Work

Language Ideologies of Racial Microaggression and Institutional Whiteness: Experiences of Chinese International Students in UK Higher Education

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT This paper explores how language intersects with race in shaping the experience of Chinese international students in UK higher education (HE). Through the lenses of racial microaggression, critical race theory, and raciolinguistic ideologies, the study analyzes interviews and written diaries from Chinese students at a public research university. It reveals three language ideologies rooted in white supremacy: the ideology of English‐only, the ideology of incompetence, and the ideology of exclusion. These ideologies manifest in everyday interactions and institutional practices, positioning Chinese students as the inferior Other and reproducing the university as a white space. However, these ideologies are sometimes internalized by students who reproduce their own raciolinguistic inferiority. The article argues that students’ racial experiences are embedded in the racial logics of the internationalization of HE and the racial hierarchies of knowledge construction, which sustain and rely on white English supremacy as a multi‐scalar and transnational endeavor.

Source: Journal of Sociolinguistics

DOI: 10.1111/josl.12693

Author: Shuang Gao

Institution: University of Liverpool

Language: English

Topic: Multilingual Education and Policy

Subfield: Linguistics and Language

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,730