As part of their Applied Sociolinguistics module, third year English Language and Literature student Abigail Price and international exchange student Katja Budich undertook work at Wolverhampton Art Gallery to develop research collaborations for the module.
Working with young people and widening participation
Abigail’s research entailed putting together and running a focus group to gain an insight into why young people may not be engaging with institutions such as art galleries. The research group included activities for participants to complete whilst having a conversation about such topics. Abigail analysed her findings to report on the module and developed recommendations for the gallery to implement.
Abigail said: “The opportunity to collaborate with Wolverhampton Art Gallery has been a formative experience. Working with everybody involved in this partnership, especially young people from Wolverhampton, has been an exciting challenge for me as a third-year student and it has allowed me to further my knowledge and understanding of professional relationships and the necessary communication that comes with that.
“Without the chance to partner with a variety of people in Industry, I wouldn’t have been able to make valuable connections and develop my professional skills, ready for any future prospects.”
The impact of marketing materials
Katja’s project involved working with promotional material the Wolverhampton Art Gallery offers, including physical marketing such as leaflets and flyers, as well as their social media channels. An analysis was then completed on how to make the material more inclusive of and appealing to the Gallery's diverse community.
Katja said: “My aim was to look at topics such as diversity in museums and media spaces and how that is reflected in the advertising for them, assumptions and prejudices about groups of people and how they influence advertising and visitor engagement, or how to appeal to audiences not typically inclined to visit museums and art galleries. This enabled me to come up with suggestions for the Gallery to include in future promotional material.
“As an international exchange student, taking the Applied Sociolinguistics module at BCU has given me the opportunity to apply my skills and to go out into the world to make a difference. Working with the Art Gallery as a linguistics student, I have discovered that there is actual good we can do by applying ourselves and cooperating with partners in the industry to try and help others. I think that this module has been one of the most valuable experiences of my semester abroad.”
Sociolinguistics in the industry
Rob Lawson, Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics, said: “In the Applied Sociolinguistics module I teach, students have developed research collaborations with a range of BCU departments including the School of Jewellery, Graduate+, the library and the Widening Participation team, as well as local businesses, museums, art galleries and third-sector groups, to investigate language-related problems with a view to improving human wellbeing.
“This module not only helps students better articulate their skills in the context of employability, it also gives them the opportunity to contribute to the local community through applying their knowledge of how language works. BCU’s partnership with the Wolverhampton Art Gallery is an excellent example of how productive collaborative research with industry partners can be, opening up new directions for knowledge generation and making a difference in the world.”