Tackling Accent Bias at an Elite University

Whilst accent can provide cues to a speakers’ social identity like their social class, where they’re from, or their sexuality, it does not tell us anything about their ‘competence’ or ‘intelligence’. Nevertheless, our research (e.g., Levon, Sharma & Ilbury, 2022) has found that people often do often associate personal attributes like ‘kind’, ‘competent’, and ‘intelligent’ with particular ways of speaking. This often results in what linguists call ‘accent bias’ – where people exhibit a preference for one accent over others – or ‘linguistic discrimination’ – where people are judged or hindered on the basis of their accent, language, or dialect.

Our research has also found that accent bias and linguistic discrimination can become heightened at University. For instance, in the Sutton Trust report mentioned below we found that 35% of university students reported being self-conscious about their accent, and 56% of students from the North of England have had their accent mocked in a social setting.

As part of an on-going student-staff project, we have introduced a series of interventions designed to tackle accent bias. On Friday 4th April we hosted ‘Speaking Out: Tackling accent bias an elite university’ – a half day event that included three talks from experts working on language and social justice:

• Dr Karen Lowing (University of the Highlands and Islands)
• Dr Alex Baratta (University of Manchester)
• Dr Gisela Tomé Lourido (University of Leeds)

It was concluded with a roundtable discussion of these issues with various EDI representatives and the Robertson Trust.

This event complements our work on accent bias training across the university. To date, we have delivered accent bias training to over 500 staff members and 20 different departments. The goal of our workshop is to raise awareness of accent bias and linguistic discrimination at the University, as well as introduce some strategies for tackling these issues in the classroom. Our goal is to create a University community where every voice, accent, and language is respected and valued.

• Dr Christian Ilbury
• Robertson Trust
• Sutton Trust Report
• Accent Bias Britain
• PPLS Perspectives: Accent Bias