Professor Julia Snell's Inaugural Lecture: 'Language diversity and social (in)justice'

Drawing on research conducted over 20 years, Prof. Julia Snell interrogates the assumption that modifying children's speech will lead to educational success and social mobility.

In this lecture Professor Julia Snell will articulate the different ways in which linguistic injustice manifests in education – from dialect discrimination to deficit thinking about the language and abilities of underprivileged children – and reflect on the consequences for teachers and pupils. She will share her attempts to challenge deficit-based views of working-class children’s speech and promote dialogic approaches to teaching and learning in classrooms. 
 
With thanks to a host of amazing collaborators, teachers, and students, Professor Snell presents some of the lessons learned from her research career to date and looks ahead to futures of linguistic justice, concerned with creating schools where diverse language repertoires are sustained, where deficit thinking is challenged, and where all students (regardless of background) have access to academically productive classroom dialogue.

About our speaker

Julia Snell is Professor of Sociolinguistics in the School of English at the University of Leeds. 

How to attend 

The lecture will take place in the Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre in the Michael Sadler Building on the University of Leeds campus.

Attendance is free, but in order to help us manage numbers please book your seat via this link.