Students are invited to work on origins of American place names, definitions of dialect and idiolect, and the two major dialects of English. They also study differences between British and American English in terms of spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Students have the opportunity to work on language areas such as the pronunciation of sounds typical of American English, Latinate vocabulary, listening comprehension, and reading skills. Language and sexism is covered in chapter 5. At the same time, they learn how to scan written texts and find topic sentences and supporting arguments.
Vocabulary development is based on words referring to male and female.
People have a tendency to judge others on the basis of their speech features, in both positive and negative ways. These attitudes are not only noticeable within the social varieties of a single language, but also among languages. In this chapter, Gass and Lefkowitz raise students' awareness of the nature of attitudes toward speakers of other dialects or languages. Students also study common social varieties of American English through classroom activities such as differentiating between accents or writing thought-provoking introductions. Students are expected to describe language play elements that reflect culture and to compare them with their own.