How are two or more languages learned and contained in the same mind or the same community? This handbook presents an up-to-date view of the concept of multi-competence, exploring the research questions it has generated and the methods that have been used to investigate it. The book brings together psychologists, sociolinguists, Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers, and language teachers from across the world to look at how multi-competence relates to their own areas of study. This comprehensive, state-of-the-art exploration of multi-competence research and ideas offers a powerful critique of the values and methods of classical SLA research, and an exciting preview of the future implications of multi-competence for research and thinking about language. It is an essential reference for all those concerned with language learning, language use and language teaching.

1. Premises of multi-competence Vivian Cook; 2. Research questions and methodology of multi-competence Goro Murahata, Yoshiko Murahata and Vivian Cook; 3. Multi-competence in Second Language Acquisition: inroads into the mainstream? Lourdes Ortega; 4. Not through a glass darkly: refocusing the psycholinguistic study of bilingualism through a 'bivocal' lens Jyotsna Vaid and Renata Meuter; 5. Multilingualism research Rita Francheschini; 6. Multi-competence and dynamic/complex systems Kees de Bot; 7. Multi-competence and dominant language constellation Larissa Aronin; 8. Consequences of multi-competence for sociolinguistics research Li Wei; 9. A usage-based account of multi-competence Joan Kelly Hall; 10. Multi-competence and syntax Éva Berkes and Suzanne Flynn; 11. Syntactic processing Leah Roberts; 12. Language and cognition in bilinguals Annette M. B. de Groot; 13. Gestures in multi-competence Amanda Brown; 14. Pragmatic transfer in foreign language learners: a multi-competence perspective I-Ru Su; 15. Multi-competence and endangered language revitalization Tracy Hirata-Edds and Lizette Peter; 16. Multi-competence and first language attrition Bregtje Seton and Monika S. Schmid; 17. Cognitive consequences of multi-competence Panos Athanasopoulos; 18. Space, motion and thinking for language Anna Ewert; 19. Multi-competence and personality Jean-Marc Dewaele; 20. Multi-competence as a creative act: ramifications of the multi-competence paradigm for creativity research and creativity fostering education Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin; 21. Multi-competence and language teaching Virginia M. Scott; 22. Multi-competence and emotion Jean-Marc Dewaele; 23. Multi-competence and English as a lingua franca Ian MacKenzie; 24. A critical reaction from second language acquisition research David Singleton; 25. Questions of multi-competence: a written interview on issues raised in this book Guillaume Thierry; 26. Epilogue: multi-competence and the translanguaging instinct Li Wei.