Dr Ian Cushing
Senior Lecturer in Critical Applied Linguistics
My profile
Biography
I joined MMU in June 2023 as Senior Lecturer in Critical Applied Linguistics. Following a career as a school teacher in inner London, in 2019 I completed a PhD in Educational Linguistics and have since worked in Higher Education across linguistics, education studies, and teacher education. I maintain a close link with schools, where the majority of my current research is focused on.
My work examines the intersections of race, class and language in the production and maintenance of inequalities in schools, early years settings and teacher education. This involves tracing the colonial histories of raciolinguistic ideologies and how they surface in academic knowledge production, linguistic theory, contemporary educational policy, classrooms, school inspections, and assessments. This research has received, or is currently in receipt of, funding from the British Educational Research Association, the Spencer Foundation (with Dr Clara Vaz Bauler in New York City, USA), the British Association of Applied Linguistics, the UK Literacy Association and the British Academy/Leverhulme (with Professor Viv Ellis in Melbourne, Australia).
My current projects are exploring the histories of Whiteness in literacy education, and how we conceptualise transformative linguistic justice using abolitionist methodologies and approaches. This work critiques trends in language education on two grounds: exposing flawed theories of language, and exposing flawed theories of social justice.
Recent projects include tracing the resurgence of deficit thinking in England’s schools, particularly around ideologies and interventions concerning the so-called word gap, tiered vocabulary, oracy, and the flawed theories of language which underpin these. My work also shows how teachers push back against various realisations of anti-Black and white supremacist language ideologies. I have also traced the articulation of raciolinguistic and monolingual ideologies in school curricula and teacher education curricula, particularly when these are framed as ‘evidence based’ policy making. This strand of my work also includes how racialised pre-service teachers experience accent policing during school experience placements.
My work has also shown how hostile language policing co-articulates with the policing of children’s bodies in schools, and how ideologies about language in government policy work their way into schools, including in mandatory grammar tests for young children which are geared around notions of linguistic correctness. I have responded to critiques of my work from linguists/policy makers at the UK Department for Education, such as those who deny the existence of prescriptivism in schools.
With Professor Julia Snell, we have investigated the role that Ofsted play in perpetuating racialised and classed language discrimination in schools, and how ideologies of standard English come to materialise in teachers’ perceptions of students’ natural talk.
With Warda Farah and Vishnu Nair, we have shown how raciolinguistic ideologies surface in assessment instruments used by speech and language therapists.
I was the recipient of the 2022 UK Literacy Association Brenda Eastwood prize for my work on language and discrimination in schools. My 2021 article in Literacy on raciolinguistic surveillance in schools won the 2023 UKLA/Wiley Research in Literacy award. My 2022 monograph, Standards, Stigma, Surveillance: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and England’s Schools won the British Association of Applied Linguistics 2023 Academic Book Prize. I was the proud recipient of the 2023 National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) Award for Outstanding Contribution to Research.
I gave the 2023 Harold Rosen Lecture (From the white ears of Ofsted to the word gap: language policing as a design feature of English education) which you can listen to here.
I sit on the Editorial Board of the following journals:
- Literacy
- The Reading Teacher
- Journal of Education, Language, and Ideology
- English in Education
Projects
Current projects
The affective dimensions of teacher education policy reform: narratives of deviance, compliance, and resistance
Funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme, and is a collaboration with Professor Viv Ellis at Monash University, Melbourne.
Challenging language discrimination in schools: toward a typology of teacher-led resistance
Funded by the British Association of Applied Linguistics, and is a collaboration with Dan Clayton at the English and Media Centre, London.
Challenging raciolinguistic ideologies in transatlantic teacher education policy and practice
Funded by the Spencer Foundation, and is a collaboration with Dr Clara Vaz Bauler at Adelphi University, New York City.
Previous projects
Examining and resisting raciolinguistic ideologies in schools.
Funded by the UK Literacy Association.
Sounding right, sounding white: language, race and curriculum in secondary education.
Funded by the British Educational Research Association.
Grammar policy, ideology and pedagogy from primary to secondary school.
Funded by the UK Literacy Association.
Teaching
I teach on the following undergraduate modules:
- Debates in English Language Education
- Language and Social Justice
And on the following postgraduate modules:
- Sociolinguistics
- Language, Culture and Communication
Supervision
I would be happy to talk to students who are interested in pursuing a PhD, particularly those looking to work on and across the following areas:
- Language and race; raciolinguistic ideologies in educational contexts;
- Ideologies of anti-Blackness and white supremacy in language policy and education;
- Language and colonialism/coloniality and anti-colonial efforts;
- Language and social (in)justice;
- Teacher education and teacher activism;
- Language ideologies in educational contexts.
Research outputs
Monograph
Cushing, I. (2022). Standards, Stigma, Surveillance: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and England’s Schools. Palgrave. [link here].
This book won the 2023 British Association of Applied Linguistics Book Prize. It has been reviewed in the Morning Star, Changing English, Language in Society, and Language Policy.
Journal articles
Baker-Bell, A & Cushing, I. (in preparation). Anti-Black linguistic racism and linguistic in/justice in education. Language and Linguistics Compass.
Cushing, I & Govender, N. (in preparation). An anti-racist English education. English in Education.
Cushing, I & Clayton, D. (forthcoming 2024). Teachers challenging language discrimination in England’s schools. Journal of Language, Identity and Education.
Cushing, I. (2024). Transformative justice as a method in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190524000023
Cushing, I. (2024). Social in/justice and the deficit foundations of oracy. Oxford Review of Education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03054985.2024.2311134
Cushing, I. (2024). Tiered vocabulary and raciolinguistic discourses of deficit: from academic scholarship to education policy. Language and Education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09500782.2024.2308824
Cushing, I. (2023). A raciolinguistic perspective from the United Kingdom. Journal of Sociolinguistics. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/josl.12632 (Commentary piece on: Flores, N & Rosa, J. (2023). Undoing raciolinguistics).
Madhukar KC., Cushing, I., Dovchin, S., Flores, N., Phyak, P., Tupas, R & Yazan, B. (2023). In conversation with scholars on contemporary issues and research agendas in language ideologies. Journal of Education, Language, and Ideology 1(1).
https://jelipub.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/kcetal_2023_in_conversations_with.pdf
Snell, J & Cushing, I. (2023). Institutional language policing and the maintenance of race-class inequalities. FORUM 65(3): 128-141. https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/forum/vol-65-issue-3/article-9827/
Nair et al [inc Cushing, I] (2023). Accent modification as a raciolinguistic ideology: a commentary in response to Burda et al. (2022). Journal of Critical Study of Communication and Disability 1(1): 105-112. https://doi.org/10.48516/jcscd_2023vol1iss1.21
Cushing, I. (2023). ‘Miss, can you speak English?’: raciolinguistic ideologies and language oppression in initial teacher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education 44(5): 896-911.https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2023.2206006
Cushing, I & Snell, J. (2023). The (white) ears of Ofsted: a raciolinguistic perspective on the listening practices of the schools inspectorate. Language in Society 52(3): 363-386. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404522000094
Cushing, I. (2023). The knowledge-rich project, coloniality, and the preservation of whiteness in schools: a raciolinguistic perspective. Educational Linguistics 2(1): 51-71. https://doi.org/10.1515/eduling-2022-0018
Wong, W & Cushing, I. (2023). Sonic surveillance in the school: visual representations of language policing. Surveillance & Society 21(4): 494-499. https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/view/16547/11070
Cushing, I. (2023). Challenging anti-Black linguistic racism amidst the ‘what works’ agenda in schools. Race Ethnicity & Education 26(3): 257-276. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2023.2170435
Nair, V., Farah, W & Cushing, I. (2023). A critical analysis of standardized testing in speech and language therapy. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 54(3): 781-793.https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_LSHSS-22-00141
Cushing, I. (2023). Raciolinguistic policy assemblages and white supremacy in teacher education. The Curriculum Journal 34(1): 43-61. https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.173
Cushing, I. (2023). Word rich or word poor? Deficit discourses, raciolinguistic ideologies and the resurgence of the ‘word gap’ in England’s education policy. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 20(4): 305-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2022.2102014
Snell, J & Cushing, I. (2022). “A lot of them write how they speak”: policy, pedagogy, and the policing of non-standard English. Literacy 56(3): 199-211. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12298
Cushing, I. (2022). Policy mechanisms of the standard language ideology in England’s education system. Journal of Language, Identity and Education 22(3): 279-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2021.1877542
Cushing, I & Carter, A. (2021). Using Young Adult fiction to interrogate raciolinguistic ideologies. Literacy 56(2): 106-119. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12277
This article won the UKLA/ Wiley Research in Literacy Education Award 2023.
Cushing, I. (2021). Grammar tests, de facto policy and pedagogical coercion in England’s primary schools. Language Policy 20: 599-622. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-020-09571-z
Cushing I., Georgiou, A & Karatsareas, P. (2021). Language policing in mainstream and complementary schools in the UK. Special issue of International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2021.1933894
Cushing, I & Helks, M. (2021). Exploring primary and secondary students’ experiences of grammar teaching and testing in England. English in Education 55(3): 239-250. https://doi.org/10.1080/04250494.2021.1898282
Cushing, I. (2021). Language, discipline and ‘teaching like a champion’. British Educational Research Journal 47(1): 23-41. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3696
Cushing, I. (2021). ‘Say it like the Queen’: the standard language ideology and language policy making in English primary schools. Language, Culture and Curriculum 34(3): 321-336. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2020.1840578
Cushing, I. (2020). The policy and policing of language in schools. Language in Society 49(3): 425-450. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404519000848
Cushing, I. (2020). Power, politics and language education policy mechanisms: a response to Hudson. Language in Society 49(3): 461-475. https://doi.org/10.1017/S004740452000038X
Cushing, I. (2019). Resources not rulebooks: metaphors for grammar in teachers’ metalinguistic discourse. Metaphor and the Social World 9(2): 155-176. https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.18022.cus
Cushing, I. (2019). Prescriptivism, linguicism and pedagogical coercion in primary school curriculum policy. English Teaching: Practice and Critique 19(1): 35-47. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-05-2019-0063
Cushing, I. (2018). Grammar policy and pedagogy from primary to secondary school. Literacy 53(3): 170-179. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12170
Book chapters in edited collections
Vaz Bauler, C & Cushing, I. (in press). Language, (de)colonisation, and the curriculum. In: Setter, J., Dovchin, S & Ramjattan, V (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Language and Prejudice.
Cushing, I. (2023). Language policing and colonial logics in the ITE policy assemblage. In: Ellis, (ed). Teacher Education in Crisis. Bloomsbury.
Cushing, I & Snell, J. (2023). Prescriptivism in education: from language ideologies to listening practices. In: Beal, J., Lukač, M. and Straaijer, R (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Linguistic Prescriptivism. Routledge, pp. 194-212.
Cushing, I. (2022). Interrogating the listening practices of Mr Oxford Don: panlinguistic surveillance, raciolinguistic ideologies and culturally sustaining pedagogies. In: Bennett, P., Lambert, L & Smith, R (eds). The Murder of English. Routledge.
Cushing, I & Pye, J. (2021). A genealogy of language ideologies in Newbolt and contemporary education policy. In: Green, A (ed). The New Newbolt: One Hundred Years of the Teaching of English in England. Routledge, pp. 75-87,
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Books (authored/edited/special issues)
Cushing, I. (2022) Standards, Stigma, Surveillance: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and England’s Schools.
Cushing, I. (2020) Coda.
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Chapters in books
Cushing, I. (2022) 'A text-world pedagogy for young stylisticians.' Pedagogical Stylistics in the 21st Century. pp. 159-181.
Cushing, I., Hellmuth, S. (2016) 'Phonetics and phonology.' Knowing About Language: Linguistics and the secondary English classroom. pp. 90-102.
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Journal articles
Cushing, I. (2024) 'Social (in)justice and the deficit foundations of oracy.' Oxford Review of Education,
Cushing, I. (2024) 'Tiered vocabulary and raciolinguistic discourses of deficit: from academic scholarship to education policy.' Language and Education,
Cushing, I. 'Teachers challenging language discrimination in England’s schools: a typology of resistance.' Journal of Language, Identity and Education,
Ahmed, F., Baker-Bell, A., Clayton, D., Cushing, I. (2024) 'Race, language and (In)equality.' English in Education, 58(1) pp. 2-5.
Wong, W., Cushing, I. (2023) 'Sonic Surveillance in the School: Visual Representations of Language Policing.' Surveillance and Society, 21(4) pp. 494-499.
Cushing, I. (2023) 'A raciolinguistic perspective from the United Kingdom.' Journal of Sociolinguistics, 27(5) pp. 473-477.
Snell, J., Cushing, I. (2023) 'Institutional language policing and the maintenance of race-class inequalities.' FORUM, 65(3) pp. 128-141.
Cushing, I. (2023) 'Una perspectiva raciolingüística desde el Reino Unido.' Journal of Sociolinguistics, 27(5) pp. 478-482.
Nair, V.K.K., Farah, W., Cushing, I. (2023) 'A Critical Analysis of Standardized Testing in Speech and Language Therapy.' Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 54(3) pp. 781-793.
Cushing, I. (2023) 'The knowledge-rich project, coloniality, and the preservation of whiteness in schools: a raciolinguistic perspective.' Educational Linguistics, 2(1) pp. 51-71.
Cushing, I., Snell, J. (2023) 'The (white) ears of Ofsted: A raciolinguistic perspective on the listening practices of the schools inspectorate.' Language in Society, 52(3) pp. 363-386.
Cushing, I. (2023) 'Raciolinguistic policy assemblages and white supremacy in teacher education.' Curriculum Journal, 34(1) pp. 43-61.
Ahmed, F., Baker-Bell, A., Clayton, D., Cushing, I. (2023) 'Spring 2024 Special Edition (Vol. 58, Issue 1) Race, language and (in)equality.' English in Education, 57(1) pp. 69-72.
Cushing, I. (2023) 'Word rich or word poor? Deficit discourses, raciolinguistic ideologies and the resurgence of the ‘word gap’ in England’s education policy.' Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 20(4) pp. 305-331.
Cushing, I. (2023) '“Miss, can you speak English?”: raciolinguistic ideologies and language oppression in initial teacher education.' British Journal of Sociology of Education, 44(5) pp. 896-911.
Cushing, I. (2023) 'Policy Mechanisms of the Standard Language Ideology in England’s Education System.' Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 22(3) pp. 279-293.
Cushing, I. (2023) 'Challenging anti-Black linguistic racism in schools amidst the ‘what works’ agenda.' Race Ethnicity and Education, 26(3) pp. 257-276.
Snell, J., Cushing, I. (2022) '“A lot of them write how they speak”: policy, pedagogy and the policing of ‘nonstandard’ English.' Literacy, 56(3) pp. 199-211.
Cushing, I., Carter, A. (2022) 'Using young adult fiction to interrogate raciolinguistic ideologies in schools.' Literacy, 56(2) pp. 106-119.
Cushing, I. (2021) 'Grammar tests, de facto policy and pedagogical coercion in England’s primary schools.' Language Policy, 20(4) pp. 599-622.
Cushing, I. (2021) 'Language, discipline and ‘teaching like a champion’.' British Educational Research Journal, 47(1) pp. 23-41.
Cushing, I., Georgiou, A., Karatsareas, P. (2021) 'Where two worlds meet: language policing in mainstream and complementary schools in England.' International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism,
Cushing, I. (2021) 'Editorial.' English in Education, 55(3) pp. 205-207.
Cushing, I. (2021) '‘Say it like the Queen’: the standard language ideology and language policy making in English primary schools.' Language, Culture and Curriculum, 34(3) pp. 321-336.
Cushing, I., Helks, M. (2021) 'Exploring primary and secondary students’ experiences of grammar teaching and testing in England.' English in Education, 55(3) pp. 239-250.
Cushing, I. (2020) 'Power, policing, and language policy mechanisms in schools: A response to Hudson.' Language in Society, 49(3) pp. 461-475.
Cushing, I. (2020) 'The policy and policing of language in schools.' Language in Society, 49(3) pp. 425-450.
Cushing, I. (2020) 'Prescriptivism, linguicism and pedagogical coercion in primary school UK curriculum policy.' English Teaching, 19(1) pp. 35-47.
Cushing, I. (2020) 'A textured and sensory grammar for the experience of reading.' English in Education, 54(2) pp. 131-145.
Kostadinova, V., Yáñez-Bouza, N., Wiemann, M., Dreschler, G., Gregersen, S., Gyuris, B., Allan, K., Scott, M., Anderwald, L., Leuckert, S., Kraš, T., Cogo, A., Gan, T., Parise, I., Ting, S.S.P., Da Silva, J.S., Hansen, B., Cushing, I. (2020) 'I English Language.' Year's Work in English Studies, 99(1) pp. 1-185.
Cushing, I. (2019) 'Resources not rulebooks: Metaphors for grammar in teachers' metalinguistic discourse.' Metaphor and the Social World, 9(2) pp. 155-176.
Cushing, I. (2019) 'Grammar Policy and Pedagogy from Primary to Secondary School.' Literacy, 53(3) pp. 170-179.
Cushing, I. (2018) 'Stylistics goes to school.' Language and Literature, 27(4) pp. 271-285.
Cushing, I. (2018) '‘Suddenly, I am part of the poem’: texts as worlds, reader-response and grammar in teaching poetry.' English in Education, 52(1) pp. 7-19.
Cushing, I.R., Li, F.F., Cox, T.J., Worrall, K., Jackson, T. (2011) 'Vocal effort levels in anechoic conditions.' Applied Acoustics, 72(9) pp. 695-701.
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Conference papers
Cushing, I.R., Li, F.F., Worrall, K., Jackson, T. (2011) 'Relationships between phonetic features and speech perception - A statistical investigation from a large anechoic British English corpus.' pp. 2449-2452.
Cushing, I.R., Dellwo, V. (2010) 'The role of speech rhythm in attending to one of two simultaneous speakers.'
Cushing, I.R., Li, F.F., Cox, T.J. (2009) 'Speech level discrepancy around the head of a talker - A new look at lavalier and handset microphone placement techniques.' 31. pp. 31-39.
Press and media
Printed and online media
I have written extensively for various media. This includes articles in The Conversation for my work on Ofsted and language policing (with Julia Snell) and on anti-Black linguistic racism in schools. I have written for Red Pepper on on school slang bans, colonial logics and anti-Blackness (with Furzeen Ahmed).
I have written articles for the Times Educational Supplement on the resurgence of deficit thinking in schools as part of the so-called word gap and on the policing of non-standard English in classrooms (with Julia Snell).
My work on language policing and discrimination in educational contexts has been covered widely in international media, including the BBC, The Times, The Telegraph, the Times Educational Supplement and the Daily Mail.
In 2023 I was one of the named academics whose critical work and social media channels was exposed by The Guardian as being monitored by the UK Department for Education and Ofsted.
Podcasts
I have appeared on various podcasts to talk about my research, specifically my work on language ideologies and language policing in schools. This includes appearances on Because Language, Lexis and The Sociology Show. I have also spoken about my work on Ofsted and language discrimination, on The Parle Podcast (with Julia Snell).