Linguistics has developed as an isolated discipline, while language has historically been the central subject of education. Linguistics need to begin contributing to the general understanding of language by developing courses for the non-specialist. A course conducted by the author for non-majors is outlined. The title of the course was…

Teachers' lack of understanding and knowledge about language and dialects has resulted in unfavorable attitudes and poor instruction in the community college composition classroom. Students' attitudes about the relationship between language and cultural background have been neglected and many Non-Standard English users have developed negative…

This article discusses the value of the notional-functional approach to language teaching and considers some sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and linguistic features of the notional-functional syllabus. (CFM)

Discusses the types of materials that should be used in the foreign language classroom to teach students how to communicate in real-life situations. These materials are called "communication tasks." (CFM)

Adapting sociolinguistic fieldwork techniques for use in teaching a second language is presented as an activity that gets students out of the classroom and into the speech community to observe and use language in real situations. It is intended for intermediate and advanced students who need motivation and encouragement to interact with native…