Linguistic discrimination in higher education
Speakers will present the initial findings of a research project exploring the language backgrounds and attitudes of staff and students, as well as everyday experiences of linguistic discrimination.
Linguistic discrimination in higher education
04 Feb 2025, 17:00 – 18:30
While many universities worldwide increasingly focus on equity and diversity issues, experiences of linguistic racism and discrimination in higher education are still too often overlooked.
In this presentation, the origins and characteristics of linguistic discrimination, drawing on a range of theoretical frameworks, such as critical race theory (CRT), language ideologies, raciolinguistics, and linguistic racism are discussed.
There is an urgent need, as Wolfram and Dunstan (2021) note, to explore and document “issues of linguistic inequality in higher education, implicating both students and faculty in the practice of explicit and implicit linguistic bias” (p.157).
Given this imperative, the presentation will then discuss the initial findings of a current major research project at the University of Auckland, exploring the (increasingly bi/multilingual) language backgrounds, and language attitudes, of both staff and students, as well as any everyday experiences of linguistic discrimination.
The talk concludes by drawing some tentative wider conclusions on the kinds of heteroglossic spaces needed to both limit linguistic discrimination and promote and incorporate linguistic diversity in English language-dominant universities.
This event will be particularly useful for researchers and policy makers.
Related links
- Centre for Applied Linguistics Research Seminars Series
- Centre for Applied Linguistics
- Culture, Communication and Media
Image
kubko via Adobe Stock.
Professor in Te Puna Wānanga (School of Māori and Indigenous Education)
University of Auckland
He is an international authority on language rights, language policy, bilingual education, and the multilingual turn in language teaching. His key books include Language and minority rights (2012), The multilingual turn (2014) and, most recently, Critical ethnography, language, race/ism and education (2023). Stephen is Series Editor of the Encyclopedia of Language and Education (2017), and editor of Ethnicities. He is an AERA Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand (FRSNZ).
Dr Mi Yung Park
Chair of Asian Studies and Associate Professor of Korean Studies
University of Auckland
She is an interdisciplinary scholar in sociolinguistics, migration and diasporic studies, and a qualitative methodologist. She has researched language, migration, and identity, with a particular focus on the maintenance of Asian languages and linguistic discrimination in South Korea, New Zealand, and Hawaii. She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices and an editorial board member for Critical Inquiry in Language Studies.
Further information
Ticketing
Pre-booking essential
Cost
Free
Open to
All
Availability
Yes
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