Open lecture by prof. Stephen May

Linguistic racism and discrimination in higher education: Lessons from the field

Professor Stephen May from the Faculty of Arts and Education, University of Auckland, New Zealand will give a lecture on TUESDAY, 2nd June 2026, 10.00 AM, Room 2.014. 

Research on linguistic racism and discrimination in higher education, particularly in English language-dominant HE institutions, has become
a topic of increasing interest over the last decade. In this presentation, he will first briefly explore the various theoretical strands informing this emerging research topic, including linguistic variationism, language ideology, and raciolinguistics, among others. He will then turn to a discussion of the findings of a 2-year mixed-methods research project in his own university. The project explores student, faculty, and professional staff experiences of linguistic discrimination in relation to monoglossic HE language policies and practices, as well as examples of linguistic racism in relation to their bi/multilingual language use. He will conclude by highlighting implications for other HE contexts
internationally.