Decolonising Academic Communication in Higher Education

In this episode of the PRiA Podcast, host Associate Professor Kashmir Kaur explores what it means to decolonise academic communication in higher education and why this matters for students, educators and institutions.

 

Joining the discussion are Professor Suresh Canagarajah, Evan Pugh University Professor of English, Applied Linguistics and Asian Studies at Pennsylvania State University; Yaxin Zhang, PhD researcher at the University of Nottingham; and Wil Hardman, EAP practitioner at the University of Liverpool and Convenor of the EAP for Social Justice SIG.

 

Together, they consider how dominant knowledge systems and linguistic norms shape teaching, assessment and participation within universities. Drawing on research, professional practice and personal experience, the panel discusses multilingualism, academic voice, institutional expectations and the tensions educators encounter when seeking to create more inclusive and equitable academic spaces. The conversation offers insights for educators, researchers and others interested in language, power and social justice in higher education.

 

Guest: Professor Suresh Canagarajah

Guest: Yaxin Zhang

Guest: Wil Hardman

Host: Kashmir Kaur

 

More information:

This conversation forms part of the wider research project Uncovering Decoloniality in EAP: Transforming Language and Power in Academic Spaces. The following presentation introduces the project and explores some of the questions raised in the episode, including linguistic legitimacy, institutional expectations, gatekeeping, voice and belonging. The accompanying publications provide further perspectives on decolonising academic communication and multilingual higher education. 

Related project resource 

Kaur, K. (2026), One Language, Many Silences: Decolonising Academic Communication Through EAP. 
This presentation shares findings from the wider Uncovering Decoloniality in EAP: Transforming Language and Power in Academic Spaces project. It explores how EAP practitioners negotiate questions of voice, linguistic legitimacy, institutional expectations, gatekeeping and belonging in their everyday teaching. 

View the work here.

Further reading 

Suresh Canagarajah (2024), ‘Decolonizing Academic Writing Pedagogies for Multilingual Students’ 
Drawing on South Asian literacy traditions and his own teaching and research, Canagarajah considers how academic writing pedagogy might recognise the knowledge, identities and communicative resources multilingual students bring to the classroom. 
Read the article in TESOL Quarterly 

Mmapula Ngobeni-Kubheka, Puleng Letsoalo and Bheki X. Ntombela (2025), ‘Decolonial Contestations of Multilingualism and Translanguaging in English for Academic Purposes: A Case of the University of Limpopo’ 
This recent study explores the place of African languages and translanguaging within EAP teaching and examines the continuing influence of monolingual language ideologies in a South African university context. 
Read the article in Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 

Sarah Hopkyns (2026), Decoloniality in Multilingual University Spaces 
This new publication examines the intersections between coloniality, English-medium higher education, multilingual identities and belonging, while considering how university language practices might be reimagined. 
View the publication from Cambridge University Press