TEACHING WORLD LANGUAGES FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: A SOURCEBOOK OF PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES.Terry A. Osborn. Mahwah, NJ. Erlbaum, 2006. Pp. xiii + 190. $27.50 paper.

Grounded in the major tenets of critical theory and informed by principles of critical pedagogy, this volume comes as a much needed contribution to the area of foreign language education (FLE). This is a volume that bridges the gap between calls for changes made by critical pedagogues and a need to turn these critical principles into classroom practice. Osborn's volume is set against an unsatisfactory situation of world language (foreign language) education in the United States. The principal aim in the nine chapters is to reconsider the epistemological and ontological foundations that inform foreign language pedagogical theory and practice. The author suggests that community building be added to the cognitive tradition in forming the theoretical basis of FLE.

Publications received.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE LANGUAGE LEARNER: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. Zoltán Dörnyei. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2005. Pp. 270. $69.95 cloth, $29.95 paper.

This concise book on individual differences (IDs) in SLA presents research on topics such as language aptitude, motivation, cognitive styles, student self-regulation, and personality traits. Its in-depth treatment of the field will make it valuable to researchers in applied linguistics and second language (L2) studies. At the same time, its straightforward presentation and conversational tone should make it accessible to language teachers and students of L2 pedagogy interested in understanding more about what individual learners bring to the classroom.

HANDBOOK OF BILINGUALISM: PSYCHOLINGUISTIC APPROACHES. Judith F. Kroll and Annette M. B. de Groot (Eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Pp. xiv + 588. $147.00 cloth.

The study of bilingualism has become an important field within applied linguistics, as indicated by the fact that in the past 3 years, several comprehensive volumes that relate to bilingualism have been published with the word “handbook” in their titles. Nevertheless, this volume offers new perspectives even to those who have read The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (Doughty & Long, 2003) and The Handbook of Bilingualism (Bhatia & Ritchie, 2004). Whereas the previous handbooks summarize the state-of-the-art research findings and theories in the field of SLA, this new book, edited by Kroll and de Groot, familiarizes readers with the cognitive approach to the study of bilingualism. The majority of the chapters in this volume do more than just summarize psycholinguistic issues in SLA research; many of them present research findings not yet published (e.g., Christoffels & de Groot, Pienemann et al., Sanchez-Casas & Garcia-Albea, Tamar & Galan) and extend previous models of language acquisition and production to account for more phenomena of bilingualism (e.g., La Heij, MacWhinney, Myers-Scotton).

INTERLANGUAGE PRAGMATICS: EXPLORING INSTITUTIONAL TALK.Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig and Beverly Hartford (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2005. Pp. v + 230. $29.95 paper.

This volume is an edited collection of recent research on institutional talk from an interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) perspective. It is targeted at ILP researchers, particularly those who have restricted themselves to the collection of elicited data. Its purpose is to demonstrate the value of and procedures for conducting research on institutional and workplace talk. The volume consists of an introduction, eight chapters (an overview chapter, six chapters on ILP research in institutions, and a final chapter that provides guidelines for conducting research in institutions), each with its own bibliographic references, and separate author and subject indexes.

ACHIEVING SUCCESS IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION.Betty Lou Leaver, Madeline Ehrman, and Boris Shekhtman. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Pp. xiv + 265. $29.99 paper.

This volume presents in considerable depth many of the factors that must be taken into account when developing effective language learning. The volume is divided into three parts. The first deals with learning, including chapters on planning one's study, the role of cognition, learning styles and learning strategies, feelings and personality, and interpersonal relationships. The second part focuses on language and includes chapters on verbal language, sociolinguistics, and unspoken communication. The third part addresses the need for independent learning: One chapter discusses how learners can take control of their learning and a second offers strategies for managing communication.

DISTANCE EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES: EVOLUTION AND CHANGE. Börje Holmberg, Monica Shelley, and Cynthia White (Eds.). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2005. Pp. 360. $134.95 cloth, $54.95 paper.

Distance learning is the new reality for many subject matters, and language is no exception. This new approach to teaching invites educators to reconsider how to offer instruction that maintains the quality of face-to-face instruction and to explore the possibilities of taking advantage of technology to effect learning in new ways. This edited volume explores distance learning from six different vantage points: learner autonomy, learner perspectives and support, development of intercultural competence, methodology and course design, learning environments, and language teacher development.

TEACHING AND LEARNING CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.Janet Zhiqun Xing. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2006. Pp. x + 323. $49.50 cloth, $24.95 paper.

With the rapid increase in the number of people who are interested in learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL), the demand has grown for research and knowledge on how to effectively teach and learn a language that appears intimidating to speakers of alphabetic languages. Xing's volume is the first attempt in English to comprehensively address CFL pedagogical and acquisition issues. An experienced language teacher and researcher, the author makes her work a valuable resource for Chinese language professionals and learners by integrating theoretical principles into the practice of teaching and learning Chinese.

Publications received.

THE LANGUAGE OF LANGUAGE: CORE CONCEPTS IN LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS (2nd ed.).Madalena Cruz-Ferreira and Sunita Anne Abraham. Singapore: Pearson, Prentice Hall, 2006. Pp. iii + 266. $32.00 paper.

This 12-chapter volume is intended to introduce the field of linguistics to a student with no previous experience. The chapters are arranged to focus on the various facets of language, with each chapter building on the preceding one. Chapter 1, “Language and Linguistics,” and chapter 2, “Language and Languages,” offer an introduction to language as a concept. Chapters 3 and 4 have a word-level focus, whereas chapters 5 and 6 focus on sounds. Chapters 7 and 8 synthesize the previous chapters to discuss language on the sentence level. Chapters 9–12 use the discussion of language structure presented in the previous chapters to direct the reader's attention to the meaning of language as a whole. These last four chapters discuss language meaning, discourse, and the relationship between language and humans.

Publications received.