University staff should be given training in how to pronounce students’ names to make learners from diverse backgrounds feel more welcome in the classroom, according to researchers.
Scholars at Nottingham Trent University interviewed university staff about their experience of working with students from different linguistic and ethnic backgrounds and found that some would avoid saying the names of students which they struggled to pronounce.
Others expressed concern about having to single out students to ask them to explain how to pronounce their name correctly, while some went to significant lengths to research correct pronunciations, either by searching online or asking colleagues, or – in one-to-one meetings – asking students to record a voice note of their name.
But, writing in a paper published in the Oxford Review of Education, the researchers note that these strategies were “evidently ad hoc…and oftentimes, not entirely trusted to work”, reflecting a lack of training, resources and guidance.
