Applied linguistics is currently undergoing interesting developments connected with new research areas and tools. At the same time, there exist numerous introductory textbooks to various subbranches and general overviews of the discipline. The present volume is yet another addition to the field, covering both traditional areas and approaches as well as more recent tendencies. In his preface, Schmitt describes the book as a “broad overview of applied linguistics” written at “the ‘sophisticated introduction’ level” (p. vii). The book is indeed broad in scope and sophisticatedly simple. It opens with a concise overview of applied linguistics, followed by three major parts devoted to the description of language and language use, major areas of inquiry, and language skills and assessment, respectively. Part 1 covers grammar, vocabulary, discourse analysis, pragmatics, and corpus linguistics. Part 2 investigates SLA, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and the language learner. Finally, Part 3 covers listening, speaking and pronunciation, reading, writing, and assessment. The book concludes with suggested solutions to the activities, references for individual chapters, and an index. The chapters, authored by 31 leading experts, are all organized in similar fashion, with introductory discussion and appropriate definitions, further analyses, notes on possible implementations and implications for language teaching and research, numerous quotations from source literature, annotated further readings, and stimulating hands-on activities.

The opening overview by Schmitt and Celce-Murcia provides a concise introduction to the whole field of applied linguistics and prepares the ground for issues discussed in the forthcoming chapters. Applied linguistics is defined here as “using what we know about (a) language, (b) how it is learned, and (c) how it is used, in order to achieve some purpose to solve some problem in the real world” (p. 1). This definition is a good starting point for presenting the history, the present state, and further perspectives of the discipline. Schmitt and Celce-Murcia conclude with the remark that “views on language, language learning, and language use are not static, but are constantly evolving” (p. 15).

In this short review, it is impossible to do justice to all contributions. Nevertheless, in my view, three chapters need to be singled out: the chapter on pragmatics by Spencer-Oatey and Žegarac, the chapter on corpus linguistics by Reppen and Simpson, and the overview of SLA by Spada and Lightbown.

The evolutionary aspect of applied linguistics is clearly visible in the approach to pragmatics, which encompasses different aspects of communication, context, and social factors. Contemporary focus on the importance of context, updating of contextual assumptions, meaning construction, and implicated meaning reflects the changing tendencies in language studies (and language teaching). Spencer-Oatey and Žegarac show the implications of pragmatics for the process of language teaching, learning, and use, and they conclude the chapter with a note on the possibility of pragmatic transfer and the importance of people's sensitivity to face (the public self-image).

Another dynamically developing branch of linguistics is corpus linguistics, which has recently enjoyed much popularity because it “provides an extremely powerful tool for the analysis of natural language and can provide tremendous insights as to how language use varies in different situations” (p. 92). Reppen and Simpson justify this enthusiastic claim with several analyses of data extracted from different corpora; they also provide examples of corpus-based classroom activities (on vocabulary and collocations) and mention some useful Web sites. They are certainly correct in concluding this important chapter with the following remark: “The patterns of language use that can be discovered through corpus linguistics will continue to reshape the way we think of language” (p. 108).

Spada and Lightbown observe that SLA has both theoretical and practical importance. The theoretical importance is related to the understanding of how language is represented in the mind, and the practical importance arises from the assumption that better understanding of how languages are learned will lead to more effective teaching (p. 115). The authors provide a clear overview of relevant linguistic and psychological perspectives and discuss the characteristics of learner language and functions of instruction in SLA. As with other chapters, this, too, is a concise and self-contained introduction to one branch of applied linguistics.

The book is carefully produced, with good cross-referencing and ample references for individual chapters. It is a most welcome addition to the field: It is a comprehensive guide to contemporary applied linguistics, ideal for teachers, students, and beginning researchers.