside of the tech industry, Ricardo also uses English. He goes on 
to say, “You need to be current and you need to use it. And now that we are working with 
 Zavala 31 
 
[personal business with wife] a lot of our customers are from U.S. or other countries where 
they speak English, so English is important also. Outside of the IT field, English is 
important to us too”, referring to his wife who is also a participant in this study. 
Experiences learning English 
 Ricardo began learning English as a child at about five or six years old, because of 
his mom. Though his mom wanted to keep him and his sister busy with any activities, his 
mom put an emphasis on English classes. She would also take them to the town square 
which was full of foreign tourists and push him and his sister to walk up to the tourists and 
talk to them in English. His mom would say things like, “Go and talk to that lady, say hi, go 
and talk to her.” He says the tourists were always friendly and open to talk with them but 
adds, “It wasn’t easy to start a conversation because obviously my sister and I were afraid. 
We were nervous about doing that, but we were pushed by our mom, so we had to do it.” 
 He is thankful to his mom for enrolling him in English classes when he was young 
because English coursework did not exist in his public elementary school in Oaxaca, and 
English finally became part of his mandatory school curriculum in junior high and stayed 
that way through university. After graduating from his university, he moved to Guadalajara 
in his mid-twenties and enrolled in a private language school as something to do and he 
noted that attending English classes was something he was used to doing. The only reason 
he stopped attending was because he finished the program at his private language school. 
The most drastic change in his English learning came when he joined a big tech company in 
Guadalajara because he had to use it every day. 
Experiences using English 
When Ricardo joined a big tech company in Guadalajara, he had to use English all 
day at work for all activities. He says, “The big change came when I joined [company 
name] because my job was everything in English, capture all the conversations in English, 
present information in English, speak in English, and it was meeting after meeting, so now I 
have developed to talk, type at the same time in English in a different language and that 
really gave me what I needed to have… to excel my English proficiency, at least in 
business.” Multi-tasking his second language was a welcomed challenge for him. Before 
this big tech company job, he had a difficult time understanding different accents, but over 
time because he was interacting “with people from different parts of the world,” he 
 Zavala 32 
 
overcame this challenge. Speaking about all the people he has interacted with he says, “I 
mean understanding different accents from non-English-native people, such as people from 
India, people from Africa, people from U.K. (laughs), which have a different accent, people 
from Romania, Germany, so I understand English regardless who speaks now. At the 
beginning I didn’t have that skill.” 
When he first joined the big tech company, he got a headache from using English all 
day because “everything has to be in English,” which he did not enjoy at all. At company 
conferences he would get tired of speaking English and meeting new people in English, so 
all the Spanish-speaking employees, the Mexicans, would gather in an area to speak in 
Spanish during breaks. This was not because he did not like English, but it was exhausting 
for him to think in English all day. He describes it as if studying for a math exam: “I think 
that it was more general like mentally tired like when your brain has consumed like when 
you’re studying for a math exam or something like that you feel like your head don’t want 
more… Something that you don’t really feel in your language.” 
At the beginning of his big tech job, he was very stressed about speaking in English, 
but soon stopped caring. “I can recognize that my English is not as good as the English of 
other people I used to work with because I still sometimes to struggle to say the correct 
word or maybe grammatically order the sentence correctly, but that doesn’t really stress me 
anymore. I also understood that people also make some kind of effort to understood you 
too. When I joined [big tech company] I was very stressed that I wouldn’t speak perfectly 
and part of my stress the first day was because of that and then I was tired of being stressed 
and I said I am not gonna care anymore. Idon’t really care if I speak correctly, I’m not 
gonna care if it’s correct, I’m just not gonna worry about it anymore, I’m just gonna say 
whatever comes out of my mouth (laughs).” 
Ricardo developed strategies to help his ability to comprehend better and mentally 
prepare himself in his second language. Prior to one-on-one meetings at the big tech 
company, he would ask his coworkers if they had heard the other person speak before and 
if he was understandable, so that he can mentally prepare himself. He also learned to 
confirm information by asking yes/no questions and for him to repeat what he understood 
and ask the other person “Is that correct?” Sometimes he also asks people to spell what 
they’re saying and “If they realize that I am having trouble for that, then they might say ‘w’ 
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as ‘why’ or something like that and that helps me.” He believes that his strategies are very 
useful and has used similar strategies outside of work. 
In his more recent job, which I will refer to as the small tech company, he only uses 
English to talk to his Indian, perhaps Indian-American boss (he feels it is inappropriate to 
ask nor does it matter to him), an American on his team, and when he has meetings with 
people abroad, which does not necessarily happen every day. The parent company is based 
in the U.S. and they are just starting an office in Mexico, which is why he feels this 
company could give him new challenges as it is not as well-established as his prior 
company. As a project manager he oversees a team that is comprised of all Mexicans and 
one American. He does not miss having to use English all day long like at his previous job. 
He understands that English is a skill that he wants to always develop but says “I think I 
have established the foundation of my English skills and I think it’s easy to keep that.” He 
believes it’s easy because English is everywhere. 
Ricardo expects special consideration when speaking English. He says, “Yes, that is 
my general expectation. Especially on the professional side. When you are speaking in a 
professional environment such as in a company, in your office or whatever, because there is 
a lot of… uh… nowadays there is a lot of people who comes from different places and we 
all work together, so I think that in general maybe if the speakers understand or make an 
effort to understand you as well because they know that your English is not perfect, and 
they should also push themselves to understand the general idea. So that is something that I 
assume that they will do in this professional environment and that is also something that 
relax me because I know that I may not speak perfectly and that I might make mistakes, but 
I know that I’m doing my best to express in the best way and I am expecting that the other 
part is gonna do something similar, that they are gonna push themselves to try to 
understand what I’m trying to say.” 
In addition to expecting special consideration, he has stopped caring about making 
mistakes. He says, “As project manager you need to be participating in a meeting, you need 
to transcribe whatever people is saying you don’t have too many seconds to do that mental 
process you just need to do it. And when you need to answer to something you can spend 
like five seconds thinking how you’re gonna say, you just need to dig it up, so I just 
stopped thinking so much about that. I feel tired thinking about how to say things correctly, 
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I’m not gonna care about that anymore, I’m just gonna say whatever. And I know the other 
party is gonna put some effort to understand what I’m trying to say. Because in that 
context, you are a global company, and everybody knows not that everybody is native 
English speaker and they are also gonna try to understand you and also people understands 
that you are making mistakes and that is okay. Because also people who is English native 
speaker wants at some point try to learn something in Spanish and then they can do what 
you are doing.” 
As a project manager he receives general communication training from his company 
on getting the information he needs and it is normal to ask people to repeat or rephrase 
what they’re saying, so that you can understand. When he is on a call with people from the 
U.S. and the call hasn’t started, they might be talking about news that is happening in the 
United States and he does not participate because he is “unfamiliar with the context”. He 
also doesn’t care to contribute because he is concerned about other things. He simply waits 
for a cue to participate such as, “We have everyone here, let’s get started.” He believes he 
wouldn’t participate in Spanish either, but it depends on the topic; he has no interest in 
politics spoken in English or in Spanish. 
He also feels that in English or in Spanish, he gets nervous and intimidated before 
giving a big presentation. Ricardo states, “I do that [get nervous] in my own language… At 
[big tech company], we had a planning session every two months and many people from 
around the world had to travel to U.S. and we were probably like 300 people and some of 
us had to present the plan that the team collectively drafted to the whole audience, so I had 
the opportunity to be in front of 150 people speaking and describing what were we planning 
to do the following three months and obviously most of them were native English speakers 
and we have my peers, managers, we have directors, vice presidents, so it was very 
intimidating for me.” To prepare for presentations, he explains, “I have to prepare what I’m 
gonna say. Because I want to say things in a way that people clearly understand where I 
highlight very clearly which are the goals which are the interrelationships of the things we 
are planning to do. I feel like I need preparations to make sure I was hitting the correct 
points. Because then I feel judged and I feel like I’m not doing things okay and because of 
that then I was also judging other people (laughs) and I was like, oh no I’m not going to do 
that. That guy didn’t prepare, and I was criticizing other people who were presenting before 
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I was done. Even native speakers I didn’t feel did a good job because they didn’t structure 
their ideas.” Again, he says that he would do the same in a Spanish-speaking professional 
situation. 
Ricardo knows that he does not sound like a native speaker and that is fine with 
him. It is not his goal. He is not concerned with making neither grammar nor social/cultural 
mistakes because it is not his first language and he is from Mexico. He enjoys using 
English most when he is simply watching a movie in English because he is in a relaxed 
mode. 
Self-perception of English-language skills 
Reading and writing are the easiest skills for him and listening and speaking are the 
most difficult he says. He feels that he is advanced in English because he can multi-task in 
his second-language and can understand different accents. 
 
4.2 Participant 2: David, 29, tech industry 
 When we sat down, the first thing David said in English was that he has not spoken 
English very much. Because of this, he wanted to conduct all our interviews in English, so 
that he could practice; however, he interjected Spanish words when he could not remember 
the English words he wanted to say. We spoke over the phone and met in-person in the 
lobby of his work throughout our interviews. 
Beliefs of English and its importance 
David believes that knowing English is necessary today for two main reasons. First, 
in order to get a better job and a higher salary, he needs to know English because it’s the 
standard. He says, “I know I need to learn or speak English to be in the major league.” This 
being said, he changed jobs and began a position at a logistics company because the salary 
was much higher. However, he found the job unfulfilling and returned