How linguistic racism can hinder your academic career: podcast

Linguistic racism on campus is affecting international students and researchers mental health, career prospects and motivation, experts say.

“On Australian campuses, linguistic racism happens in the form of social exclusion, interpersonal and institutional rejections and other microaggressions," Curtin University associate professor Dr Sender Dovchin told Campus Review.

Dovchin recently conducted a study on linguistic racism, which designates racism based on how one speaks and writes certain languages and dialects, and found it is pervasive across Australia.

She says the most common occurrences include correcting someone’s English, leaving them aside in the classroom or mispronouncing their name.

“International students and academics start losing their confidence and develop foreign language anxiety, losing the ability to really focus on their academic ability," Dovchin.

Dovchin joined Campus Review to shed light on linguistic racism and how universities can address the issue.

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