This introduction to sociolinguistics explores multiple expressions of English. These include national, regional, social, and gender varieties, as well as styles, registers, pidgins, and creoles. Also studied are language change, the mutual effect of culture and language, and the influence of cultural patterns on speech acts within the larger perspective of governmental language planning as impacted by the historical legacy of the English language. Students develop more complex understandings of how language and language teaching is influenced by societal, political, cultural, psychological, and interpersonal issues and consider the implications of this enhanced understanding on their classroom pedagogy and their views on language planning and policy.