Linguistic Discrimination in US Higher Education


Book Description

This volume examines different forms of language and dialect discrimination on U.S. college campuses, where relevant protections in K-12 schools and the workplace are absent. Real-world case studies at intersections with class, race, gender, and ability explore pedagogical and social manifestations and long-term impacts of this prejudice between and among students, faculty, and administrators. With chapters by experts including Walt Wolfram and Christina Higgins, this book will be useful for students in courses in language & power and language variety, among others; researchers in sociolinguistics, education, identity studies, and justice & equity studies; and diversity officers looking to understand and combat this bias.




Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice


Book Description

Understanding and addressing linguistic disadvantage must be a central facet of the social justice agenda of our time. This book explores the ways in which linguistic diversity mediates social justice in liberal democracies undergoing rapid change due to high levels of migration and economic globalization. Focusing on the linguistic dimensions of economic inequality, cultural domination and imparity of political participation, Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice employs a case-study approach to real-world instances of linguistic injustice. Linguistic diversity is a universal characteristic of human language but linguistic diversity is rarely neutral; rather it is accompanied by linguistic stratification and linguistic subordination. Domains critical to social justice include employment, education, and community participation. The book offers a detailed examination of the connection between linguistic diversity and inequality in these specific contexts within nation states that are organized as liberal democracies. Inequalities exist not only between individuals and groups within a state but also between states. Therefore, the book also explores the role of linguistic diversity in global injustice with a particular focus on the spread of English as a global language. While much of the analysis in this book focuses on language as a means of exclusion, discrimination and disadvantage, the concluding chapter asks what the content of linguistic justice might be.




Linguistic Diversity and Discrimination


Book Description

This collection explores the ways in which women in academia from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds mediate the negotiation of linguistic discrimination and linguistic diversity in higher education, using autoethnography to make visible their lived experiences. The volume shows how women in academia from CaLD backgrounds, particularly those living or working in the Global South, draw on their multivalent complex linguistic backgrounds and cultural repertoires to cope with, and manage, linguistic and systemic gender discrimination. In adopting authoethnography as its key methodology, the book encourages these academics to ‘write themselves’ beyond the conventions from which women in academia have traditionally been forced to speak and write. The collection features perspectives from women across geographic contexts, sub-fields and levels of experience whose stories are not often told, putting at the fore their narratives, lived experiences and career trajectories in mediating issues around power, ideology, language policy, social justice, teaching and learning, and identity construction. In so doing, the book challenges the wider field to expand the borders of discussions on linguistic discrimination and higher education institutions to critically engage with these issues. This book will be of interest to scholars in applied linguistics, sociolinguistics and cultural studies.




Linguistics in Pursuit of Justice


Book Description

Explores the role of linguistics in promoting justice and equality with regard to ethnic minorities, legal matters and civil rights.




Linguistic Diversity and Discrimination


Book Description

This collection explores the ways in which women in academia from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds mediate the negotiation of linguistic discrimination and linguistic diversity in higher education, using autoethnography to make visible their lived experiences. The volume shows how women in academia from CaLD backgrounds, particularly those living or working in the Global South, draw on their multivalent complex linguistic backgrounds and cultural repertoires to cope with, and manage, linguistic and systemic gender discrimination. In adopting authoethnography as its key methodology, the book encourages these academics to write themselves' beyond the conventions from which women in academia have traditionally been forced to speak and write. The collection features perspectives from women across geographic contexts, sub-fields and levels of experience whose stories are not often told, putting at the fore their narratives, lived experiences and career trajectories in mediating issues around power, ideology, language policy, social justice, teaching and learning, and identity construction. In so doing, the book challenges the wider field to expand the borders of discussions on linguistic discrimination and higher education institutions to critically engage with these issues. This book will be of interest to scholars in applied linguistics, sociolinguistics and cultural studies.




Diversity Across the Disciplines


Book Description

Diversity research and scholarship has evolved over the past several decades and is now reaching a critical juncture. While the scholarship on diversity and inclusion has advanced within various disciplines and subdisciplines, there have been limited conversations and collaborations across distinct areas of research. Theories, paradigms, research models and methodologies have evolved but continue to remain locked within specific area, disciplines, or theoretical canons. This collaborative edited volume examines diversity across disciplines in higher education. Our book brings together contributions from the arts, sciences, and professional fields. In order to advance diversity and inclusion across campuses, multiple disciplinary perspectives need to be acknowledged and considered broadly. The current higher education climate necessitates multicultural and interdisciplinary collaboration. Global partnerships and technological advances require faculty, administrators, and graduate students to reach beyond their disciplinary focus to achieve successful programs and research projects. We need to become more familiar discussing diversity across disciplines. Our book investigates diversity across disciplines with attention to people, process, policies, and paradigms. The four thematic categories of people, process, policies, and paradigms describe the multidisciplinary nature of diversity and topics relevant to faculty, administrators, and students in higher education. The framework provides a structure to understand the ways in which people are impacted by diversity and the complicated process of engaging with diversity in a variety of contexts. Policies draw attention to the dynamic nature of diversity across disciplines and paradigms presents models of diversity in research and education.




Language Diversity in the USA


Book Description

What are the most widely spoken non-English languages in the USA? How did they reach the USA? Who speaks them, to whom, and for what purposes? What changes do these languages undergo as they come into contact with English? This book investigates the linguistic diversity of the USA by profiling the twelve most commonly used languages other than English. Each chapter paints a portrait of the history, current demographics, community characteristics, economic status, and language maintenance of each language group, and looks ahead to the future of each language. The book challenges myths about the 'official' language of the USA, explores the degree to which today's immigrants are learning English and assimilating into the mainstream, and discusses the relationship between linguistic diversity and national unity. Written in a coherent and structured style, Language Diversity in the USA is essential reading for advanced students and researchers in sociolinguistics, bilingualism, and education.




Language Racism


Book Description

This book discusses a new breed of racism, namely language racism, which is spreading both in the USA and in Europe, as well as other parts of the world. The book is a manifesto promoting a more positive view of linguistic and cultural diversity.




Social Justice through Multilingual Education


Book Description

The principles for enabling children to become fully proficient multilinguals through schooling are well known. Even so, most indigenous/tribal, minority and marginalised children are not provided with appropriate mother-tongue-based multilingual education (MLE) that would enable them to succeed in school and society. In this book experts from around the world ask why this is, and show how it can be done. The book discusses general principles and challenges in depth and presents case studies from Canada and the USA, northern Europe, Peru, Africa, India, Nepal and elsewhere in Asia. Analysis by leading scholars in the field shows the importance of building on local experience. Sharing local solutions globally can lead to better theory, and to action for more social justice and equality through education.




Managing Diversity in Education


Book Description

Diversity - social, cultural, linguistic and ethnic - poses a challenge to all educational systems. Some authorities, schools and teachers look upon it as a problem, an obstacle to the achievement of national educational goals, while for others it offers new opportunities. Successive PISA reports have laid bare the relative lack of success in addressing the needs of diverse school populations and helping children develop the competences they need to succeed in society. The book is divided into three parts that deal in turn with policy and its implications, pedagogical practice, and responses to the challenge of diversity that go beyond the language of schooling. This volume features the latest research from eight different countries, and will appeal to anyone involved in the educational integration of immigrant children and adolescents.