Contested hybridities and powerful selves: becoming multilingual at the margins of the STEM curriculum
Author(s)
Gonzalez-Becerra, Iria
Type
Chapter
Abstract
This chapter seeks to explore the impact of foreign language learning (FLL) in the formation of multidisciplinary identities within a specialized higher education institution and to tease out the discursive affordances and constraints shaping English-speaking undergraduates’ efforts to validate their multilingualism as symbolic capital. Revisiting data gathered during an institutional study on the value of FLL in a British university focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), I will argue that despite disciplinary and social pressures to divest from languages other than English (LOTEs) and the marginal role FLL may play in the curriculum in this context, an investment in these subjects can generate spaces for learners to engage in agentive self-construction, broadening their identity repertoires by challenging the specializing curriculum and the monoglot habitus of their field.
Editor(s)
Cerda, Yolanda
Winchester, Jules
Date Issued
2026-03-17
Citation
Language and identity in the university. Exploring marginality and liminality in higher education, 2026
ISBN
9781804131862
Publisher
University of Exeter Press
Start Page
13
End Page
28
Journal / Book Title
Language and identity in the university. Exploring marginality and liminality in higher education
Copyright Statement
© 2026 University of Exeter Press.
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
1
Date Publish Online
2026-03-17