Edited by Peter Homel, Michael Palij, Doris Aaronson, all New York University

"...a valuable source of references for research in this field. It also provides some fresh perspectives by integrating current and previous research. Perhaps no less important, it highlights the challenges one faces in trying to learn more about bilingualism."—Contemporary Psychology

• PART I INTRODUCTION 1 Childhood Bilingualism: Introduction and Overview 2 Bilingualism and Language Policy: Four Case Studies PART II LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING 3 The Second-Language Learner in the Context of the Study of Language Acquisition 4 Bilingualism Language Proficiency, and Metalinguistic Development 5 The Impact of Language Differences on Language Processing: An Example from Chinese-English Bilingualism 6 Acquiring and Processing First and Second Languages: Comments on Hakuta, Cummins, and Aaronson and Ferres PART III BILINGUALISM AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 7 The Relationship of Bingualism to Cognitive Development: Historical, Methodological and Theoretical Considerations 8 Bilingualism, Cognitive Function, and Language Minority Group Membership 9 Bilingualism: Cognitive and Social Aspects PART IV BILINGUALISM AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 10 Social Psychological Barriers to Effective Childhood 11 Bilingualism n The Effects of Bilingual and Bicultural Experiences on Children's Attitudes and Social Perspectives 12 A Social-Cognitive Perspective on Bilingualism: Comments on Lambert and Taylor PART V BIDLALECTISM 13 The Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Position of Black English and the Issue of Bidialectalism in Education 14 Continuities/Discontinuities in the Function and Use of Language as Related to Situation and Social Class 15. Coping or Groping? Psycholinguistic Problems in the Acquisition of Receptive and Productive Competence Across Dialects