introduces the key areas in the field, including multilingualism, the role of teaching, the mental processing of multiple languages, and patterns of growth and decline
explores the key theories and debates and elucidates areas of controversy
gathers together influential readings from key names in the discipline, including: Vivian Cook, William E. Dunn and James P. Lantolf, S.P. Corder, and Nina Spada and Patsy Lightbown.

Series editors' preface xi
 Acknowledgements xiii
 How to use this book xv
 SECTION A: INTRODUCTION 1(86)
 Unit A1 Defining the field 3(11)
 Unit A2 Dynamic aspects of SLA 14(13)
 Unit A3 Historical perspectives 27(12)
 Unit A4 The multilingual mind 39(12)
 Unit A5 The developing system 51(14)
 Unit A6 Learners' characteristics 65(11)
 Unit A7 The role of instruction 76(11)
 SECTION B: EXTENSION 87(148)
 Unit B1 Reading and finding SLA literature 89(12)
 Unit B2 Dynamic systems of SLA extended 101(22)
 Cook (1995) 102(4)
 Hansen and Chen (2002) 106(10)
 Pallier et al. (2003) 116(7)
 Unit B3 Historical perspectives extended 123(20)
 Corder (1967) 123(6)
 Kellerman (2000) 129(8)
 Gregg (1984) 137(6)
 Unit B4 The multilingual mind extended 143(24)
 Kroll and Stewart (1994) 144(11)
 Kroll and Dijkstra (2002) 155(12)
 Unit B5 The developing system extended 167(18)
 Swain and Lapkin (1995) 167(9)
 Gass et al. (1998) 176(9)
 Unit B6 Learners' characteristics extended 185(24)
 Bongaerts (1999) 185(8)
 Sparks and Ganschow (1991) 193(6)
 Gardner et al. (1997) 199(10)
 Unit B7 The role of instruction extended 209(26)
 Spada (1997) 209(11)
 Mackey (1999) 220(15)
 SECTION C: EXPLORATION 235(40)
 Unit C1 Introduction to Section C: Doing SLA research 237(6)
 Unit C2 Dynamic aspects of SLA explored 243(7)
 Unit C3 Historical perspectives on SLA explored 250(8)
 Unit C4 The multilingual mind explored 258(4)
 Unit C5 The developing system explored 262(4)
 Unit C6 Learners' characteristics explored 266(5)
 Unit C7 The role of instruction explored 271(4)
 Further reading 275(4)
 References 279(19)
 Index 298