In many parts of the world, it is common for a child to grow up speaking a local language at home, another in the market place, adding another to her repertoire as a lingua franca, and then adding a language of wider communication such as English or French if she continues her formal schooling.
The contributions to the volume examine in some detail diverse aspects of second language education, ranging from a focus on the basic contributions of linguistic theory and research to our understanding of second language learning and teaching on the one hand, to a series of reviews of innovative language education practices in selected regions of the world on the other.
For the purposes of this volume, second language education has been defined operationally to encompass education which occurs in those settings and situations in which a dominant language is offered as a second language (e.g., ESL in England or the United States whether as a subject of study or a vehicle through which other material is studied), as well as those cases in which an official, but not necessarily dominant, language is mandated (e.g., French or English in certain parts of the Middle East or the Mahgreb). The contributions also focus mainly, albeit not exclusively, on second language education for school-aged learners.

Section 1: Theoretical Underpinnings.- 1. Linguistic Theory and Research: Implications for Second Language Teaching.- 2. Linguistic Theory and Research: Implications for Second Language Learning.- Section 2: Focus on the Learner.- 3. Conditions for Second Language (L2) Learning.- 4. Individual Differences and Second Language Learning.- 5. Age and Second Language Learning.- 6. Language Attrition.- Section 3: Focus on the Delivery of Instruction.- 7. Classroom-Oriented Research in Second Language Learning.- 8. Language Teaching Approaches for School-Aged Learners in Second Language Contexts.- 9. Teaching Exceptional Second Language Learners.- 10. Second Language Teaching Approaches for Adults.- 11. Language for Special Purposes.- Section 4: Focus on Professional Preparation.- 12. Approaches to Second Language Teacher Education.- 13. The Use of Multimedia in Teaching.- 14. Second Language Assessment.- Section 5: Focus on Selected Regions of the World.- 15. Understanding Second Language Educational Policies in Multilingual Settings.- 16. Innovative Second Language Education in North America.- 17. Innovative Second Language Education in Western Europe.- 18. Innovative Second Language Education in Central and Eastern Europe.- 19. Innovative Second Language Education in the Middle East and North Africa.- 20. Innovative Second Language Education in Southern Africa.- 21. Innovative Second Language Education in Southeast Asia.- 22. Innovative Second Language Education in the South Pacific.- Name Index.- Tables of Contents other Volumes.