Language ideologies inform cultural perceptions, educational philosophies, and public policy, and influence the ways that we think about individuals and their speech. This course examines some present-day ideologies of English – including ideas about a standard English, varieties of English, and the role of English abroad. We will consider the impact of these perspectives and ideas about English and investigate the ways that these ideologies were constructed through and informed by language history. How do present-day usage manuals reveal eighteenth-century cultural ideas about English? How do English dictionaries reveal our cultural values about language? How have English dialect stereotypes reflected social hierarchies over the last five centuries? This course will address these and other questions as we examine the historical development of present-day ideologies of English. Course requirements include two papers and several short response papers. Students are not expected to have previous experience with the history of English or with language study; interest in these questions and enthusiasm for the English language are the only prerequisites.