This book emerges as a response to the increasing use of English as a lingua franca in the multilingual European context. It provides an up-to-date overview of the sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic and educational aspects of research on third language acquisition by focusing on English as a third language.

Jasone Cenoz is Associate Professor of English Linguistics at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). Her publications include Beyond Bilingualism: Multilingualism and Multilingual Education, co-edited with Fred Genesee (Multilingual Matters 1998).

Ulrike Jessner is Associate Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Innsbruck (Austria). Her publications include A Dynamic Model of Multilingualism: Changing Perspectives in Psycholinguistics, co-authored with Philip Herdina (Multilingual Matters, forthcoming in 2000).