ALTRALANG Journal
Volume 8, Numéro 2, Pages 246-266
2026-10-31
Linguistic Capital Meets Venture Capital: A Critical Genre Analysis Of English Pitching Performance And Simulated Investor Judgments
Authors : Mizab Manel . Zahaf Sonia .
Abstract
In entrepreneurial ecosystems, pitching has emerged as a critical genre where linguistic capital intersects with venture capital. This study investigates how deficiencies in English pitching performance can undermine investment opportunities, even when startup ideas are innovative and viable. Drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of linguistic capital and critical genre analysis, we examine fourteen student startup pitches in a simulated investor setting conducted at the business incubator at Echahid Cheikh Larbi Tebessi University, Tebessa, Algeria. Students received targeted training in English for pitching purposes, after which they presented their startup projects to a simulated investor. Data from recorded performances and evaluative feedback reveal that negative investment judgment is often associated to limited proficiency in English, particularly in structuring arguments, deploying persuasive strategies, and managing non-verbal cues. Our findings highlight a paradox: Strong entrepreneurial ideas received lower simulated evaluator ratings when linguistic capital does not meet genre expectations. This interdisciplinary inquiry underscores the need for pedagogical interventions that integrate linguistic training into entrepreneurship education. By foregrounding language as a decisive factor in investment decisions, the study calls for rethinking incubator practices to ensure that innovative ideas are not lost to linguistic barriers. The study also proposes a rubric for evaluating rhetorical, linguistic, and multimodal pitching performance.
Keywords
English for Specific Purposes ; entrepreneurship pitching ; genre analysis ; linguistic capital ; simulated investor judgments
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