Lafford and Salaberry's new volume provides an overview of the past, present, and anticipated future of SLA theory and research on second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish. Chapters 1–6 summarize some of the major products of Spanish SLA research, whereas chapters 7–9 treat overarching theoretical concerns related to the processes involved in Spanish SLA. The final chapter examines the role of L2 instruction. This accessible work reports on major trends in the field and discusses the results and conclusions of landmark studies published during the last half century.

Elliot's chapter on phonology begins the volume and investigates the effects of age, gender, attitude, and other learner variables on L2 pronunciation. He includes an examination of major phonological studies published during the past four decades and concludes with a section on the role of instructional intervention in L2 pronunciation.

Montrul and Salaberry authored chapter 2, which focuses on acquisition of Spanish tense-aspect. They summarize research on stage development in L2 acquisition of past-tense forms and propose investigation into stage development (of tense and aspect in particular) as indispensable to the validation or rejection of theoretical frameworks and models of SLA.

In chapter 3, Collentine reviews research on L2 acquisition of the subjunctive mood in Spanish. He argues that the ability to process complex syntax is a prerequisite for acquisition of the subjunctive and that a lack of control over particular structures in low-level learners hinders their acquisition of mood.

Lee categorizes and discusses significant studies on L2 acquisition of clitics in chapter 4. Lee divides the studies examined into two main groups: processing focused and production focused. In the first section, he expounds on the first noun strategy and the intended functions of processing instruction, and in the second section he compares L2 learners' use of clitics in a natural setting with use in the foreign language classroom setting.

In chapter 5, Lafford, Collentine, and Karp delineate the microconnectionist perspective and categorize current research on word learning into three main veins of inquiry: partial-precise knowledge, depth of knowledge, and the receptive-productive dimension. The authors discuss how instructional intervention can affect word learning, and make suggestions for future research focusing on depth of knowledge and the receptive-productive dimension.

Koike, Pearson, and Witten have written chapter 6 on pragmatics and discourse. They provide a summary and analysis of theory and research related to L2 Spanish learners' ability to produce appropriate forms (based on situational context) and construct logical, organized discourse like native speakers.

Generative perspectives on Spanish syntax are treated in chapter 7 by Sanchez and Toribio. The authors summarize Government and Binding, the Minimalist Program, the poverty of the stimulus argument, and the debate on access to Universal Grammar. They review research on L2 development of various structures and suggest several lines of inquiry including language attrition and variation.

In chapter 8, Dussias provides a synopsis of research on the effects of cognitive processes (such as perception and memorization) on the learnability of Spanish. A significant portion of the chapter discusses sentence processing in Spanish-English bilinguals at various levels of proficiency. Dussias concludes by revisiting commonly accepted contrasts such as conscious versus unconscious learning and explicit versus implicit knowledge.

Anton, DiCamilla, and Lantolf focus chapter 9 on sociocultural theory, discussing the relationship between L2s and the mind. The authors review major tenets of Vygotskyan theory and present the notions of scaffolding and language as a cognitive tool. For ease of reading, the authors categorize studies into five principal sections: private speech, lexical organization, reading comprehension, language play, and collaborative interaction.

Grove rounds out this comprehensive volume by presenting a chapter on the role of instructional intervention in Spanish SLA. Grove examines the most prevalent instruction types and neatly categorizes each according to which phase of the acquisition process it attempts to address—input, intake, integration of new knowledge (into the developing system), or production.

Editors Lafford and Salaberry have compiled 10 outstanding contributions from major scholars in Spanish SLA into one cohesive unit. Due to the volume's nature and structure, readers quickly become familiar with linguistic topics, theoretical perspectives, research directions, and foreign language teaching methodologies. Authors seem to have taken particular care in guiding the novice reader through myriad issues central to SLA, defining and explaining pertinent terminology along the way. This well-rounded reference is sure to be selected for a variety of undergraduate and graduate level courses in SLA, applied linguistics, and L2 pedagogy.