Sociolinguistics is the study of the structure and use of language in its social and cultural contexts. This course is intended to provide students with a sound, basic coverage of some topics dealing with regional and social dialects, gender and age, as well as topics on multilingual speech communities: language choice, language maintenance, and language planning.

The course of Sociolinguistics aims to: 1. Enable a better understanding of the English language and its usage in a social/cultural content and thus help the students be more aware of the use of English. 2. Provide a good background for students interested in taking further Sociolinguistics courses, courses in Teaching English as Foreign Language, Communication Studies, Translation, or other language Related courses. 3. Give the students' an opportunity to discover more about the workings of the human mind and the ways in which human thought and language interact. 4. Develop the students' analytical skills and encourage precision and accuracy in the study of speech and writing. 5. Offer some opportunities to compare and contrast English and Chinese.

An Introduction to Language and Society by Peter Trudgill (Readings provided by the teacher)