The fourth edition of this best-selling book provides a comprehensive introduction to bilingualism and bilingual education. Written as an introductory text from a cross-disciplinary perspective, 19 chapters cover individual and societal issues in minority and majority languages.

I remain awed by Baker's ability to represent all positions and include all viewpoints, while remaining simple and straightforward. It is its scholarly exhaustiveness and complexity, coupled with a simplicity of style, that makes this text invaluable for students and scholars alike.

This fourth edition combines a vast updated overview of recent developments in the field of bilingualism, which are solidly anchored in the basic concepts necessary for an understanding of major issues. Integrating and balancing many perspectives from varied disciplines the book is clear, highly readable, provocative but not polemical. No better comprehensive introduction to the ever-expanding research on bilingualism exists.

Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism by Colin Baker, has become a classic in the field and has been updated and released in a fourth edition. The text offers a wealth of information for graduate students and researchers wishing to be kept up-to-date with current topics and controversies in the field. This text continues to be an excellent source for introducing students to the field of bilingualism and bilingual education. This text remains among the best in presenting a wealth of key information in a very accessible format. This text will continue to be the standard-bearer on the topics of bilingualism and bilingual education.

Colin Baker holds a Personal Chair of the University of Wales, and teaches in the School of Education at the University of Wales, Bangor. Some of his previously published books with Multilingual Matters include: Attitudes and Language (1992), a Parents' and Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism (second edition in 2000), the Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education (1998 - with Sylvia Prys Jones) and The Care and Education of Young Bilinguals (2000). The previous editions of this book were published in 1993,1996 and 2001.