The Importance of Graduate Student Engagement in a Campus Language Diversity Initiative

Abstract

In 2012, North Carolina State University launched a campus-wide linguistic diversity program, “Educating the Educated,” with a goal of engaging the campus community about language as a key element of diversity and increasing general knowledge of language and dialect differences. The program has successfully grown over the past several years since its launch, in large part due to the leadership efforts of the program’s student ambassadors. Student ambassadors are involved in peer education on campus, seek out opportunities to engage the campus and local communities, and develop partnerships on campus with existing organizations to enhance diversity education efforts with the inclusion of language diversity. A majority of these student ambassadors are graduate students in the linguistics Masters program. In this paper, we discuss the importance of the student ambassadors to the success of the program in terms of their contributions and advancement of program objectives. We also highlight the importance of graduate students being engaged on their campus, drawing from higher education research literature on graduate student engagement and the critical role it plays in academic and professional development.

Sociolinguistic labor, linguistic climate, and race(ism) on campus: Black college students’ experiences with language at predominantly white institutions

“…At the end of our interviews, we asked what recommendations our participants would make to instructors and institutions. Students mentioned that it could help if instructors and their fellow students were more educated about language differences, linguistic prejudice, and managing diverse classrooms (cf Dunstan et al, 2018). Some mentioned rethinking how ‘participation’ is used in grading, and taking steps to not penalize students who may be less apt to participate—as this reticence is sometimes a response to (linguistic) racism.…”

“…| 419 HOLLIDAY AnD SQUIRES students are underrepresented on most American college campuses, and research shows that racial discrimination, institutional policies, and professor and peer interactions all often negatively contribute to their academic progress and student well-being (Harper, Patton, & Wooden, 2009). Much programming has intentionally sought to improve this situation: institutions have established 'diversity' and 'inclusion' initiatives, hired diversity officers, and added required diversity course requirements (Dunstan, Wolfram, Jaeger, & Crandall, 2015;Dunstan et al, 2018;Patton, 2016;Urciuoli, 2010;Williams, 2013). Yet, language variation has not been a primary point of focus in higher education work.…”

The potential of sociolinguistic impact: Lessons from the first 50 years

“…As a professional in the academy for more than a half‐century now, I can certainly attest to the synergistic, complementary effect of engagement combined with research. It provides social and personal meaning to our professional lives when we cynically wonder about the consequences and significance of our narrowly focused research projects that have limited interest to a small set of scholars Dunstan et al., 2018.…”

“…As a professional in the academy for more than a half-century now, I can certainly attest to the synergistic, complementary effect of engagement combined with research. It provides social and personal meaning to our professional lives when we cynically wonder about the consequences and significance of our narrowly focused research projects that have limited interest to a small set of scholars Dunstan et al, 2018. Furthermore, research studies on the role of engagement in the lives of our students suggests that engagement is a key element that influences student success. Students, as well as professors, find it instrumental in providing purpose beyond the myopic focus on a particular research project (Day et al, 2012;O'Meara, 2008;O'Meara & Jaeger, 2016).…”

Linguistic Anthropology in 2018: Signifying Movement

“…A special issue of the Journal of English Linguistics edited by Mallinson and Charity Hudley (), for instance, brings together the work of linguists in various US institutions of higher education who are directly involved in projects addressing language‐related issues of social justice on university campuses, such as programs that promote success of underrepresented linguistic and racial minority students (Charity Hudley ), initiatives of peer education to inculcate greater awareness of linguistic diversity among the student population (Dunstan et al. ), and engagement with mass media to combat language ideologies that adversely affect the higher education experience of Latinx students (Carter ). For many UK‐based scholars, an important context for their work was the historical fourteen‐day strike of the University and College Union during February and March 2018, which was initiated against the proposed changes in the members’ pension plans but then quickly spread to a range of other issues engulfing the UK university system under neoliberalism, such as casualization of lecturers, rapidly rising student fees, and oppressive measures of accountability imposed upon teachers and researchers (Bergfeld ).…”