A comparative research program on multilingualism in the scientific output of the Southern Cone

Abstract

Academic writing in English is a complex operation for researchers socialized in different native languages because it is not merely the application of skills learned in primary socialization or a capacity strictly dependent on social origin and inherited cultural capital. Other factors intervene, such as academic training, the support of editors or native collaborators who correct or translate (whose accessibility depends on the academic and social capital of individuals, their research teams and international networks), all this comes together in the mastery of this knowledge. The accumulation of these resources and the viability of acquiring writing skills in English explain the unequal circulation among academics from the same country or among researchers from non-hegemonic countries, as well gender asymmetries (Lillis and Curris, 2010; Chardenet, 2012; Beigel, 2017)