Public Seminar Series: Linguistic discrimination in higher education
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, we first discuss 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.
We then situate this work in relation to university settings – particularly, those which are English language-dominant institutions. In these institutions, discriminatory monoglossic, English language policies and practices often specifically undermine bi/multilingual staff and students, affecting negatively their academic and personal wellbeing. There is thus 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, we discuss in the remainder of our presentation the initial findings of our current major (2-year) 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. We conclude 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.

Dr. Stephen May is Professor in Te Puna Wānanga (School of Māori and Indigenous Education) at the 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 (2nd ed., 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 (3rd ed., 2017), and editor of Ethnicities. He is an AERA Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand (FRSNZ). URL: stephenamay.com

Dr. Mi Yung Park is Chair of Asian Studies and Senior Lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. 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, Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, Korean Linguistics, and The Korean Wave.
Date: 3 February 2025, 17:00 (Monday, 3rd week, Hilary 2025)
Venue: 15 Norham Gardens, 15 Norham Gardens OX2 6PY
Venue Details: Seminar Room A
Speakers: Dr Stephen May (University of Auckland), Dr Mi Yung Park (University of Auckland)
Organising department: Department of Education
Organiser: Dr Sonali Nag (University of Oxford)
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://forms.office.com/e/g4aTsSzaC4
Audience: Public
Editors: Hannah Freeman, Heather Sherkunov, Kristina Khoo