Bourdieu, language and literacy

This essay reviews two books on the work of the French social theorist Pierre Bourdieu with a special focus on issues of language, education and literacy. The essay sketches out Bourdieu's main theoretical ideas with respect to language, and raises a number of issues on classroom language and academic discourse. Bourdieu's approach is considered with respect to phenomenology, Vygotsky and cognitive theory, and areas of potential integration are explored. Various examples from the two books under review are used as exemplification of the issues raised. Finally, key aspects of methodology are addressed; namely, constructing the research object; field analysis; and participant objectivation. Emergent themes are related to issues in literacy and education. The essay is an appraisal of the potential of a Bourdieusian application to language research and sets out key characteristics of such an undertaking