‘They have lost their identity but not gained a British one’: non-traditional multilingual students in higher education in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This paper looks at the intersection between higher education, language and identity in Britain. It examines the reflections of minority ethnic graduates on their undergraduate studies in a new university in London. The graduates are from widening participation backgrounds and are multilingual. The paper explores how these graduates experienced their ‘linguistic journey’ in higher education with a focus on the development of multilingual identities and the ways in which multilingual resources are given scant recognition in UK universities. The context is set by giving an overview of government discourses on multilingualism and discussing how the United Kingdom has attempted to manage multilingual learners in educational settings. This is illustrated by four multilingual graduates' stories. These stories are indicative of how UK universities reproduce the monolingual ethos common in much of British society, either by ignoring the linguistic repertoires of their minority ethnic students, or by treating these as problematic. The paper argues that UK universities need to be imagined as multilingual spaces that respect the needs of minority ethnic students and appreciate the cultural and linguistic resources that this diverse group of students bring into the higher education sector.