ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on external social and contextual variables as they affect the learning and production of a second language. The basic premise of sociolinguistic-based SLA research is that second language data do not represent a static phenomenon, even at a single point in time. Many external variables (such as the specific task required of a learner, social status of the interlocutor, gender differences, and so forth) affect learner production. The resultant effect is that learners produce different forms that are dependent on external variables. We begin the discussion of such variables with a consideration of interlanguage variation.
