What Sociolinguistics Means for the Second Language Learner As we set out to examine the importance of sociolinguistics or of social factors more broadly, for the language learner, we must immediately recognize that to do so requires background knowledge in several different fields of inquiry. Minimally, one must be aware of certain basic facts about the acquisition of languages beyond the first, have an understanding of how social factors influ- ence language and the methods through which these factors are studied, and also have current knowledge of research findings on effective methods for classroom instruction. To be clear, few are the experts in all three of these areas and, thus, we begin with the assumption that the readers of this volume pos sess a wide range of backgrounds and, quite frankly, of practical goals and expectations for this work. One might even ask how to approach such a diverse topic as the sociolinguistic competence of second language learners. It is for this reason that we begin this chapter with a discussion of why sociolinguistics matters for the second language learner and why we, as researchers and lan. guage teachers, should seek to understand the impact of social factors on the Tanguage learner more fully. Whether you are preparing to become a language teacher or have been in the profession for years, it is reasonable to ask why it matters whether or not you know about sociolinguistic variation. Although we will define varia- tion more carefully in the next chapter, let's take as a working definition that sociolinguistic variation refers to the choices a speaker makes when selecting the forms necessary to convey a message that is appropriate in a given con- text. Speakers are not always consciously aware of these choices. For example, sociolinguistics involves deciding how to choose among the greetings listed in Figure 1.1. For most speakers, several choices in Figure 1.1 are possible, and the right choice depends on our audience and the context in which we are speaking. I might choose ‘hello’ for my elderly neighbor when I pass by his house and4 SECTION I: PRINCIPLES Sample greetings in American English: Hello Hi Hey Hiya How's it goin’? Sup? Howdy FIGURE 1.1 Examples of greetings in American English ‘hey’ for my husband when I come in from work. I don’t think I would ever say ‘S'up; but I bet I say ‘wassup?’ sometimes when greeting close friends, even though I am thinking ‘what’s up?’ 'm sure that I don't use ‘howdy’ or ‘hiya’ at all. As you read the list of greetings, you most likely had reactions yourself as to which ones you would use often, which ones you would use only in cer- tain contexts, and which greetings you never say. The more we know about sociolinguistics, the better we understand the choices we make every time we produce an utterance. Now imagine that same list of greetings in Figure 1.1 as it is produced and understood by a second language learner of English. Do you think that sec- ond language learners have strong intuitions about when to use each greeting and when such a greeting would be inappropriate? Do you think second lan- guage learners know so many choices exist? What are the consequences for the learner if he or she fails to select an appropriate greeting? As (socio)linguists we seek to understand the constraints on use of these forms and the ways in which factors such as the characteristics of the speaker, hearer, and the speech context impact these choices. As language teachers, our understanding of these issues will influence the explanations we offer, the instructional materials we select, the activities we design, and nearly every other aspect of the instruction we provide. As second language learners ourselves, we understand how impor- tant it is to be able to identify these differences and interpret the meaning behind the choices speakers make. In this first chapter, we explore the connec- tion between sociolinguistics and language learning, beginning with the devel- opment of definitions of different types of language competence that include these abilities and continuing with a brief review of the basic tenets of secondSOCIOLINGUISTICS FOR THE L2 LEARNER 5 language acquisition upon which one’s understanding of sociolinguistics in second languages should be based. DEFINITIONS OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE ‘The theoretical connection between sociolinguistics and communicative lan. guage teaching has existed for decades. In fact, knowledge of sociolinguistic variation has long been recognized as an integral part of learning to communi- cate in a second language. As is widely understood, the goal of communicative teaching methodologies is to create an environment in which learners develop the ability to exchange meaning effectively in a second language (Dérnyei, 2013; Spada, 2007). In fact, we know that such interaction is essential to lan- guage development as a whole (Gass, 1997). ‘Ihe ability to communicate effec- tively is generally referred to as communicative competence. One of the best- known discussions of communicative competence and its connection to the second language classroom is found in the classic article by Michael Canale and Merrill Swain (1980). In that article, they assess the existing models of communicative competence and provide a unified model of their own. Their model shows communicative competence as comprised of three different types of abilities: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence. Grammatical competence refers to a learner's ability to use the lexical items, as well as the rules constraining morphology, sentence structure, and the sound system. Canale and Swain note that there are many linguistic theories that may do the job of describing this system of rules, and their definition does not hinge on a single theoretical approach. The second type of competence, sociolinguistic competence, refers to a learners ability to interpret an utterance for its social meaning. In other words, learners must be able to glean information about the appropriateness of an utterance and the intended meaning of the speaker, especially when the intended meaning is not identical to the literal one. Finally, communicative competence includes an ability called strategic competence, which refers to the ways that learners compensate when there are breakdowns in communication. This last ability is especially important for beginners, who will need to learn to paraphrase when they do not know a form that is needed to express a given meaning (grammati- cal competence) and who will also need to learn how to interpret the social situation in order to use language appropriately (sociolinguistic competence). Table 1.1 provides a summary of the skills included in each of these domains and gives an example of the type of function each serves. In reflecting on the detailed definition of communicative competence pro- vided by Canale and Swain (1980), it is clear why meaningful communication and interaction are complex and have been the object of extensive research. In fact, this early work by Canale and Swain has been elaborated and modified