Center for Language Acquisition Invited Speaker Series Gorski Endowed Lecture

Speaker: Aneta Pavlenko, University of York, United Kingdom

Abstract:

In the past decade, applied linguists and sociolinguists have displayed increased concerns about ‘linguistic injustice’, a term which includes the inequalities faced by speakers with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) in the criminal justice system and factors constraining their ability to make informed decisions (Angermeyer, 2015; Berk-Seligson, 2016; Filipović, 2022; Keaton, 2020; Pavlenko, 2023; Pavlenko et al., 2019). At the same time, psychology has witnessed an explosion of studies of decision-making by bi- and multilingual speakers which show that decision-making in the L1 is more impulsive, while in the L2 participants make more rational choices, a tendency dubbed the foreign language effect (Costa et al., 2014; Del Maschio, 2022a, b; Keysar et al., 2012; Pavlenko, 2017; Purpuri et al., 2024; Stankovich et al., 2022).

In this talk, I will highlight the theoretical complexities of determining what constitutes ‘linguistic justice’ and ‘language access’ in the criminal justice system and then consider how the insights derived from both strands of research apply to one life-changing event: a suspect’s decision to remain silent or talk to the police. Then I will turn the tables and use insights from the criminal justice system to interrogate the state of affairs in academia: Do we need to – and can we – speak to each other across the disciplinary boundaries? Do we want to – and know how to – speak to stakeholders in the outside world? Most importantly, where are the gaps in the research on language access and how can the new generation of researchers help fill these gaps?

Bio:

Aneta Pavlenko (Ph.D. in Linguistics, Cornell University, 1997) is a visiting scholar at the University of York (United Kingdom). Her research examines the relationship between multilingualism, cognition, and emotions, including in legal contexts. She has lectured widely in North America, Europe and Asia, has authored more than a hundred articles and published eleven books, the latest of which is Multilingualism and History (Cambridge University Press,2023). She has testified in court as an expert witness and co-chaired, with Diana Eades, the international Communication of Rights Group that produced the Guidelines for communicating rights to non-native speakers of English in Australia, England and Wales, and the USA (2015). She is past president of the American Association for Applied Linguistics and winner of the 2006 BAAL Book of the Year award, the 2009 TESOL award for Distinguished Research, the 2021 AAAL Research article award and the 2023 AAAL Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award.