SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SECOND LANGUAGELEARNING.Rama K. Agnihotri, Amrit L. Khjuina, and Itesh Sachdev (Eds.).New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1998. Pp. 238. $34.00 cloth.

Abstract

According to the editors of this volume, models and theories of linguistic analysis that are based on a study of monolingual societies are no longer appropriate for our contemporary world. Fueled by an interest in examining “multilingual and pluricultural societies where learning more than one language and accommodating multiple identities is a way of life” (p. 17), they have collected 11 papers as well as an introductory essay that analyze second language learning in a range of interesting multicultural settings. For example, there are papers on the acquisition of Hindi by Tamils in Delhi, English and German by Indian undergraduates at the University of Delhi, and English by immigrants from six different countries in Britain.