Linguistic diversity and accent bias in Higher Education and beyond

Value

£7,500

Description

Biases against people's accents may lead to unfair treatment or unequal access to opportunities. Accent-based discrimination affects access to jobs, promotions, housing and other aspects of daily life, such as student life at university.

This project aims to develop sustainable initiatives to celebrate linguistic diversity and tackle accent-based inequalities in different sectors, starting from Higher Education. Initiatives include a survey of university students' experiences of accent-based disadvantages, and developing context-specific solutions in partnership with Leeds University Union, EDI teams, and Higher Education institutions.

Publications and outputs

Report: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/217331/1/AccentEqualityStatement_July2024.pdf

News story: https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/arts-humanities-cultures/news/article/2753/tackling-accent-bias-could-improve-students-sense-of-belonging-in-higher-education-institutions