ESL 8110 - Language and Society

This course focuses on the varieties of language and how they reflect social patterns, and explores the importance of language in all our interactions. Candidates examine the social nature of language, and how language reflects social situations. Candidates study the issues of language and social class, ethnic group, and gender, as well as topics in language and nationality, language and geography, and the social nature of writing. The course pays particular attention to the social-linguistic situations of second language learners (i.e., those who are not native speakers of a socially dominant language or dialect) as well as the sociolinguistics of language in the classroom.

Credits: 4