From accent-based discrimination through to deficit thinking about non-standard variation, linguistic injustice is a long-standing issue in England’s schools and around the world. Ideologies of linguistic deficit affect the most marginalised members of schools, particularly racialised children from low-income families, whose often stigmatised language practices are connected to broader experiences of injustice. This research project seeks to challenge such ideologies, engaging in efforts to theorise and practice linguistic justice in schools at an institutional level. In other words, what does it mean and require to create a school who have linguistic justice wired into its very walls?

This 3-year project is funded by a Philip Leverhulme Prize from The Leverhulme Trust and led by Dr Ian Cushing, Reader in Critical Applied Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. It is running from late 2026 to late 2029.

You can contact Ian by email: i.cushing@mmu.ac.uk

Artwork on this site is by Wendy Wong, funded by a previous study that Ian led.