This course aims to introduce students to a systematic description of the use of the English language in society and the skills needed to apply their knowledge to the analysis of authentic language data from a sociolinguistic perspective. Students will discover patterns of authentic language use in real-life situations and present their findings in innovative and stylistically appropriate ways. Students will also identify sociolinguistic processes of dialect variation, diachronic change, and code-switching in the English language; compare different varieties of world Englishes; and critically apply the knowledge learnt in the course to reflect on the ways in which the English language is used in different modes of communication.