Department: Master of Education
Module Description: Sociolinguistics is the study of the position and importance of language in human societies, and its relationship to social factors. Thus the focus of this module is the way in which the teaching and learning context can be adapted in order to encompass the cross-cultural learning challenges that are a significant part of the educational environment.
This course studies language in its sociocultural context, investigating how social and cultural factors influence language use, and language learning and teaching. The main aim of this module is to engage students with the key issues in sociolinguistics and illustrate the relevance of their application in language and education. The course will also focus on the practical aspects of using sociolinguistic data/information to evaluate and prepare materials and activities for raising learners’ awareness of cross-cultural differences.
Blommaert, J. (2010). The sociolinguistics of globalization. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Christie, F. & Martin, J. R. (eds.). (2007). Language, knowledge and pedagogy. London: continuum.
Holmes, J. (2017). An introduction to sociolinguistics. 5th edn. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
McCarthy, M. (1991). Discourse analysis for language teachers. Cambridge: CUP.
Baker, P. (2010). Sociolinguistics and corpus linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Byram, M. & Fleming, M. (eds.). (1998). Language learning in intercultural perspective: approaches through drama and ethnography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Coupland, N. & Jaworski, A. (Eds.) (2009). The new sociolinguistics reader. Palgrave.
Corwin, A, I. (2017). Overcoming elderspeak: a qualitative study of three alternatives. The Gerontologist, pp. 1-6. Request item
Eckert, P. (2003). Dialogue: sociolinguistics and authenticity: an elephant in the room. Journal of Sociolinguistics. vol. 7(3), 392-397. Request item
Fox, K. (2014). Watching the english: the hidden rules of english behaviour. Hodder and Stoughton.
Kachru, B. Braj. (Ed.) (1983). The other tongue: English across cultures. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
Kiesling, S. (2010). Linguistic variation and change. Edinburgh University Press.
Labov, W. (1973). Sociolinguistic patterns. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Milroy, L. & Gordon, M. J. (2003). Sociolinguistics: method and interpretation. 2nd edn. Blackwell.
Savignon, S. (1997). Communicative competence: theory and classroom practice. Addison-Wesley.
