Designed to be a parallel course to the traditional undergraduate offering, this course integrates themes from the major and is open only to students in the adult degree completion program in human development. This course introduces the student to the overall nature of language. In addition, it helps students to be aware of, identify, analyze, and develop strategies for dealing with the linguistic complexities found in a diverse society. The course includes an examination of language acquisition, development, and change as well as an analysis of the technical aspects and societal impact of language use. Students study word formation (morphology), the basic sound systems (phonetics), and the grammar systems of prescriptive English in order to make learning English not only easier, but interesting, to the student in the classroom. A variety of approaches are used to explore and assess language production skills (i.e., writing, speaking, etc.).