Joshua Taylor

I am studying for my PhD in 'Interdisciplinary Studies' within the Languages, Cultures, and Visual Studies (LCVS) department at the University of Exeter. My research is largely situated in the field of sociolinguistics, which includes the study of the relationship between language and society. More specifically, I investigate the effects of linguistic diversity on the sense of contemporary national identity as a multicultural society in an educational context. This study gathers students' (and teachers') perceptions of identity in a Welsh-medium secondary school in Cardiff to exemplify the effects of an Indigenous UK language as well as those of community languages spoken within this setting. This location offers insight into a core British city and the capital of Wales, which has not received extensive research attention previously, is a geographical area that I have good prior knowledge of, and is reasonably close to the University for a study of this nature.

All previous studies of mine have been at Exeter, first having earned a BA (Hons) in Religion and Mediterranean studies with French and Spanish through Flexible Combined Honours. I next completed a Master of Education (MEd) in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), which allowed me to form a strong foundation for my PhD studies. I am currently under the supervision of Francesco Goglia (LCVS) as my primary supervisor and Gabriela Meier (Graduate School of Education, GSE) as my secondary supervisor.