As a major economic, relational, and identity resource, communication is crucial to the well-being and success of young people. And yet adolescents are typically characterized in the media as inadequate communicators, whose language practices adults bemoan as unintelligible and deleterious. In looking to critique these pervasive stereotypes, the editors of Talking Adolescence have brought together some of the world¿s leading experts on youth and adolescence, whose interdisciplinary research demonstrates how communication powerfully structures and meaningfully facilitates the lives of young people. Adding to the growing literature on intergenerational and lifespan communication, Talking Adolescence is the first substantive volume devoted to young people.

The Editors: Angie Williams received her Ph.D. in communication from University of California, Santa Barbara. She is Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Language and Communication Research at Cardiff University in Wales. Her main research interest is in intergroup communication, particularly as it relates to culture, age, lifespan, and health issues. She is co-author of Intergenerational Communication Across the Lifespan (2001).
Crispin Thurlow received his Ph.D. in language and communication from University of Wales. He is Assistant Professor of Social Interaction in the Department of Communication, University of Washington in Seattle. His research on «discourse and difference» examines the ways language and other semiotic modes are used to make sense of boundaries of dissimilarity and inequality. His work on young people¿s communication has been published in a wide range of international journals.