This volume covers basic fields of Sociolinguistics and the Sociology of Language; both macro- and micro-domains are presented in the fields of language teaching, minority languages, and problems of language acquisition as well as practical issues of curricula planning and textbook writing. The most prominent scholars in these fields provide extensive descriptions of the important literature, and of the basic questions in the respective domains, as well as examples of ongoing research, and discuss future possible developments in these fields. This book addresses students and active scholars in the social sciences as well as public officials in education, language teachers and textbook writers, therefore both theoreticians and practitioners.