Janet Maybin is a senior lecturer in Language and Communication at the Open University. She is co-editor of Using English published by Routledge and The Art of English: Everyday Creativity with Joan Swann.Joan Swann is a senior lecturer and director of the Centre for Language and Communication at the Open University. She is co-author of A Dictionary of Sociolinguistics and Introducing Sociolinguistics.

• 1. Introduction Part 1: The Fabric of English 2. Describing English 3. Texts and Practices 4. From Variation to Hybridity. Further Reading Part 2: Issues and Debates 5. English and Globalization 6. English and Creativity 7. ‘Hearts and Minds’ Persuasive Language in Ancient and Modern Public Debate 8. Computer-Mediated English 9. English Language Teaching in the Outer and Expanding Circles 10. English at School in England 11. Institutional Discourse 12. Using English in the Leagal Process 13. Language, Gender and Sexuality 14. Perspectives on Children Learning English: From Structures to Practices 15. Academic Literacies: New Directions in Theory and Practice 16. Spelling as a Socail Practice 17. Multilingual Discourses on Wheels and Public English in Africa: A Case For Vague Linguistique 18. Domesticating the Other: English and Translation Bibliography