Accent bias

New research explores the accent-based disadvantages experienced by university students. An accent equality statement is proposed to be included in university inductions to reduce discrimination and improve students’ sense of belonging.

Dates: 2023-2024 Funding: Michael Beverley Innovation Fellowship Summary: 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 University-wide survey of university students' experiences of accent-based disadvantages, and developing context-specific solutions in partnership with the Leeds University Union (LUU), EDI teams, and Higher Education institutions.

This talk was delivered at the Embracing Linguistic Diversity event, hosted by the Centre of Excellence in Language Teaching (CELT) and Language At Leeds. The event aimed to foster a better understanding of linguistic diversity, raise awareness of …