The present volume is a collection of papers written in honour of Professor Anna Niżegorodcew, a distinguished applied linguist and academic teacher at the Institute of English Studies of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Professor Anna Niżegorodcew is known in Polish academic circles and to a wider world of applied linguists as an expert in second language acquisition. She has undertaken studies in this area and has published extensively on these issues. Her scholarly interests cover a very wide array of topics ranging from foreign language aptitude and other factors contributing to the development of L2 proficiency, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic theories of language acquisition, communicative competence, intercultural communication, characteristics of language class discourse, teaching young learners to language teacher education, and most recently, English as a language of global communication. Within each of these broad themes she has explored both theoretical and practical dimensions of applied linguistics.

The papers included in the book reflect the varied scholarly pursuits of the authors, but are all related to Professor Niżegorodcew’s research interests. Many pertinent questions are asked and answered, and a number of important research topics relevant to modern language didactics are discussed by the authors.