Volume III of the Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, like Volumes I and II, is a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of current research into social contexts of second language (L2)/foreign language (FL) teaching and learning; language policy; curriculum; types of instruction; incremental language skills such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, and grammar; international communication; pragmatics; assessment and testing. It differs from earlier volumes in its main purpose—to provide a more in-depth discussion and detailed focus on the development of the essential language skills required for any type of communication: speaking, listening, reading, vocabulary, grammar, and writing. Volume III preserves continuity with previous volumes in its coverage of all the classical areas of research in L2/FL teaching and learning and applied linguistics, but rather than offering a historical review of disciplinary traditions, it explores innovations and new directions of research, acknowledges the enormous complexity of teaching and learning the essential language abilities, and offers a diversity of perspectives. Chapter authors are all leading authorities in their disciplinary areas. What’s new in Volume III? Updates the prominent areas of research, including the sub-disciplines addressed in Volumes I and II, and represents the disciplinary mainstays Considers and discusses perspectives held by different schools of thought on the what, the how, and the why of teaching foundational language skills, including theories, pedagogical principles, and their implementation in practice Captures new and ongoing developments and trends in the key areas of L2/FL teaching and learning, and innovative research topics that have gained substantial recognition in current publications, including the role of corpora, technology, and digital literacy in L2/FL teaching and learning Examines new trends in language pedagogy and research, such as an increased societal emphasis on teaching academic language for schooling, somewhat contradictory definitions of literacy, and the growing needs for instruction in intercultural communication.

The American Language is a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States. The book is Menken's research of the differences between English and American language. Mencken wanted to defend "Americanisms" against a steady stream of English critics, who usually isolated Americanisms as borderline "perversions" of the "mother tongue". The book discusses the beginnings of "American" variations from "English", the spread of these variations, American names and slang. According to Mencken, American English was more colorful, vivid, and creative than its British counterpart. The book concludes with the observation in the norms of use of the proper names in America, including surnames, given names, geographical names, Menken's analysis on the American slang, and forecast on the further language development.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE brings to students, researchers and practitioners in all of the social and language-related sciences carefully selected book-length publications dealing with sociolinguistic theory, methods, findings and applications. It approaches the study of language in society in its broadest sense, as a truly international and interdisciplinary field in which various approaches, theoretical and empirical, supplement and complement each other. The series invites the attention of linguists, language teachers of all interests, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, historians etc. to the development of the sociology of language.

This volume is about the Anglophone creoles to be found on the Caribbean coast of Central America (Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama), and its offshore islands (Providencia, San Andrés and the Caymans) . The study of these Anglophone varieties is comparatively recent and based on current field work from Belize to Panama. One of the interesting features that emerges is the tentative map of diachronic and synchronic relationsships among the Anglophone creoles of the Caribbean, as illustrated partly by the lexicon and partly by grammatical constructions. The studies in this book are based on phonetic transcriptions of speech acts in their social and linguistic context.

This volume is about the Anglophone creoles to be found on the Caribbean coast of Central America (Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama), and its offshore islands (Providencia, San Andrés and the Caymans) . The study of these Anglophone varieties is comparatively recent and based on current field work from Belize to Panama. One of the interesting features that emerges is the tentative map of diachronic and synchronic relationsships among the Anglophone creoles of the Caribbean, as illustrated partly by the lexicon and partly by grammatical constructions. The studies in this book are based on phonetic transcriptions of speech acts in their social and linguistic context.

African-American English: Structure, History and Use provides a comprehensive survey of linguistic research into African-American English. The main linguistic features are covered, in particular the grammar, phonology and lexicon. Further chapters explore the sociological, political and educational issues connected with African-American English. The editors are the leading experts in the field and along with other key figures, notably William Labov, Geneva Smitherman and Walt Wolfram, they provide an authoritative, diverse guide to this topical subject area. Drawing on many contemporary references: the Oakland School controversy, the rap of Ice-T, the contributors reflect the state of current scholarship on African-American English, and actively dispel many misconceptions, address new questions and explore new approaches. The book is designed to serve as a text for the increasing number of courses on African-American English and as a convenient reference for students of linguistics, black studies and anthropology at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,7, University of Bayreuth, language: English, abstract: Considering the "inevitability of change", Ferdinand de Saussure once stated: "Time changes all things: there is no reason why language should escape this universal law". In reference to the English language, Trask noted: "English [...] has been changing throughout its history and is still changing today". In doing so, there is a great number of factors playing an important role for ongoing changes in a language such as sociolinguistic causes of chance which are illustrated in Aitchison in a very coherent and detailed way. "Geographical separation" will be the central keyword, as I will investigate differences and varieties in British and American English use of language. Surprisingly, in comparing Australia and New Zealand, where "equally big differences in language [...] from their mother country" could be expected, it turns out that this is not the case. Although differences in slang expressions can be recognized, spelling and word usage, actually, are alike the original British form so that these differences seem trivial in contrast to the variety of English used in the United States. Therefore, I have decided to focus my attention on specific distinctive attributes of the American variety of English and, based on foregoing research in this field, to create a questionnaire whereby central hypotheses are to be checked and verified, at best. Hence, this paper comprises a brief summary of previous knowledge on this matter, so to speak the theoretical background of my work. Moreover, not only regional factors play a role but also the interviewee's social background when it comes to certain features of language such as word use. Thus, it is highly exciting to see what assessments will be done in the course of this paper.