The psychological damages of linguistic racism and international students in Australia

TLDR

Linguistic stereotyping imposes negative perceptions on English speakers based on race, ethnicity, and nationality, often portraying them as speaking poor English regardless of actual proficiency. This study expands the concept of linguistic racism by defining ethnic accent bullying and linguistic stereotyping, and argues that an integrated perspective linking these traits to psychological damage can guide interventions for international students. Most participants reported experiencing ethnic accent bullying and linguistic stereotyping, which triggered inferiority complexes, social withdrawal, low self-esteem, anxiety, and in many cases severe depression and suicidal ideation.

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic interview data informed by international students in Australia, this study aims to expand the notion of ‘linguistic racism’ through two main traits – ‘ethnic accent bullying’ and ‘linguistic stereotyping.’ ‘Ethnic accent bullying’ refers to bullying in the forms of ‘laughing’ and ‘joking’ towards ethnically and linguistically different background speakers’ biographical English accent. ‘Linguistic stereotyping’ refers to predefined negative perceptions imposed on English speakers based on their race, ethnicity, and nationality. These speakers are often ‘heard,’ ‘seen,’ or ‘imagined’ speaking ‘bad’ or ‘low proficient’ English irrespective of their actual high-level in English. Alarmingly, a majority of international students who participated in this study have experienced these two types of linguistic racism, which further posed serious ‘psychological damages.’ These traits of linguistic racism often instigate inferiority complexes leading to social withdrawal, sense of non-belonging, low self-esteem, fear, and anxiety over speaking English. The accumulation of these inferiority complexes further instigated severe depressive symptoms of mental health such as suicidal ideations. This study, therefore, concludes that an integrated perspective addressing linguistic racism and psychological damages together may be particularly useful in developing interventions against international students who are suffering from mental health problems.