English 420 Course Syllabus.
I have listed 28 topics below that students may choose from to write a term paper. The topics are intentionally
broad, and students will be expected to narrow and refine them. If students do not wish to write on any of
these topics, they may choose another and submit it for approval, or they may participate in the
course project. Students are encouraged to read the
instructions for writing a term paper.
2. Code mixing and code switching: ethnographic or linguistic description.
3. Language variation and social variables.
4. Dialects and education.
5. Linguistic description of a non-standard dialect.
6. Pidgins and Creoles.
7. National language planning.
8. Bilingual education.
9. The origin of African-American English Vernacular.
10. Language and gender.
11. Language, society, and thought.
12. The linguistic deficit hypothesis.
13. Language contact.
14. Lingua francas.
15. Diglossia.
16. The spread of English.
17. Language in politics or the media.
18. Taboo language.
19. Language assimilation in the United States.
20. Linguistic prejudice.
21. Sociolinguistics and second language instruction.
22. Speech communities and social networks.
23. Bilingual literacy.
24. Sociolinguistics of literacy.
25. Variation theory and second language acquisition.
26. SEC and academic achievement.
27. Black English: Convergence/Divergence
28. Motherese: Cross/Cultural or influence of SEC.