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This paper uses the theory of intertextuality to examine the discourse surrounding California’s Proposition 8, the statewide ballot measure to reverse legalization of same-sex marriage. More specifically, this paper analyzes the newspaper reports that surfaced in February 2010, concerned with the fact that the judge deciding the case is a gay man. The initial story, which claimed that this should be a “non-issue,” sparked a multitude of articles aimed at different readerships over the following week, therein making the “non-issue” an issue. I analyze how intertextuality is used by three types of news sources (LGBT, mainstream, and Religious Right) to report the same issue but in ways specifically aimed at the ideal reader of each. I argue that the way intertextuality occurs in constructed dialogue, lexical choice, and semantic presupposition creates an ideological message meant for and decodable by each publication’s ideal reader, therein reinforcing group ideologies about LGBT issues.

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This article delves into the issue of incorporating sociolinguistic aspects of language and culture into the current primary English textbooks in Vietnam. The authors first provide an overview of primary English teaching in the Vietnamese setting and then evaluate the current primary English textbooks in relation to the objectives of foreign language teaching and learning proposed by Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training for the time period 2008-2020. The evaluation focuses on four main sociolinguistic aspects: teaching approach, bilingualism, language variations, and intercultural communication reflected in the primary English textbooks. The evaluation findings indicate that the textbook design follows communicative language teaching. However, English variations and cross-cultural knowledge are still limited in the textbook design. Although some signs of bilingualism are recognized in the teachers' books, it is not clear whether bilingualism or double monolingualism is encouraged by the textbook writers. In order to improve sociolinguistic understanding among young learners, the authors recommend cooperation among teachers, textbook writers, and policymakers.