Wode's lifetime of scholarship can be divided loosely into three general research areas, each of which comprises one section of this edited volume: theory-building in first (L1) and second (L2) language acquisition, the development of speech production and perception skills in L1 and L2, and immersion education and foreign language teaching. This first area of work, dating from the 1970s and early 1980s, draws in part from Wode's detailed analysis of the language of his four young children. The second, initiated in 1989 with Pieper, stems from a large-scale study of early phonological development. Finally, the third, begun in the wake of European integration, came out of his work to support immersion programs and language learning in preschools and elementary and secondary institutions.

In the early 1980s, Wode argued in papers in Studies in Second Language Acquisition and elsewhere that a complete understanding of language acquisition would only be reached through an integrated approach, drawing on theory and research from the fields of L1 acquisition, L2 acquisition, pathological language acquisition, and classroom pedagogy, among other areas (Wode, 1981). This edited volume of 28 papers, organized to honor Wode's 65th birthday, aims to reflect this approach and includes work from linguists, psychologists, and education specialists on topics as wide-ranging as, for instance, the biological correlates of L1 acquisition (Pieper), metaphorical analysis of learner beliefs (Ellis), orthographic input in L2 phonological development (Young-Scholten), and acquisition strategies for German in Alsatian immersion classrooms (Petit).

The contributors to the volume likewise reflect Wode's professional history. Wode spent most of his academic life at Kiel University, with visiting positions in Canada and Australia, among other locations. Nineteen of the papers are by researchers based at German universities, and 24 of the 28 authors are at European institutions. Many contributors are former students or co-authors. Others, such as MacWhinney, Pienemann, and Clyne, are well-established colleagues with shared research interests.

Taken together, the papers are impressive in both their depth and breadth; at least 10 different subareas of applied linguistics are represented here in considerable detail, with many of the papers geared toward specialists in those particular subareas. As noted above, Wode has argued for an integrated approach to the study of language acquisition that takes into account multiple types of data. Not surprisingly given the difficulty of the charge, this volume is much stronger on the presentation of these different approaches than on the integration of them. Indeed, the papers here represent a remarkable diversity of disciplinary and paradigmatic approaches (e.g., Lyster's argument for differentiating between the negotiation of form and meaning in classroom interaction, Reinicke and Sendlmeier's analysis of the early development of acoustic-phonetic parameters, or Rhode's discussion of the aspect hypothesis and the L2 reacquisition of verbal inflections). However, the “integration” of these approaches is largely left up to the reader. For instance, there is no integrative introduction or conclusion to the volume, and the papers do not refer to each other and are not linked across themes, instead standing more or less independently.

For this reason, the volume is probably not suitable as a textbook for an undergraduate- or even graduate-level course. The volume will, however, be of interest to several groups: first, to applied linguists who wish to keep up with European, and in particular German, research in the field of applied linguistics; second, to those who want a broad overview of the state of the art in several subareas of applied linguistics, combined with some specific research findings in those areas; or finally, to those who seek to learn more about the research interests and impressive contributions of Wode.