The purpose of this book is to provide language teachers with insights and tools for understanding some of the reasons why their adult students often encounter less-than-smoothsailing when trying to learn another language. The book explores a variety of case studies thatinvolve real students, thus bringing to life the human dimension of the learning difficultiespresented. Although some examples of ESL students are provided, the major focus is on foreignlanguage learners. Ehrman's felicitous writing style ensures that the book reads like anextended and intellectually stimulating conversation with the author.