iholmesPGCert_2025

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IP Unit_ Reflective Report

IP Unit_ Reflective Report

This report aims to address:  

  • Retention of Language Development (LD) students at London College of Fashion (LCF) 
  • Translation, Mediation and Cognition 
  • Inclusivity in the “international” multi-cultural, multi-lingual university space. 

Contextualization 

Regarding my own positionality, and ontology, I am cognizant of my relative privilege – as a white man in my late 40s living in the capital city of an advanced capitalist economy in the Global North, not to mention the fact that I speak English as a first language – I am, ostensibly, close to the apex of the power pyramid. 

However, the murder of Steven Lawrence in Eltham SE London 1993, the consequence of the everyday street level racism of the 1980s and 1990s, and the demonstration that racism permeated institutions and social structures, provoked my belief in anti-racism (Kendi, 2019). “White privilege” often confused with wealth and power, being the “absence of having to live with the consequences of racism” (C4, 2020). I remember vividly the aftermath, the faces of his killers, assured that the system would protect them from justice. The murder eventually resulted in the Macpherson Report (1999), with the promise of “a pivotal moment in the advance of race equality in Britain” (Gillborn et al., 2017, pp. 848-849).  

Racism involves both ideological and practical subordination (Golash- Borza, 2016), the synthesis of prejudice and power structures to sustain the dominance of privilege; “white supremacy” being a system which grants protections and power (Saad, 2020). Racism is perhaps less about the measure of social characteristics than the relationship between the dominant and the subordinate (Bhavnani, Mizra and Meeto, 2005), can be covert (Coates and Morrison, 2011), and becomes institutionalized when organizations fail to provide “an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin” (MacPherson, 1999, para 6.34). Inequalities may emerge unintentionally (Banaji, Fiske & Massey, 2021) and, in the HE context, examples of systemic and structural racial inequality include gaps in award, retention and progression, and differing experiences of “othering” (Advance HE, 2021 – also see Holmes (2025a) blog post on race).  

Fig 1. Percentage Continuation by Ethnicity (5 way). (UAL, 2025) 

UAL data (see example figure 1) is useful in analyzing disparities among home students, however my intervention focuses, primarily, on a demographic, which must also be addressed reflexively regarding race and class. Chinese students axiologically represent global socio- economic superiority over home students given the price tag of their tuition fees being at least 100% more than their home student counterparts. The intersectional lens of social class, overlooked in the breakdown of data, and potentially a factor in the perception and treatment of Chinese students, ironically given the logic of disenfranchisements in Crenshaw’s (1991) thesis of intersectionality. 

Anecdotally, Chinese students themselves have indicated their cognizance of socio- economic class superiority over home students. This is further compounded by the data collected regarding different racial groups being orientated by the requirements of the 2010 Equality Act (Gov.UK, 2023), international students absent via the intersectional lenses afforded to the analysis of home students. There is no specific data about the actual number of Chinese students at UAL, yet it is common knowledge that they make up the vast proportion of international students.  

One struggle for (non-compulsory) LD is attendance, and one potential factor affecting this may be perceptions around inclusivity and identity. It is a conundrum that through the universal offer, those who are in most need of support may feel intimidated by more competent speakers (including L1) and are then less inclined to attend.  

In the multicultural, multilingual space of the LD classroom, Chinese students will usually all sit together, this is understandable from the perspective of a shared language and identity, and not surprising with over 150,000 Chinese nationally, 90,000 of whom are postgraduates, that many should end up spending a lot of time with other Chinese students (Ebel, 2024, p.7). These students disclose that they “want to integrate better” and diversify friendship groups but feel unable to do this; often citing that they feel like they are being treated as sources of revenue (“cash cows”) rather than as valued members of the community (Ibid).  

A critical incident observed during a presentation workshop illustrated this exclusivity. There were 8 students – all female – 7 home (mainly white – but one black British) and one Chinese. The Chinese student sat alone at the front, so I asked the student to sit with the others so that she could participate in group work. However, the home students worked together and still excluded the Chinese student. The refusal of the home students to be inclusive – struck me as being something endemic within the university. This student will be reluctant to repeat the experience – affecting attendance and learning. Students in HE do not acknowledge these microaggressions as being racism, although a deeper exploration reveals that this denial is rooted in the lack of discourse around “‘anti-Asian racism,” and may be obscured and complicated by intersections “with other power axes such as gender” (Yu et al. 2023, p.1700). The exclusion of the student was based on their racialized -“othered” characteristic. Central to this identity is the language barrier, although it is the plurality of languages that may hold the key to building an intercultural space and the mediation of worldviews, not restricted to the acquisition of the hegemonic (colonial) language: English.  

Translanguaging and Paraphrasing 

Translanguaging is the act of accessing different linguistic features or various modes of “autonomous languages,” to optimize the potential for communication (Garcia, 2009, p.140). However, as Friere (2005, p.90) notes, dialogue cannot exist when one or both parties lack humility. This means that teachers must foster a space where mutual inclusion can occur.  

Paraphrasing is an essential skill in academic discourse, both in the production of writing and speaking, for several reasons. AI and machine translation enables generic product but lacks process: the cognitive linguistic synthesis of academic voices. In the context of HE, it is this process which enables students to demonstrate understanding of ideas and discourse, and crucially, enable autonomous learning. It also offers opportunities to explore how the differences between language systems can reveal the plurality of paradigmatic world views. The relationship between culture and language is deeply rooted in how language reflects perspective, where the plurality of ideas results from the plurality of languages in use (Ponorac, 2022).  

A “worldview lack of awareness of our own language and language use arises from the fact that as we master our native tongue, it in turn masters us” (Fantini, 1989, p.2). This “Linguistic determinism” can be defined as the system through which we understand and mediate the world and individuals exposed to a second language may develop an expanded vision of the world, facilitating participation with other cultural groups, “expanding qualitatively our social possibilities” (Ibid, pp.2-3). This mediation also has cognitive, social, and pragmatic benefits for first language (L1) speakers of English in engaging in this collaboration in the LD classroom. Learners as social agents focus on meaning making and communicating beyond linguistic and cultural barriers; all mediation relies on collaborative processes (CE, 2022). 

Reflection, Action and Evaluation 

Through peer discussion I have gained more confidence with the validity of the idea, for example PG Cert Fellow Jeff highlighted how the experience of “non-native” (L2) speakers of English at UAL resonates with Bourdieu’s (1991) concept of linguistic capital, privileging English – and English speakers – within academic and societal “markets,” marginalizing those who are not. My tutor Kwame also gave me inspiration with how to frame this intervention through examples to my students – in the Ghanaian language of his parents there are no differentiations between pronouns, as opposed to English (where recently this has become a highly politicized issue); drawing on another peer example, the diverse language of colours also provides a way into understanding the relationship between how language(s) can inform our world view.  

Fig 2. Language Development LCF Speaking and Listening Class: Student writing Chinese translations of key words from discussion (May 2025) 

Fig. 3. Language Development_BSc Fashion Management Class: Student writing Chinese translation of keyword for analysis (May 2025)    

I have afforded opportunities for students (only Chinese thus far) to write translations for key words and terms in the whiteboard/ flip chart (a tactile typography outside the digital space). This not only brings the visualization of culture through the visual representation of language into the foreground, but also provides the opportunity to explain the complexity of meanings, and how this might affect our world view (see Figure 2. and 3). Thus far this has been an illuminating process in which students’ culture and language is not hidden but forms a meaningful part of the learning process. This metalinguistic level of discussion also has potential for first language speakers in understanding how language informs their world view, although they will also need to be supported in the metalinguistics required for this discourse.   

My idea is based on two activities/ procedures – firstly, using the above to allow students to provide a translation then present their evaluation of the different ways that languages interpret this word, ad hoc during lessons. Secondly, drawing on Intercultural Communication Zine workshops – (see figure 4 and 5) – also see Ramejkis (n.d.) and Holmes (2025b), a process of collaborative interaction and production of Zines or posters, where real collaboration and cultural sharing can occur. This is also intended to be a means of exploring dialectical variation both lexico-grammatically and phonemically, applicable to the range of contexts within the English-speaking body of students.  

Fig 4. Welcome Week Zine Workshop Chelsea College of Arts (Autumn 2024) 

Fig 5. Example of student Zine created at CCW Welcome Week Zine workshops (Autumn 2024)    

This intervention will be evaluated cross sectionally using an ethnographic approach of student interactions and qualitative surveys (Saunders, Thornhill and Lewis, 2023) which could yield insights into student’s perceptions about both the value of the activities and their attitudes towards speakers of other languages – and through the analysis of the collaborative products themselves.  

The procedure aims to practice mediation, paraphrasing, translanguaging and expansion of world view, in the production of a cross-cultural artefact – exploring both denotation and connotation in the representation and cognitive significance of language. In 2025/26 I aim to foster a community of discourse where a plurality of cultures and languages can be seen as a gift rather than a burden to the learning experiences of all students. 

Word count 1650 (not including title, figure captions and reference list) 

List of Figures 

1. Percentage Continuation by Ethnicity (5 way). (UAL, 2025) 

2. Language Development LCF Speaking and Listening Class: Student writing Chinese translations of key words from discussion (May 2025)   

3. Language Development_BSc Fashion Management Class: Student writing Chinese translation of keyword for analysis (May 2025)   

4. Welcome Week Zine Workshop Chelsea College of Arts (Autumn 2024) 

5. Examples of student Zines created at CCW Welcome Week Zine workshops (Autumn 2024)   

References 

AdvanceHE (2021) ‘Understanding Structural Racism in UK Higher Education: an introduction’ Available at:  https://warwick.ac.uk/services/sg/si/diversity/advance_he_-_understanding_racism_report.pdf (Accessed on 12 June 2025)   

Banaji, M. R., Fiske. ,S. T., and Massey, D. S. (2021) ‘Systemic racism: individuals and interactions, institutions and society’ Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 82. 

Bhavnani, R, Mirza, H S, and Meetoo, V. (2005). Tackling the roots of racism: Lessons for success. Bristol: Policy Press   

Bourdieu, P. (1991) Language and Symbolic Power. Edited by J.B. Thompson. Translated by G. Raymond and M. Adamson. Cambridge: Polity Press 

C4 – Channel 4. (2020) The School That Tried to End Racism. [Online}. Youtube. 30 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg (Accessed on 5th June 2025) 

CE- Council of Europe (2025) ‘Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR): Mediation. ‘Available at https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/mediation (Accessed on 25/05/25)    

Coates, R. D., and Morrison, J. (2011) ‘Covert Racism Theories, Institutions, and Experiences Series:  Studies’ in Critical Social Sciences, Volume: 32. 

Crenshaw, K. (1991) ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.’ Stanford Law Review 43 (6), pp.1241-1299    

Ebel, C.P., (2024) ‘How can UK universities improve their strategies for tackling integration challenges among Chinese students?’ Higher Education Policy Institute –HEPI Report 183 

Fantini, A.E. (1989) ‘Language and Worldview’ Journal of Bahá’í Studies Vol. 2-2: this paper was presented in Ottawa, October 7–10, 1988, at the Association’s Thirteenth Annual Conference, “Towards a Global Civilization.”   

Friere, P. (2005) Pedagogy of the Opressed: 30th Anniversary Edition, (Originally published 1970): Noew York: Continuem 

García, O. (2009) ‘Education, multilingualism and translanguaging in the 21st century.’ In: Ajit Mohanty, Minati Panda, Robert  Phillipson and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (eds). Multilingual Education for Social Justice: Globalising the local. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, pp. 128-145   

Gillborn, D., Demack, S., Rollock, N., and Warmington, P. (2017) ‘Moving the goalposts: Education policy and 25 years of the Black/White achievement gap’ British Educational Research Journal Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 848–874 DOI: 10.1002/berj.3297   

Golash-Boza, T. (2016) ‘A critical and comprehensive theory of race and racism’, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 2(2): 129– 41.   

Gov.UK (2013) The Equality Act 2010. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance (Accessed on 14th July 2025) 

Holmes, I. D. (2025a) Inclusive Practice_ Blog Post 3_ Race. Available at: https://pgcertianholmes2025.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2025/06/12/inclusive-practice_blog-post-3_race/ (Accessed 14th July 2025) 

Holmes, I. D. (2025b) Reflective Post 4: Reflections on ‘zines,’ ‘roots’ and ‘routes’ in the multicultural university learning space. Available at: https://pgcertianholmes2025.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2025/03/18/blog-4-reflections-on-a-zine-fair-roots-and-routes-in-the-multicultural-university-learning-space/ (Accessed on 25th May 2025) 

Kendi, I. X., (2019) How to be an antiracist. New York: One World

Macpherson, W. (1999) ‘The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry,’ London, UK Home Office, Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c2af540f0b645ba3c7202/4262.pdf (Accessed 12th June 2025)  

Ponorac, J. (2022) ‘Culture and Language,’ Available at: https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/culture-and-language#:~:text=The%20relationship%20between%20language%20and,of%20identifying%20language%20and%20culture (Accessed on 25/05/25) 

Ramejkis, A. (n.d.) ‘#amazines workshops 23/24 some feedback and reflections. Available at: https://artslondon-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/i_holmes_arts_ac_uk/EamkKnaSxQBFgL-Q3qqhFwoBJ-fb4adjjaDdGfLH8QV1OQ?e=ouaEsI (Accessed 25/05/25) 

Saunders, M.N.K., Thornhill, P., and Lewis, A. (2023) Research Methods for Business Students: Ninth Edition. Harlow: Pearson 

Saad, L.F., (2020) Me and white supremacy, London: Quercus 

UAL (2025) UG retention and continuation. Available at: https://dashboards.arts.ac.uk/dashboard/ActiveDashboards/DashboardPage.aspx?dashboardid=348a5321-e946-47c1-b9b8-aeb5a841d16c&dashcontextid=638684775887265547 (Accessed on 12th June 2025) 

Yu, J., Rai, R., Lim, M.A., and Li, H.  (2023) ‘The post‑racial myth: rethinking Chinese university students’ experiences and perceptions of racialised microaggressions in the UK.’ Higher Education (2024): 88:1695–1710 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01126-5  

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Inclusive Practice Blogs

Inclusive Practice_Blog Post 3_Race

I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.  

                                                  (McIntosh, 1989) 

I remember vividly the aftermath of the murder of Steven Lawrence in Eltham SE London 1993, my heart sank seeing the smiling faces of his killers, secure in the knowledge that the system would prevent them being brought to justice. Steven would have been a little bit older than me, and for me the injustice (just as with any murder) was the life that he would have lived denied by his killers.  

The murder of George Floyd in 2020 by police in the US provoked worldwide ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) protests which served as a catalyst for Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives. However, despite the billions invested (8 billion in US for example) in EDI its effectiveness in driving change is questionable (Sadiq, 2023). The racist murder of Steven Lawrence eventually resulted in the Macpherson Report (1999), hailed as ‘a pivotal moment in the advance of race equality in Britain’ (Gillmore et al., 2017, pp. 848-849). However, the actual progress made since is perhaps equally disheartening.  

Racism refers to both ideological belief of a hierarchy of races and those practices which subordinate certain racial groups (Golash- Borza, 2016). The combination of prejudice and power structures sustain the dominance of white privilege and negatively impact the subordinate groups, ‘white supremacy’ being a system which grants white people unearned privileges, protections and power (Saad, 2020). Bhavnani, Mizra and Meeto (2005) argue that racism is less about the measure of social characteristics and is more about the relationship between the dominant and the subordinate. It can also be covert (Coates and Morrison, 2011) and becomes institutionalized when organizations fail to provide ‘an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin’ (Machpherson, 1999, para 6.34).  

Systemic inequalities may emerge unintentionally and unconsciously (Banaji, Fiske & Massey, 2021) and, in the HE context, examples of systemic and structural racial inequality include gaps in award, retention and progression, under representation of staff, experiences and representation relating to learning, curriculum and research; and differing experiences of ‘othering’, belonging and safety (Advance HE, 2021). 

Using the analytic framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Gillmore et al. (2017) explore the impacts on education of the murder of Steven Lawrence and argue that policy interventions have actually widened the gap maintaining Black disadvantage; white students being at least 150% more likely to reach the benchmark, concluding that the negative impacts of policies are much more defined than any reduction in inequality. Likewise, Garrett (2024, p.2) drawing on Advanced HE (2022) data and using a CRT lens finds that whilst the number of white students progressing to professor level increased year on year, the BAME students and academics saw a corresponding decrease. Applying an intersectional lens, the disparity between white and black females is even greater, there being only 61 out of almost 23,000 professors (Ibid, p.1).  

In the education context, ‘policy is always political’ producing the discourse of success and failure, which ultimately provides advantage for some students over others (Bradbury, 2019, p. 256), and whilst the ‘leaky academic pipeline’ is examined at the PhD level by Garett (2024), the start point of this pipeline is primary school entry. A ‘datafied system’ perpetuates social inequalities and white dominance through systematic underestimation of English as an Additional Language (EAL) children, many from minoritized communities (Bradbury, 2019, p. 255). There is a tacit intentionality of policy makers in the design of baseline assessments which disadvantages EAL (often racialized) students from the beginning (Ibid). This will perhaps become more obvious policy in future, a new Reform- led council ‘DOGE’ team in Kent aims to get rid of all English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL) teaching provision and have immigrant children use Duolingo (Holl-Allen, 2025).  

Whilst the UAL data shows, for example, comparative data between continuation by ethnicity (see Fig 1) it does not take account of first language, which may offer a more intersectional lens to the ‘leaky pipeline.’ 

Fig 1. Percentage Continuation by Ethnicity (5 way). (UAL, 2025) 

It could also be argued that academia stubbornly refuses to acknowledge its complicity in the reproduction of racial injustice and the recreation of inequality (Warmington, 2018). For example, white Professor James Orr (2022) of Cambridge university, takes aim at Advance HE initiatives such as the Athena Swan and Race Equality Charter, which oblige Universities to “make big structural top-down changes” to teaching, research, appointments, and admissions (significantly the two academics interviewed for this film for the Telegraph are not white).  

Professor Arad Ahmed suggests that the de facto impacts have created an oppressive environment for academics and “have not been helpful for free speech” maintaining that there is plenty of evidence that implicit bias training “forced on staff,” has no impact, and that anti racism training is worse “as it pushes a particular ideology” (Ibid). Dr Vincent Harriman challenges the claim of the Co-chair of Racial Governance Committe that there is substantial evidence of systemic racism which all universities, institutionally, perpetuate, citing five reports of racism in five years, and based on this framing a charity turning universities “woke,” Orr suggests that any future award from advanced HE should be thrown straight in the Cam (Ibid).   

It is worth considering that “white privilege” is often confused with wealth and power, however, in reality, it is the “absence of having to live with the consequences of racism” and whilst overt acts of racist violence and murder can provoke catalysts for change, actual systemic change is resisted by white hegemony whilst simultaneously denying that racism even exists, or that attempts to confront racism are in fact racist themselves – just take a look at the comments to the Channel 4 (2020) video cited above. 

References 

AdvanceHE (2021) ‘Understanding Structural Racism in UK Higher Education: an introduction’ Available at:  https://warwick.ac.uk/services/sg/si/diversity/advance_he_-_understanding_racism_report.pdf (Accessed on 12 June 2025) 

AdvanceHE. (2022) ‘Equality in Higher Education: Statistical Reports 2022’ Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/equality-higher-education-statistical-reports-2022 (Accessed on 12th June 2025) 

Banaji, M. R., Fiske. ,S. T., and Massey, D. S. (2021) ‘Systemic racism: individuals and interactions, institutions and society’ Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 82.    

Bhavnani, R, Mirza, H S, and Meetoo, V. (2005). Tackling the roots of racism: Lessons for success. Policy Press 

Bradbury, A., (2020) ‘A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: The case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England.’ Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2), pp.241-260 

Channel 4. (2020) The School That Tried to End Racism. [Online}. Youtube. 30 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg  (Accessed on 5th June) 

Coates, R. D., and Morrison, J. (2011) ‘Covert Racism Theories, Institutions, and Experiences Series:  Studies’ in Critical Social Sciences, Volume: 32.    

Garrett, R. (2024) ‘Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education.’ Globalisation, Societies and Education, pp.1–15.   

Gillborn, D., Demack, S., Rollock, N., and Warmington, P. (2017) ‘Moving the goalposts: Education policy and 25 years of the Black/White achievement gap’ British Educational Research Journal Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 848–874 DOI: 10.1002/berj.3297 

Golash-Boza, T. (2016). ‘A critical and comprehensive theory of race and racism’, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 2(2): 129– 41. 

Holl-Allen, G. (2025) English classes for migrants face the axe under Reform-led council Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/06/05/english-classes-for-migrants-face-the-axe-reform-council/ (Accessed on 12th June 2025)  

Macpherson, W. (1999) ‘The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry,’ London, UK Home Office, Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c2af540f0b645ba3c7202/4262.pdf (Accessed 12th June 2025) 

McIntosh, P. (1989) ‘White privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack.’ Peace and Freedom. Available at: https://med.umn.edu/sites/med.umn.edu/files/2022-12/White-Privilege_McIntosh-1989.pdf (Accessed on 5 June 2025) 

Orr, J. (2022) Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke. The Telegraph [Online]. Youtube. 5 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU 

Sadiq, A. (2023) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right. TEDx [Online}. Youtube. 2 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw   

UAL (2025) UG retention and continuation. Available at: https://dashboards.arts.ac.uk/dashboard/ActiveDashboards/DashboardPage.aspx?dashboardid=348a5321-e946-47c1-b9b8-aeb5a841d16c&dashcontextid=638684775887265547 (Accessed on 12th June 2025) 

Warmington, P., foreword to Arday, J., and Mirza, H., (Eds). (2018) Dismantling Race in Higher Education – Racism, Whiteness and Decolonising the Academy. Palgrave Macmillan.  

Categories
IP_Intervention

Inclusive Practice: Intervention (Formative) – Making the plurality of language visible- intercultural mediation and exploration of ‘world view.’

This intervention aims to deal with two issues which have become manifest in my experience as a Language Development Tutor at LCF (and through my previous work with LD at other colleges) – 1: The use of machine translation in mediating academic communication and 2: the need for greater inclusivity among peers in the “international” university space. 

The need for greater cultural inclusivity in the university 

Fantini (2022) suggests that language is not merely about teaching “new ways to say old things (i.e., new symbols for old thoughts) rather it aims to aid the discovery, via new language systems, of new ways of “perceiving, of classifying and categorizing, of interacting, and to new ways of thinking about the world.” However, as I will argue, this process is not restricted to the acquisition of the hegemonic (colonial) language: English. “Translanguaging” is the act of accessing different linguistic features or various modes” of what are described as “autonomous languages,” to optimize the potential for communication (Garcia, 2009, p.140). However, as Friere (2005, p.90) notes dialogue cannot exist when one or both parties lack humility. 

What happens in the multicultural, multilingual space of the classroom at LCF is that Chinese students (the predominant international student group) will usually all sit together, this is understandable from the perspective of a shared language – and a shared identity. It is not surprising, with over 150,000 Chinese nationally, 90,000 of whom are postgraduates, that many should end up spending a lot of time with other Chinese students (Ebel, 2024, p.7). These students disclose that they ‘want to integrate better’ and diversify friendship groups but feel unable to do this; and they often cite that the feel like they are being treated as sources of revenue (a “cash cow”) ‘rather than as valued members of the community (Ibid).  

One example of exclusion, I observed a few weeks ago, was when delivering part one of a presentation workshop for BA Fashion Marketing. There were 8 students – 7 home (mainly white – but one black British) and one Chinese. The Chinese student sat alone at the front, there was a space among the other students on the back table, so I asked the student to sit with the others so that she could participate in the peer-based activities. However, when these activities began the home students worked together in pairs and small groups whilst the Chinese student was excluded. Whilst I tried to involve the student, the refusal of the home students to include the Chinese student – which may have required some adaptation, and indeed empathy – struck me as being something endemic within the university, and I imagine that this student will be very reluctant to repeat the experience of the workshop in part two– affecting attendance and learning. Students in HE do not acknowledge these microaggressions as being racism, although a deeper exploration reveals that this denial is tooted in the lack of discourse around “‘anti-Asian racism,” and may be obscured and complicated by intersections “with other power axes such as gender” (Yu et al. 2023, p.1700) 

Had there been other Chinese students, then most likely these students would have worked together. My reason for moving the student was purely to facilitate communicative activities, however the opportunity for mediated cross-cultural communication exists, and would, in my view, benefit all students. What I observed in the above was, in my evaluation, an “othering” of the Chinese student, and the exclusion was based on this “othered” characteristic. Of course, central to this cultural identity is the language barrier, although it is the plurality of languages that may hold the key to building an intercultural space and the mediation of worldviews.  

Paraphrasing and mediating as a cognitive process.  

Paraphrasing is an essential skill in academic discourse, both in the production of writing and speaking, for several reasons. However, in the era of AI, this is a productive task which can be completed automatically by machine. This enables product, i.e. achieving what appears on the surface to be an academic text to the genre, but lacks the essential process: the cognitive linguistic synthesis of academic voices, i.e. that of the secondary source author and that of the primary researcher writer. In the context of HE it is this process which enables the student to understand, and demonstrate understanding of ideas and discourse, and crucially, through this synthetic process, enable autonomous learning.  

However, there are significant barriers regarding the ability to do this for students who are using English as a second or other language. The process of paraphrasing, and indeed writing per se is often mediated through translation tools, this also risks subverting the cognitive processing on the part of the student; in as much as the text is translated into the first language, synthesized into the first language writing produced by the student, and then translated back into English by machine. However, this does offer some opportunity to investigate how a linguistic difference between one language and another reveal a plurality of cultural perspectives and paradigmatic world view, interpretations of ideas, and on the discourse around them. The relationship between culture and language is deeply rooted in how language reflects cultural perspective, where a plurality of ideas result from plurality of languages in use (Ponorac, 2022). 

Fantini (1989, p.2) asserts that a “worldview lack of awareness of our own language and language use arises from the fact that as we master our native tongue, it in turn masters us.” This “Linguistic determinism” can be defined as the system through which we understand and mediate the world and individuals exposed to a second language may develop an expanded vision of the world, facilitating participation with other cultural groups, “expanding qualitatively our social possibilities” (Ibid, pp.2-3). The mediation of languages also has cognitive, social, and pragmatic benefits. 

Mediation is one of the four modes in which the CEFR model organizes communication. Learners seen as social agents engage in receptive, productive, interactive or mediation activities or, more frequently, in a combination of two or more of them. While interaction stresses the social use of language, mediation encompasses and goes beyond that by focusing on making meaning and/or enabling communication beyond linguistic or cultural barriers. Both types of mediation rely on collaborative processes. (CE, 2022) 

Proposed Intervention

I have begun talking to Chinese students about their experiences and behaviours (and I am also interested in learning the perceptions and behaviours of the home and other students). I have also afforded opportunities (in Chinese only classes thus far) to get students to write translations for key words and terms in the whiteboard/ flip chart (a more tactile form of typography and opportunity to step outside the digital space). This not only brings the visualization of culture through the visual representation of the language into the foreground, but then provides the opportunity to explain the complexity of meanings, and how this might affect our world view (see Fig 1. and 2). Thus far this has been an illuminating process in which students’ culture and language is not hidden but forms a meaningful part of the learning process. This metalinguistic level of discussion also has potential for first language speakers in understanding how language informs their world view, although they will also need to be supported in the metalinguistics required for this discourse (this is where the expertise of Language Development can support all learners at UAL).  

Fig 1. Language Development LCF Speaking and Listening Class: Student writing Chinese translations of key words from discussion (May 2025) 

Fig. 2 Language Development_BSc Fashion Management Class: Student writing Chinese translation of keyword for analysis – (May 2025) 

My formative idea for this is based on two activities/ procedures – firstly, using the above to allow students to provide a translation then present their evaluation of the different ways that languages interpret this word, ad hoc during lessons. Secondly, drawing on an idea which I came across working with Adam Ramejkis on the Intercultural Communication programme on Zine workshops (see fig 2 and 3. also see Ramejkis (n.d.) and Holmes (2025) blog for more details about Zines) in order to offer an opportunity for cross cultural collaboration, mediation and exploration of identity and perception. This process utilizes interaction and production outside of the digital space, where real collaboration and cultural sharing can occur. It is also intended to be a means of exploring dialectical variation both lexico-grammatically and phonemically, through utilizing synthetic and IPA (EnglishClub, 2025) phonological tools) which is applicable to the range of contexts within the English speaking body of students.  

Fig 3. Welcome Week Zine Workshop Chelsea College of Arts Autumn 2024.   

In sum, the procedure aims to practice mediation, paraphrasing, translanguaging and expansion of world view perception, in the production of a cross-cultural artefact – which focuses on exploring both denotation and connotation in the representation and cognitive significance of language. Through doing this I want to foster a community of discourse where a plurality of cultures and languages can be seen as a gift rather than a burden to the learning experiences of all students.  

References 

CE- Council of Europe (2025) ‘Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR): Mediation. ‘Available at https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/mediation (Accessed on 25/05/25)  

Fantini, A.E. (1989) ‘Language and Worldview’ Journal of Bahá’í Studies Vol. 2-2: this paper was presented in Ottawa, October 7–10, 1988, at the Association’s Thirteenth Annual Conference, “Towards a Global Civilization.”   

Friere, P. (2005) Pedagogy of the Opressed: 30th Anniversary Edition, (Originally published 1970): Noew York: Continuem  

García, Ofelia (2009). ‘Education, multilingualism and translanguaging in the 21st century.’ In: Ajit Mohanty, Minati  Panda, Robert  Phillipson and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (eds). Multilingual Education for Social Justice: Globalising the local. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, pp. 128-145 

Holmes, I. (2025) ‘Reflective Post 4: Reflections on ‘zines,’ ‘roots’ and ‘routes’ in the multicultural university learning space.’ Available at: https://pgcertianholmes2025.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2025/03/18/blog-4-reflections-on-a-zine-fair-roots-and-routes-in-the-multicultural-university-learning-space/ (Accessed on 25/05/25) 

EnglishClub (2025) ‘Interactive Phonemic Chart.’ Available at:  https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/phonemic-chart-ia.php (Accessed on 25/05/25) 

NALDIC (2016) ‘What is translanguaging?.’ Available at  https://ealjournal.org/2016/07/26/what-is-translanguaging/ (Accessed on 25/05/25) 

Ponorac, J. (2022) ‘Culture and Language,’ Available at: https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/culture-and-language#:~:text=The%20relationship%20between%20language%20and,of%20identifying%20language%20and%20culture (Accessed on 25/05/25) 

Ramejkis, A. (n.d.) ‘#amazines workshops 23/24 some feedback and reflections’ Available at: https://artslondon-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/i_holmes_arts_ac_uk/EamkKnaSxQBFgL-Q3qqhFwoBJ-fb4adjjaDdGfLH8QV1OQ?e=ouaEsI (Accessed 25/05/25) 

Yu, J., Rai, R., Lim, M.A., and Li, H.  (2023) ‘The post‑racial myth: rethinking Chinese university students’ experiences and perceptions of racialised microaggressions in the UK.’ Higher Education (2024): 88:1695–1710 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01126-5