Improvement of communication skills for junior college students is a valid goal, but traditional methods defeat it. A sociolinguistic approach maintains the goal but alters the methods, choosing to teach the skills in the context of relevant material: language against the backdrop of society, Teaching language sociolinguistically means including more than grammar; it means studying also its societal framework, its history, its regional and social dialects, its stylistic variations, and its impact on people, institutions, and literature throughout the world. Each facet of sociolinguistic study can be illustrated by literature and reinforced by students' narrative, expository, and descriptive speaking and writing. One might begin with an examination of pidgin and creole languages; or one might look at language change, the study of dialects, style, dictionaries, English as an international language, or the way in which language both mirrors and maps the society it serves. One significant spinoff of teaching language sociolinguistically is the removal or reduction or prejudice against speechways different from the majority's. An annotated bibliography of nine books for the teacher is included. (HOD)