The nine original papers in this volume have been written by international experts and deal with individual bilingualism, societal and educational phenomena, addressing issues such as bilingual usage, acquisition, teaching, and language planning and policy. The volume’s major asset lies in its diversity of topics and in the range of languages and geographical regions covered. The perspective adopted is multidisciplinary, including linguistics, sociolinguistics, psychology, and applied linguistics.

Jean-Marc Dewaele obtained his PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel under the supervision of Hugo Baetens Beardsmore. He is Senior Lecturer in French Applied Linguistics at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has published widely on psychological, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and linguistic aspects of foreign language production.Alex Housen obtained his PhD from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel under the supervision of Hugo Baetens Beardsmore. He is currently a Research Fellow of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (Flanders). His research interests include bilingualism, bilingual education, second/foreign language acquisition and language education. He has worked as a consultant on bilingual education for the Soros Foundation, the United Nations Development Programme and the Belgian Ministry of Education. His publications have appeared in various collected volumes and journals.Li Wei received his MA and PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, where he is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Head of the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences. His research interests include bilingualism and cross-cultural pragmatics. He is Editor of the International Journal of Bilingualism.