LINGUISTIC CAPITAL, ENGLISH PRESTIGE, AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS: A COMPARATIVE SOCIOLINGUISTICS STUDY OF STUDENTS IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR UNIVERSITIES OF PAKISTAN
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21139830Keywords:
Academic Success, English Prestige, Higher Education, Linguistic Capital, Pakistan, Public and Private UniversitiesAbstract
This study explored the association of linguistic capital, prestige attached to English and academic achievement of students studying in some universities of public and private sector in Punjab, Pakistan. The study used quantitative comparative research design and was guided by the theory of Linguistic Capital by Bourdieu. The data was gathered from 400 undergraduate and post graduate students who were selected from four public universities and four private universities through structured questionnaire. Descriptive data was used to analyze the data with SPSS using Cronbach's alpha, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation and Independent Samples t-test. The results indicated strong positive correlations between linguistic capital, English prestige and academic achievement. Additionally, the students of the private universities had significantly more linguistic capital, more prestige of English and more academic achievement than their peers in public universities. The study finally concludes that English is a useful tool for educational attainment and recommends to make educational opportunities equal and equitable by improving the programmes of English language support in higher educational institutions in Pakistan.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Aliya Azhar, Atif Saleem Tahir, Shaista kazim (Author)
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