Teaching Sociolinguistics Through Fieldwork and Research
This teaching project is a cross-level sociolinguistic fieldwork laboratory currently organised and delivered at the University College of Teacher Education in Vorarlberg
Variationist sociolinguistics meets EFL teaching practice
Integrating undergraduate and graduate education within a coherent teaching concept, this project is grounded in the variationist tradition pioneered by William Labov (1927-2024), University of Pennsylvania. Inspired by the pedagogical approach of the world-leading sociolinguistic labs spearheaded by Sali A. Tagliamonte (University of Toronto) and Isabelle Buchstaller (Universität Duisburg Essen), it seeks to bridge sociolinguistic research and pedagogical practice, guiding future teachers to recognise parallels between sociolinguistic fieldwork and effective language teaching.
Undergraduate-level projects
Students are introduced to the full empirical research cycle, including data collection in speech communities, sociolinguistic interviewing, transcription, coding, and analysis of linguistic variables. This early exposure enables undergraduate students to engage meaningfully with authentic language data and to experience sociolinguistics not as an abstract theoretical field but as an empirical, socially grounded discipline.
The global meets the local
By analysing the relationship between English, standard German, and regional dialects—including varieties they themselves speak—students critically reflect on normativity, legitimacy, and linguistic authority. This challenges deficit-oriented views of non-standard and non-native varieties and equips students with the sociolinguistic awareness needed to address linguistic diversity in the classroom in an informed and inclusive way. For future EFL teachers in particular, the project is transformative.
Graduate-level projects
In the course SE Language in Context: Sociolinguistic Fieldwork, designed primarily for students training to become teachers of English, Master’s students build on the methodological foundations introduced earlier and refine their analytical skills, while deepening theoretical understanding of language variation and change. The course explicitly bridges sociolinguistic research and pedagogical practice, guiding future teachers to recognise parallels between sociolinguistic fieldwork and effective language teaching, such as eliciting authentic language use, attending to speaker identity, and responding sensitively to linguistic diversity.
Sociolingustics of World Englishes
A defining feature of the project across both levels is its focus on local sociolinguistic ecologies alongside the study of World Englishes. Rather than treating English as a detached global language, students investigate how English interacts with standard German and local Alemannic dialects spoken in Vorarlberg. Through fieldwork-based projects, students examine patterns of bi-dialectilism and multilingualism, language attitudes and language choice, variation, and language ideology in their immediate environment. This locally grounded approach allows students to connect global sociolinguistic processes with lived linguistic experience.
Postgraduate-level projects
Thus equipped, students can then embark on their postgraduate, PhD-level projects at a later stage of their academic development.