This textbook offers an introductory overview of eight hotly-debated topics in second language acquisition research.

Vivian Cook, who sadly passed away before his chapter in this volume appeared, was a British linguist who was Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at Newcastle University. He was renowned for his work on second language acquisition and second language teaching, and for writing successful textbooks and popular books about linguistics. He worked on a number of topics such as bilingualism, EFL (English as a foreign language), first language acquisition, second language teaching, linguistics, and the English writing system. He published more than 20 books and 100 papers across seven decades. He was founder and first President of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA), and co-founder of the Oxford University Press journal Writing Systems Research. He died on December 15, 2021, at the age of 81. Vivian will be profoundly missed by his colleagues and students.