This book is one in a series aimed at introducing teachers with little background inlinguistics and applied linguistics to a range of language-related issues. Other books in the seriesinclude Introducing Applied Linguistics, Introducing Discourse Analysis, andIntroducing Listening. This book by van Lier has the goal of developing “anunderstanding of the human faculty of language and its role in thinking, learning and sociallife” (p. xi). Chapter 2, “The Building Blocks of Language,” brieflyintroduces readers to the phonetic alphabet, assimilation, intonation, morphemes, and syntax.Readers of SSLA (who are not the intended audience) will find, because of itsintroductory nature, that it does not take them far in their knowledge of language awareness.Teachers new to applied linguistics will find it very accessible and easy to read.