Undergraduate Course: Language and Social Justice (LASC08024)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Language and social justice is now a key issue in society. From minority language rights and disability rights, to accent bias and linguistic discrimination, debates concerning language and social justice are frequently contested in media and social discourse, as well as within Government and other institutional systems. By the end of the course, students will have been introduced to relevant theories, concepts, methods and applications which enable them to become language activists working on language and social justice within their own fields of study. |
| Course description |
Language and social justice critically interrogates how social inequalities and injustices are enacted through language, and provides some insight into how those issues can be productively challenged, disrupted and diverted. The course will engage with a wide-range of topics that are regularly debated in media, social discourse, and in academia, including:
- Language and the law
- Linguistic discrimination and accent bias
- Crip linguistics
- Language deprivation
- Language in schools
- Minority language policy
By the end of the course, students will have been introduced to relevant theories, concepts, methods and applications which enable them to become language activists working on language and social justice. This will include different concepts of activism and what language activism can look like for different people in different domains, ranging from public discourses to quieter actions within more private spheres.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 11,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
163 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Activist project proposal (500 words) - 20%
Activist project (2,000 words, 10 minutes of recordings, or other agreed format with the CO) - 80%
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| Feedback |
Students will be able to use feedback on their midterm project proposal in working on their final project. Tutorials will explicitly focus on developing assessment-relevant skills throughout the course. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate awareness of how social inequalities and injustices are enacted through language
- Describe and critique relevant concepts in language and social justice
- Propose some research-informed interventions that tackle linguistic inequality
- Design an activist-focussed project on language and social justice
- Evaluate how language and social justice is relevant to their own lived-experience/future aspirations
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Reading List
- Baker Bell, A. (2020). Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Abingdon: Routledge.
- Baugh, J. (2018). Linguistics in Pursuit of Justice. Cambridge: CUP.
- Piller, I. (2016). Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice. Cambridge: CUP.
- Sauntson, Helen et al. (2025). Language and Social Justice : An Introduction to Linguistic Activism. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Critical thinking
- Problem solving
- Curiosity
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Reflection
- Inclusivity
- Adaptivity
- Data and Digital Literacy
- Individuality
This course encourages students to critically reflect on the relationship between language and social justice. Students will be introduced to language variation, use, and implementation through a critical lens that argues that language often functions as a tool of oppression. They will then have the opportunity to learn about approaches and concepts that seek to dismantle the social inequalities linked to language, whereby language functions as a tool for liberation. The practical element of this course - an activist-led project on language and social justice - will ask students to develop creative and collaborative solutions which address a problem or set of problems. This project will help students translate academic research into real-world impacts such as through implementing proposed interventions in their own practices.
A core aim of this course is to engage with students who may not be linguists, and to ask them to consider the relevance of language, social justice, and inequality, in their personal lives and in their future careers. The skills students will acquire on this course ¿ such as independent research skills, problem solving, and appreciating the benefits of a more diverse society ¿ will support their personal development beyond the context of the university classroom. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Gabrielle Hodge
Tel:
Email: gabrielle.hodge@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Susan Hermiston
Tel: (0131 6)50 3440
Email: Susan.Hermiston@ed.ac.uk |
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