As the editors note in the introduction, this is the first “volume of work focused solely on researching second language (L2) collocation knowledge and development within different local contexts” (p. 2). For this purpose, each of the selected chapters represents a unique learning context from Asia to North America and Europe, which brings together an international collection of the most recent and exciting work in the area.

The chapters are centered on four thematic areas of research in L2 knowledge and performance, which are of great interest to researchers and especially to language teachers who are constantly challenged with the teaching and assessing of L2 collocations. Each part includes three research chapters and a critical commentary by experts in the respective field, which addresses issues of interest in each of the chapters and reframes them with a broader critical view. Part 1, “L2 Collocation Learner Corpus Research,” sets the scene for using learner corpora to identify patterns of L2 collocation use. Although there has been a recent surge in corpus analysis, the number of corpus-based studies on collocation research has been fairly modest until now. The three studies in this part make use of methods and techniques not commonly seen in mainstream L2 collocation research—for example, the lexical bundle analysis by Groom (chapter 2) and Reppen (chapter 4). Part 2 consists of three chapters on developing appropriate L2 collocation lexicographic and classroom materials. Part 3, “L2 Collocation Knowledge Assessment Research,” investigates how learner’s L2 collocation knowledge can be assessed. The foci are on defining and operationalizing the construct being assessed and on distinguishing receptive from productive L2 collocation knowledge. Part 4 is dedicated to research in the process and practices by which learners develop their L2 collocation knowledge and use. Results from studies in this part suggest that L2 learners need to be guided to notice language chunks as comprehensible input (Gass, Reference Gass1997) before they can transform input into uptake. It follows that learners constantly experiment with collocation examples and continually readjust their awareness and use of collocations.

Because the majority of the chapters are contributed by classroom practitioners who teach second or foreign languages, this volume can be used as a handbook by teachers who wish to facilitate L2 collocation instruction. In fact, the contributors are an interesting mix of established researchers and language teachers, and this provides the readers with a scholarly review of the state of the art in L2 collocation research as well as with valuable pedagogical implications. Although this volume is most likely to be favored by teachers, researchers may also find certain chapters highly relevant to their work. A number of background issues and conceptual positions that run through L2 collocation research has been highlighted and reinterpreted in the volume, which includes, for example, the operationalizations of collocations, methodological issues in describing collocational relations, and the fundamental question about whether collocations are stored holistically.

What is most notable about this volume is that it has succeeded in fulfilling the editors’ aspiration of producing an international collection of research in L2 collocation knowledge and development with studies set in drastically different learning contexts, from Asia to North America and Europe. As Wray notes in the conclusion chapter, “there are too many different types of learners, too many contexts and too many components to the learning process” (p. 233). It seems that the big question can only be answered by means of answering more limited questions. In other words, the tensions between the general and the specific can only be solved by either multidisciplinary pursuit or jointly local research endeavor. In one of the critical commentaries, Nesi finds it “revealing to compare small, separate and geographic distance studies… to discover further insights unavailable to the original authors” (p. 121). It is this international orientation that makes this volume stand out as a unique and timely contribution to L2 collocation research. In terms of the goal of multidisciplinary pursuit, the volume offers a range of evidence of studies in the linguistic, psychological, computational, and pedagogical domains. However, the scopes are still somewhat limited. Viewpoints from some other certainly important disciplines—for example, artificial intelligence and communication disorders—are not presented. Despite this slight limitation, this volume is, overall, an excellent resource for researchers and classroom practitioners on the use and development of L2 collocation.